It’s a twister, it’s a twister!

Well, actually, no, it wasn’t a twister, but it very well could have been.  Yesterday afternoon and early evening, my city was hit by a tremendous wind storm with the makings of a tornado.  Gusts reached 90 mph in Manhattan and 50 mph in Topeka, our capital city.  The storm and the damage that resulted from it brought back memories of the tornado that blew through the city in the summer of 2008.  Yes, folks, tornadoes do actually touch down and do damage in Kansas.  Unfortunately, we don’t have the option of visiting the Land of Oz during them like Dorothy did.  Well, unless you’re in Wamego, where they are raising funds to make the main street into a yellow brick road.  Yes, my friends, in just a few years, my hometown might very well be the laughingstock of Kansas.  But, I diverge, and will return to the original topic.  I’ve had way too much coffee this morning and am beyond jittery and shaking.  Here are a few pictures showing the damage throughout the city of Manhattan.

Plenty of trees were uprooted from the ground, crushing cars and falling on houses.

This picture is difficult to decipher because I was driving when I took it, but the truck you see is a tow truck that is working to remove an entire tree that fell across the road way.  There was also a huge billboard along the highway that was completely uprooted from it’s stake in the ground, as well as a semi that the winds blew off the road and turned on its top in the ditch.  I am not playing with you, my friends, this seriously happened.  If only I would have been smart enough to snap pictures of it.

I was, however, quick enough to capture this moment, with the Sonic sign completely blow off.  Carhops were still hopping and in business this morning, though.

You might be asking yourself, “But, Amber, weren’t you scared? What did you do?”  Well, my friends, I am a true Kansan and was most upset at the fact that I was stuck in our shelter at work, with no windows to look out and see what was going on.  Seriously, for those of my readers that are not from Kansas, when a tornado warning or watch is in effect, people don’t go to their shelters, they go to their front porches.  I wish that I was kidding.

After being released from work when the air was clear of wind, rain and tornadoes, I headed home to check on my apartment.  Turns out my husband had joined the other residents on the third floor of our building and took cover in a basement apartment.  Everyone was safe and no cars in our parking lot were crushed by falling trees.  However, we were without power until about 11:30 pm.  Thanks to the hospitality of our neighbors, we enjoyed chocolate cake and white wine in the stifling heat that was their apartment with no air conditioning.

Lesson to be learned from this:  If you’re not from or living in Kansas, you should be.  The weather patterns make for great fun.

P.S.  If you click on the link to Wamego’s official website, you might catch a glimpse of my stud brother quarterbacking for his high school football team.  I’m a pretty proud sister, if you didn’t know that already.