Aftermath
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As I was on the way home last night, a tornado was moving through town. I got just a little bit closer to it than I should have. The van I was driving spun 180 degrees so that it was facing the oncoming traffic and then it jumped up into the air and started spinning. It landed on its wheels and I was able to simply open the door and walk away with a minor bump on the back of the head and a few small cuts.
Here are some pictures (standard instructions apply - click the thumbnail for a bigger picture):
See the way that sign is bent toward the tire? The only way it wouldn’t be bent away from the tire is if the van fell out of the sky and landed there.
This side of the van is hardly damaged (except for the window). If it had rolled on the ground, this side would be dented up along with the top and the other side. These two pictures are why I’m sure that I was airborne.
A barbed wire fence runs under the front tires. Running into it would have either broken it or wrapped it around the front tires. This was from landing on it.
The windshield wipers are facing the wrong way!!
This is the only major dent on the van. (The gas cap cover won’t close)
Here are a few pictures I took from the back seat as we drove through Highland this morning. The police weren’t allowing anyone to stop anywhere in town. You had to keep moving to either Hardy or Ash Flat.
This used to be a small strip mall with four businesses in it - one of which was our cell phone dealer.
This was Midway Plaza - Highland’s major shopping mall. …Was.
I’ll be editing this post to add a few more this evening. Right now, I’ve got to get it posted and go eat dinner.
UPDATE:
Here are the rest of those pictures
This is is “The Krispy Kone Wing Shack” they have not one, not two, but three cars in their dining room. One can be seen in this picture.
Trees broken like toothpicks. There are area where it looks like the trees have been mowed.
The new Baptist church with a tree on top of it.
Dixie Health Care provides Mom with her oxygen supplies. When they couldn’t get hold of her because the phone lines were down, they had the emergency workers come by and check on her. THAT’S cool.
Technorati Tags: tornado, destruction, arkansas, sharp+county, pictures
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Geez!!! I wondered if you guys got any weather up there… You got hit head on!!! And the fact people double their prices in the aftermath… Not cool! I just watxched the weather and it looks like it could set up for some severe weather again. Hold on! Glad you’re OK.
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