Storm Watch

This post is a little late but it's still an important part of my new Kentucky life...

Storm Watch 2010!

Earthquake? Check, lived in LA.

Typhoon? Check, lived in Hong Kong.

Tornado? What the heck?! I don't know what to do!

The day started off a little rainy and then it stopped for a bit. Then a couple hours after, the sky got really dark and ominous-looking clouds rolled over BG. You could almost feel that something severe was on its way and my station announced the city was under a "tornado warning", meaning the weather could build up to a tornado but no tornado had touched down yet. And then what happens? I get a call from the station saying I have to go out into the severe weather to cover it!

I was half-terrified, half-excited. Terrified because I a) didn't know anything about the town I was supposed to go to to get video of fallen trees and street debris and b) didn't know how to deal with tornado-related weather!

I'm like running through the rain as I get my camera gear and jump into the company car, which I suddenly became grateful for after I see how the streets are flooding (my little Honda would not have been able to handle that). So, flooded streets, poor visibility...and I start to head out of town.

As soon as I started heading out, I realize that I'm passing through the worst of the storm on my way to get storm video. Rain is pouring down, my wipers are already on the fastest speed, and it's still hard to see. The skies suddenly got really dark and the street (freeway?) didn't have much light so I was grateful for the strong headlights on the car.

I roll into Russellville and begin to look out for fallen trees and branches littered on the ground because of the storm. Thank goodness for GPS because I honestly was just driving around hoping to stumble upon storm damage. I had never been so excited before to see branches and debris in the middle of the road as I was that day. And there were a couple trees that the storm just took out. One was pretty tall, around 15 feet probably, and it just snapped in some guy's front yard. The storm must have blown through the town pretty hard because lots of tree branches were littered in the streets and the water carried out a lot of rocks into the streets.

I got the video I needed and a quick interview with a little old lady cleaning up her front lawn (she was so cute and she told me after the interview a car hit her when she was in her lawn last year) and started to head back to BG. But as I was driving, I honestly felt like Frodo (or Sam, take your pick) as the fellowship headed to Mordor to destroy the ring - heading towards something destructive looking.

As I drove, I could see ahead of me HUGE flashes of lighting and dark clouds just tossing back and forth. The rain had settled by that point where I was, but I could tell it was still coming down hard up ahead. In my head, I was thinking, wait...I have to HEAD toward that?? Crap. But I guess the storm and I were moving in the same direction by that point because it rolled out of BG as I headed back in.

So that was my tornado/storm/severe weather experience here in Kentucky. I've been through a fair share of storms before but I had never been in a "tornado warning" situation. No tornadoes touched down where I lived thankfully (though one did a couple counties away), but hey, we're just heading into tornado season right now. Things could change, who knows?

**All these pictures were taken either pre-severe weather or post-severe weather. I was too busy during the severe weather to take pictures, but you guys get the gist.