Friday, March 18, 2011

Weather Warnings

I woke up last Friday to a text asking if we were going to be okay, with the wall of water heading our way. I was confused a little. I didn't see anything about a big storm heading our way. Then I checked the news on my phone and saw the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Then I turned on the television to hear about the tsunami warnings in our area.

I wasn't worried about us. There is a line of mountains directly between us and the ocean. There is a bay near us but it would still be hard for the water to get through to the bay and then to here. We're down in the lower bay area.

While I wasn't worried about us, I was still glued to the news throughout the day. Some lower regions along the coast were evacuated and the highways clogged. Some people went out to see what was going on and get pictures. One of those guys was actually knocked over and pulled out to sea. Some of the harbors were destroyed. There was a clip of a distraught woman on the news that sticks with me. She clearly was wealthy and upset about the boats getting destroyed but since some of those boats were homes I can see how is was upsetting.

That of course pales in comparison to the destruction in Japan. I saw a clip last night of people wandering through the wreckage while it was snowing and I just can't imagine what it must be like. There are lots of videos out there, but I thought the six minute clip (that now I can't find) really showed the tsunami best. I figured it would be a huge wave that came in (thanks, Hollywood) but these six minutes show the destruction totally differently.

Today, as we are getting ready for lunch, Full House was interrupted with a tornado warning. This one threw me for a loop for two reasons. First, they have tornadoes here? What? Second, where do we go in this shrinky dink house? I texted Chris and informed him of the warning and that we would be in the coat closet.

I thought that when we moved here our biggest concern would be an earthquake. The Big One is coming and California will float away from the rest of the continental US. Tsunamis should be expected, I just didn't know that. Tornadoes though?

Side note: I really should get an earthquake kit together.

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