Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Ed's place and campfire event was hit by a tornado.

I am with ScottF. What better crew to have around in a crisis? Campfire members ought to be about the most resourceful and helpful that one can find. I am sure all will be well, and a great story will be held among friends for years.

Glad no one was hurt.

Glad no one was hurt.
I'm not too far Northwest of there and it missed us. Rained very hard for a little bit.
Best of luck on the clean up and repair.

Another voice expressing gratitude that no one was hurt. There is nothing like the support of friends when things are difficult - glad so many were there.

funny yes, accurate no. One of the first things I was informed of when I joined the fire and ED spacificly told me, Texans don't put beans in chilli! grin

That the J Jon remained unscathed was an indication of the weighty BS already piling up...

Kent

I don't need no beans it fart!

NO BS there, just S.

That's how it's done! Sorry to hear of the damage, but damned glad all are OK, and my best to you and the other good folks down there, friend Ed.

Ed

Glad to here you are well. Best wishes/

Jeff

To quote Dennis, he became "A human wind sock!"

Sorry for the carnage, Ed!

Sort of like the Wyoming wind gauge--an anvil on a chain!

Damn...what horrible news. I too am grateful no one was hurt.

If it had happened to me, I'd take solace in knowing who was there and had my 6 during the before and after.

I'm truly sorry for all involved. Grateful the lot of you got to see what the majority of the 24H membership is really made of.

Glad to hear every one is OK!

How do you not have a generator to run the well pump?

I'm home currently. Storm kind of took the wind out of me. When I saw the trees down the next morning I just got this feeling we were real lucky.
My story, Ed's place has an outside covered cooking area. Miles and Ed added a 20 x 30 tarp to the end of that. Pat put up his canopy next to the tarp. We were all watching the storm approach on I phone radar. Now understand, we had dinner out, cooked and ready to dig in. Puff of wind, so I started putting stuff up cause we all knew it would be windy. Next instance all heck broke loose. I didn't even hear a tree fall. Just this big rush of wind. Tarp of course broke the poles holding it up so it started beating me on the head, I grabbed the tarp and said to my self I think I'll go over to the house porch and walked over to that area. Several were already on it. That's when I saw the down tree on the house. The ladies had saved some of the dinner food, so the whole group met inside Ed's house and ate under Coleman lantern light. Then I went and crawled into my Jeep and went to sleep. My canopy was no longer in the same shape it started, seems a big tall TV antenna fell on it. Tent/cot made it but was kind of wet. So the reason for sleeping in the Jeep. The Jeep is 1 1/2 foot to short and hard floor too.

Wow! I am sure glad to hear that everyone is okay. Needless to say but it sure could have been worse.
You folks take care, and I hope it's not too bad a clean for you Ed.

Ed and his wife are troopers for sure. You have 20 or so people and your house, no power, no water, electric lines and many trees down, what are you going to do? They and the whole group just kept going and started the clean up on Sat morning. Picking up stuff, trying to see what is broken etc. Heck even had a tree limb caught in the electric line. Electric guys came out Sat morning, tree cutters came out Sat. mid day. We found another big old Oak tree was split down the middle Sat. Morning. Had to be cut down for the house safety. Would of crushed the other end if it had fallen. No electricity until a new service box is install in the house. Barn was supposed to have power sometime today, not sure if that happened or not. That's a barn/shop/ bedroom with bath building.

Well labarr and I are back home safely.

It was freakish thing this storm. We knew the rain was coming, and Sponxx & his family had just arrived. We went over to the barn to help them unload, and it was sprinkling. Two young kids and some gear were successfully unloaded. A second later WHOOSH the rain was suddenly torrential, and sideways. We stood in the barn, in shock, especially when the tree fell and hit power lines, causing a big arc. One kid was still in the car, and Pablo braved the wind & rain to retrieve the last child, but a few moments later all were safely out of the weather.

This photo is pretty telling:



The tent in the distance was originally pitched right next to the nearest one. The windstorm picked it up, including ~70 lbs of gear inside, and took it over the shed, over/through two 20 foot tall trees, and dumped it about 30 yards from where it was originally staked down. I straightened up the tent the next morning, and took the picture. The rain fly was ripped off, and there were numerous tears in that tent.

If it was not a tornado, at a minimum it was a microburst, with hurricane force winds. And when Dennis says he turned into a human wind sock, I believe it. It was like flipping a switch, an instant on hurricane.

But the most remarkable thing about the event, to me was how calm everyone remained, and once the violent wind died, how much everyone pitched in to help one another. People were still looking out for one another, continuing to serve the dinner that was interrupted. It looked like Ed was also getting a good response from his insurance people. Electricians and tree trimmers were hard at work by afternoon.

It truly was a terrific bunch of people at this gathering, and I look forward to attending next year.

Good folks always hold it together when things go wrong. If this was on the Democratic Underground people would be bitching that there wasn't enough warning from the government, suing NWS and expecting someone else to pay for everything.

What happened to Gene's vehicle?