Severe Weather Preparedness Drill, A Second Strike for the Mid Valley (Page 13, English)

A Second Strike

3:19 p.m.

Just as it did at the office in McAllen the storm strikes your house quickly. A faint rumble turns quickly into a roar as 100 mph winds tear through the neighborhood. Trees and powerlines fall in seconds, outdoor lawn objects fly, Hail cracks one of your double paned windows and pelts your roof as shingles peel back against the wind. Down the street your neighbors mobile home is picked up and tossed 500 yards, coming apart through the flight and disintigrating on impact.

Down the street two cars are picked up and thrown into an overpass. Another few seconds and it's over as quickly as it started. Your family climbs out of the tub to a darkened home, all OK. They walk to the window and notice a few cracks, but nothing made it through! Outside though is a different story. The yard is littered with trees and pieces of insulation, a power pole, with lines attached rests in the street. Your neighbor walks out of a cooler at a restaurant down the street. He went there to take cover in a stronger building after you called him. A lot better than flying along with his mobile home!

To be safe they check their phone and see a Severe Weather Statement has been issued. Fortunately the tornado is now southeast of them, and moving east. At the NWS office the meteorologists are tracking debris from the tornado on radar, confirming it's presence even though its completely surrounded by rain and impossible to see with the naked eye.

You've tried calling but can't get through, you send a text saying you are OK and get one back from them saying the same. Often times in a disaster phone lines will be full, but there is sufficient space for mobile to mobile text messages.

About that time a Fire Truck pulls into your offices parking lot. Firefighters help your staff out of the building and to a nearby bus that takes you out of the hardest hit area. After about an hour the road out of your neighborhood is safe to travel on and your family comes to the shelter to pick you up. Its going to be a long and expensive road back to normal, but everyone is safe because they did the right things when the weather became dangerous.