Myakka River State Park, Sarasota, Florida
It began to rain last evening around 9:30pm. It has rained a lot while we have been in Florida this winter thanks to El Nino. The rain continued all night.
The rain was extremely heavy, the thunder loud, waking us up periodically. Around 3:15am or so our iPhones were screeching, lighting up our bedroom. We knew right away that a weather alert was sent to the phone. It stated: “Severe Thunderstorms in the area until 4:00am.” Okay, we could deal with that, we certainly knew we were right in the middle of a severe thunderstorm.
The next screech alerted us a few minutes later, “Tornado Warning until 4:15am, Seek Shelter Immediately.” Okay, this isn’t good.” What to do?
The next alert came within minutes, “Tornado Warning until 4:30am, Seek Shelter Immediately.” Still the question, “what to do”. Its very dark here in the park, it is raining hard, the wind is gusting and we are in a RV!
It continued to rain heavily, the lightning and thunder were frequent, and the wind was gusting at times, rocking the coach. It was reported this morning, that in some areas the wind gusts were 125mph.
We began to watch the radar on the iPhone, watching the little blue dot that was us, wishing this storm would pass over quickly. Eventually it passed and we fell back to sleep. Needless to say, it was scary. Our winter home on wheels is no completion against a tornado.
This morning, watching the Weather Channel, we learned that there were two tornadoes near us, houses and businesses were damaged, two people were killed and many others injured.
We have never experienced anything this severe while traveling in our coach. Yes, we have been in thunderstorms and high winds, but we haven’t been in the vicinity of two tornadoes before.
We were fortunate, we had our iPhones and received these alerts, at least we knew what was going on. I have to wonder, what should/could we have done, if anything?
Our heart goes out to those who were in harms way.
Wolf Song Blog 
Glad to hear those things turned out safe. Living where I do, the hounds and I have experience those iPhone alerts, never a good feeling.
Steve, I just hope you don’t have them to frequently!
Springtime or early summer is the target area. Weather has been so strange in recent years we had damage in February a few years ago.
So glad you were ok Shelia!
Hi Annie, thanks for checking on us!
Glad to hear you survived the storms:) I was so surprised to learn of the tornadoes. Boy, there has been some terrible weather in your area lately. Be safe:)
Hi Pam, yes there has been. Just this morning we were having heavy rain. Hopefully, all cleared out now.
Ranger saw us walking earlier and told us to seek shelter in the bath house if we get tornado warnings. At least he was driving around letting people know about the approaching thunderstorm .
Glad yawl are having good weather in Tucson!
So glad you were ok. When we have camped where tornadoes are not unusual we receive instructions on where to go in case of a warning, usually the bath house. Thank goodness we’ve never been through anything as bad as you described.
Hi Beth! It appears the bath house is the place to go, if you can get there!! Thanks for checking in with us!!
Yikes! We have never had a tornado warning. Being in the middle of the night makes it 100 times more scary! Thank you for posting…gives us all something to think about. So very thankful you are all ok.
Hi Gay! I see you guys are heading to Tucson and will meet up with the group there! Have fun!
Thanking for checking in!!
The only serious tornado warning we ever had was in Florida, on Vilano Beach. It was pretty scary, we took the dogs and ran to the campground’s laundry room until the wind/rain stopped and we were given the all clear.
Hi Sue, no it isn’t any fun. Good thing it doesn’t happen very often. The other day we met a black, standard people; he was beautiful and reminded me of Lewis! I have read your blog for a long time and enjoy seeing what your “fur kids” are up to! Enjoy AZ!