Tornadoes In Virginia

Photo courtesy of "The Hook" Charlottesville, Virginia (Photo not attributed furthur)








Daniel and our family prepared for, and successfully avoided damage here on the farm, from many tornadoes over his short lifetime. I remember being here on this farm, while it was being built. We were waiting for a particular contractor to come and work on something that day, and we were working on the computer in the rv we had stationed at the animal barn here. We spent a lot of hours watching tv or doing homework while waiting for a particular contractor to build out home. One afternoon, when our two older ones were out, and my husband was at work, Matthew and Daniel and I were here, and we were finished taking care of animals. It was very blustery, and the clouds rolled and made shapes like smoke. It happened so quickly that it looked like a tornado formed before our eyes. We knew we would not be safe in the rv, and so we headed for the house, despite the fact that it was under construction. We wound up hiding at the lowest point in the basement holding a huge unwound roll of silver bubble-wrapped insulation for heating systems over us, until the storm had passed. The animals had simply gone inside the small open barn and were also fine.
Daniel would have appreciated this video. Someone in the next county filmed the tornado which did the damage to the plantation house "Sylvania" which I posted above. The video below was taken on October 13, 2011 in Louisa, Virginia in the Green Springs area. This was an area Daniel knew well.

The 5.9 Earthquake

I have long felt that my area was overdue for a significant earthquake. This is what motivated us to put an earthquake rider on our homeowner's insurance and to secure much of the heavier mirrors,furniture and other things, to walls. A few years ago, we had a 4.3 earthquake while I was out changing alpaca waters, and Stephanie brought Daniel out to the front yard, who was barefoot at the time.
No one is injured here thankfully, but we have damage. Our kitchen has pots and pans thrown to the floor. The pantry looks as if it has thrown all of its food to the floor. Jars crashed and exploded, and a jar of ketchup ruptured and is all over the floor. Our bedroom bookcases look as if they have thrown CDs, DVDs, books, and decorative items. Our daughter's room has a lot of damage. Our outbuildings have damage and cracks in their siding, although we do not yet see foundational cracks. We are certainly fortunate that this was not much worse.
Interestingly, today, and when we have had earthquakes before, Stephanie, Adam and I have headaches, nausea, and auditory disturbances when there is an impending earthquake. Today was no different. Perhaps we are sensitive to barometric pressure changes or to the sliding of one tectonic plate against another. Our poor cat is still upset.
I am hearing that schools will be closed in the neighboring five counties for the next few days. Virginia Commonwealth University has closed for the day. The quake was felt as far away as Toronto. The Pentagon and the Capitol in DC have been evacuated. Shelters have been opened nearby for people with signficant home damage. There have been at least two aftershocks.
Our cellular and regular phones have also been out for most of the afternoon. I finally reached all of our kids, and everyone is ok, though shaken. The tv says that there is structural damage in Baltimore, DC, Virginia and other places also.
So far this week, Adam was in one of our outbuildings while it was struck by lightning. Two days later, we have earthquake damage. We are expecting a hurricane, and possibly tornadoes. I think I want a nap.

Update: Thus far, there have been three aftershocks, 2.2, 2.3 and 4.2 and it's only 8:30 pm