Must be Friday... Tornado sirens going off

Was out flying this afternoon and gave up and landed before it rolled through the Abilene area...... it was interesting to watch this thing build up as it moved east.

 

Power out here in Lewisville, sirens going off and heavy rain/lightning. Fun. If anyone hears of any confirmed tornados headed at me, please call. I'm sitting in a closet with the mutts.

 

Sirens again. My first 3 siren year ever!

 

I got caught in the thick of it, the sirens went off as I made it to my hidden Batcave like bunker & made camp there for about 45 minutes. As it began to lighten up I didn't count on witnessing a flash flood. As I left the garage, cars about a half block away were about a foot under water, a couple hydrolocked their motor trying to drive through the rapidly rising water, most surreal thing I've ever seen. All the more reason to keep a camera with me.

 

I got stuck driving in this one.

I am driving along and remember my new windshield installer told me Tuesday to wait a week to wash my car. I wonder if driving in 80 mph winds with sideways rain counts?

I get home and the sirens are going off, they think a tornado touched down near here and I can't find my family because they are in the pantry. Golf Course behind my house looks like a lake.

Good news is no hail and all the windows on my house have been pressure washed.

 

My son called me at work in south Grand Prairie from our house in North Richland Hills about 6:30 telling me of the forecast. He was sitting in a chair watching the weather when lightning struck our pool and actually shook him out of the chair. He said the flash was very bright and the thunder and crack of the lightning hit all at the same time. He was sitting about 8 feet from the window which is roughly 10 feet from the pool surface. It would mean the lightning hit about 20 feet from him. He retreated immediately to the back bathroom........

Oh, the level of water in the pool right after the lightning hit was about 4 inches lower......I will have to check the pool for cracks and the pump for operation tomorrow.

 

2 am the power just came back on

 

Looks like we made it through with no major damage, although I need to check the shingles when the sun comes up. Still no power, no ETA for service restoration. I can hear a generator running down the street -- I should look into getting one of those.

 

A chain saw might not be a bad $100 purchase around here... None of my trees are down but there are some BIG ones split down the middle up the street.

there was a point there last night when I started thinking "humm I guess that might be starting to sound like a "freight train" the dogs were just huddled in next to me tryin to figure out why are we in here??

the wind was howling the thunder claps started to overlap then build
it went from boom kapow BOOM to BOOMMMMMMMKKAPAWBOOOOM for like 5 or 10 min solid...

Why did people settle here? can you imagine dealing with this kind of weather in a covered wagon with a bunch of horses?

 

Just checked the pool after J.J. said it was struck by lightning last night. I had never heard of that happening before but with the storms we have been having I am not ruling out anything. Pumps are working and found no cracks. Yeah....

I did notice however that even with all the rain we have been having that the pool level is about 4 inches low. It was right where I like to keep it when I left for work yesterday morning and is all of a sudden low. J.J. said that when he went outside last night after the lightning to check that the pool surface was still pretty wavy and that lots of water was all of a sudden standing on the decking. He said it was as though someone sets off hundreds of flashbulbs at once in the window next to where he was sitting. I am just thankful that nothing happened to J.J. or the house.........

Have any of you seen this many serious storms so close together here? I mean, spring is always thunderstorm season but WOW are we getting hit this year....

 

and again, he says between thunder claps... This one not as bad but Useless is getting pounded with rain

 

Can someone post some pictures or video of these storms you guys are getting hit with... Weather pictures are cool to see especially for us Californians who usually don't experience server storms unlike you guys in the Eastern States. Stay Safe!

 

I'll try to take my camera with me next time I go hide my car at the Batcave but I'm kind of getting sick of all these storms, on another note. at least the lakes are filling up after the three year drought, summers here in north Texas can be a real killer.

 

Here's some pics I took the night this thread was started.

The first two are the leading edge of a severe thunderstorm which contained a tornado about 10 miles from where I was.

The third one was taken 5 minutes after the first two, once I had gotten home and was looking out the window.
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According to NOAA we are in for another batch.



denton, gainsville, and decatur are all under tornado watch and there is more down Waco way heading north.

Avast me maties tis time to baton down the hatches again!