Talala storms! Duck Reaper!!

[Perchjerker101]

Craig,

Been worryin about you all evening. Hope ur OK. Please reply when able. (Sorry about postin on the main page, but figured you'd see it sooner. You can delete as soon as you reply if u wish. U can pm me instead.)

[Stinkfinger]

I've been concerned too. I'm hoping it all blew past him.

[Crappie Reaper]

I had been flipping the TV channels between Fox news live coverage of OKC and the local stations. I knew that the Pawhuska storm was heading towards us as much as an hour plus in advance. Since it was mostly a rural storm, the coverage of the size of it was not really evident and instead of taking shelter in my neighbors bolted down steel box storm shelter, I made the call that if I felt a threat from it, I would load the kids up and head back towards hwy 169 and make a beeline to the south.

The heavy rain hit about 25 minutes prior to it's arrival time and caused DISH Network to lose signal so I went to the PC and pulled up KOTV interactive radar. Living inside of a metal shop building results in poor radio reception and I couldn't pick up KRMG, (am or fm) and KFAQ was weak and had so much interference from the lighting strikes I was dependent on the radar off the web. With the varrying reports of it moving ESE or ENE, I really couldn't tell if it was tracking close enough to us or not. I called my neighbor whose husband is out of town and told her to load here kids and drive to Oologah ASAP. I loaded the girls and drove to her house telling her to GO NOW! We left and sat at hwy 169 and 310 road watching the storm come in. Everything was rain wrapped and really couldn't tell where the bad stuff was. I went ahead and turned south and got just to the south of the storm and turned off on 330 rd and parked in an entry into a ranchers field facing North. Several people stopped to watch the storm, one had a radio and was talking to a friend closer to the brunt of it claiming he was seeing debris. Whisperer sent a text saying that he hopes that I was watching the weather. I told him I had front row seats.

We watched as the storm moved east and I knew it had already passed Vada Point, so we headed back to the house. About the time, I recieved a text from Ken, a.k.a., Starfish telling me to "Take cover now".

We got back to the homestead and everything was fine. It was shortly after that we heard that it crossed hwy 169 around the 290 rd area (south of Watova slightly). That's 3 miles north of me so we were in good shape.

I normally can call the tracking of a Tornado within a half mile, but losing the DISH signal kept me in the dark as far as accuracy. I'm the one the family calls to see if they need to shelter or not. My Mother and Sister were close to the BA tornado a couple of nights ago. I called them to let them know they were going to be ok, as that tornado was due South of them by 2+ miles and for them not to worry.

Thanks to everyone concerned with me and the girls during the storm. I was more concerned about those in the OKC area with that storm down there. I'm suprised there were such few deaths as sad as it is that anyone died.

Folks, please make your family members aware that Tornado Watches should be taken seriously and that they need to climb out of their shell long enough to know what's happening in their area. With the technology available today, there is no reason anyone should perish in a storm.

Thanks again!

[Redge]

Glad your okay Reaper.

[dinobot]

Good to hear you and the girls are ok bud.

[Stinkfinger]

Well hell, we all had a really good funeral planned for you too. Was gonna lay you in a boat, launch it, and Eufaula Boy was going to shoot a flaming arrow into it and send you proper to Val Halla. Oh well, it was the thought that counts. Glad you're ok Reaper.

[Perchjerker101]

Glad to hear all was ok Reaper. I had the same problem with my DirecTV. About the time you really need to be paying attention, the signal goes south! Fortunately, I have a scanner that had the EOC and storm chasers programmed and could also watch radar online. We need to lobby KOTV to stream their broadcasts during dangerous situations like OKC's channel 5 does. When the first ones were hitting Moore the other day, I was able to watch all of that live, from work, online. Didn't even appear to have any delay. That could potentially be a life-saver. I plan to call and ask if they have it in the works.

[Crappie Reaper]

It's why I keep a landline phone for the internet. Got to be able to stay informed and out here, the radio signal at night is weak.

[varmithunter]

hey reaper I have a cousin that lives on 320 road(Wayne Watkins) do you know him?varmithunter

[Crappie Reaper]

hey reaper I have a cousin that lives on 320 road(Wayne Watkins) do you know him?varmithunter

Nope, I tries not to know too many folks.