Tornado hits my home town

The town where I was born and raised, and where my mother still lives, was hit by a tornado Tuesday night. That's a very rare occurrence. It was nothing like the devastating tornado that struck the little town of Washington, Illinois, in the Midwest a few days ago, but the North Carolina tornado caused some injuries and a lot of property damage. I used to live in Illinois too, so I've seen tornadoes and the damage they can cause.

I called my mother last night — Wednesday afternoon her time — and she told me there was no damage at her retirement complex but she'd been without electricity for almost 18 hours. That means she can't use her nebulizer to ease her respiratory distress, she can't cook or even heat water, and of course she has no heat. She said it wasn't really cold there, however, and one of her neighbors had a little sterno contraption for heating water and was supplying the neighbors with hot coffee.

The tornado was what is called a water spout — a tornado that forms over a body of water — that came ashore off the ocean at 10:00 Tuesday night. It crossed over the barrier island that lies just off the mainland and then crossed Bogue Sound and reached the mainland itself. It caused damage on the western edge of Morehead City, N.C. (pop. 8,000), where the town's community college, hospital, tourist center, and post office are located.

The area that suffered the most damage is two miles east of the house where I grew up.
The blue strip along the bottom of the image is the Atlantic Ocean.

The college was closed on Wednesday to allow maintenance crews time to clean up the damage. The hospital, despite damage to windows and the roof, remained open, with electricity supplied by a generator. The post office is closed for the time being as the damage is being assessed. The tourist center suffered broken windows and water damage. Most of the population — as many as 6,000 households and business — was left without electricity.

My mother lives a mile from the hospital. There are many tall pine trees on the grounds of the retirement complex, but apparently they weathered the storm — tornadoes are very localized but very intense. Near the hospital a large number of very old and handsome live oak trees were blown down. Over on the barrier island, the roof was blown off a condominium complex. In both areas affected by the tornado, many cars were damaged or even destroyed. There's a short video clip about the event here.

Decades ago, my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents lived in the area of Morehead City that sustained the most damage. That was in the days before the college, hospital, and post office were built. My father and his siblings grew up in an old house on the shores of Bogue Sound there.

My great-grandparents' big old wood-frame house stood where the college campus is now. It was destroyed by a strong hurricane in 1960, when I was about 10 years old. The house was lifted up off its foundation by what was thought to be a tornado embedded in the hurricane, turned slightly by the wind, and  dropped back on the ground just slightly off the foundation. Cousins of my father's were living there and were at home when it all happened. They must have been terrified. The old house had to be demolished. I have vivid memories of that 1960 hurricane and others that roared through in the 1950s.

Many of you who read this blog know or have at least met my mother. I'm sure you'll be glad to learn that she's fine. For her and many others, it was a close call. I hope her electricity came back on soon after I talked to her. When I was growing up in Morehead City, we almost never experienced tornadoes except tornadoes embedded in hurricanes or tropical storms when they blew through in late summer and autumn. Weather patterns have changed, that's for sure.

If you want to see some terrifying video of the Illinois tornado, click this link to OhioFarmGirl's recent blog post about it. And Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the U.S.