When my dad was stationed in Saigon during the Vietnam War, the rest of us lived in the Oklahoma City suburb of Warr Acres. It wasn’t far from where my grandparents lived.
Living in Oklahoma had me looking over my shoulder every time a storm came through. I had seen The Wizard of Oz every year on television, so I knew about tornadoes, right? Funny thing was, in that year there was only one time when a weatherman said there might be a tornado. Never saw one, and never saw a witch on a bicycle, for which I was duly thankful.

I had to move to Tennessee to deal with tornadoes. Now tornadoes don’t occur in Tennessee as much as they do on the plain states, but twisters can happen on any continent except Antarctica. (My sister-in-law experienced one in downtown Salt Lake City. What a surprise that was for the residents!)

The way it was explained to me (the simple version) is that cold air from the north and warm air from the south collide and form a thunderstorm. The rushing winds then can form a spinning column of air that often looks like a funnel. These funnels, rated by how powerful the winds are, can tear apart buildings, scatter debris, and generally wreak havoc from nuisance to deadly.

The first Tennessee twister I experienced was when I was working at Niota Elementary school. I was teaching a large class of eighth graders when the tornado alarm sounded. Out into the hall, in the position (which I really couldn’t do because of the new artificial hip I had received) and wait it out. The sky way down at the end of the hall was black, and sounded like a freight train going overhead. After that we had to wait for the all clear. This tornado took out a concession stand in Riceville, an old barn on the southwest part of Athens (near our house!) and scared the heck out of us farther north. My husband still likes to tell the tale of dragging the two dogs into the crawlspace of our house.

Another happened while I worked at Birchwood Elementary school. I had a class of Kindergartners and was reading to them before lunch when we got word that a possible tornado was in the area. So we all went into the hall between the stage and the cafeteria. This school was solid, but hearing that roaring overhead was scary. The kids were cool; their teacher had joined them, after all. I got a copy of Mr. Popper’s Penguins and she read a couple of chapters to them. After we got the all clear, the county sent the kids home early. No damage to the school, but on the way home I had to wait for the utility crew to clear away downed trees.

Then there was the twister that hit west of Delano. A group of us from my church in Athens went out to help clean up and it was heartbreaking seeing all the devastation. As the victims kept saying, they were lucky, no one was hurt; no one killed. Still, the last time I was out that way, the house had not been rebuilt.

Now, back to Oklahoma. In 2013, a huge tornado ravaged the town of Moore, south of Oklahoma City. Lives were lost in that one, some in two schools that were hit. A lot of fingers were pointed as to why there hadn’t been more done to prevent this disaster. https://youtu.be/FF5Y1-FAAHM Maybe it’s because Mother Nature can be so very unpredictable. The good news: Moore has rebuilt and the schools have shelters that will withstand very powerful storms.

So what can you do in the event of severe weather? Be informed. Learn what to do to protect yourself during a tornado producing storm. There are some things you can do to help protect yourself and your loved one.

Susan Kite is a member of Author’s Guild of Tennessee, and the author of 5 published YA novels. Check them out at: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B00J91G0ZU/