: The Internet almost seems to exist outside of the real world, so it's easy to
: forget that we each live in real cities with real problems. I completely
: forgot that the UT in your address stands for University of Tampa. I can't
: imagine the force of a hurricane, but having grown up in Indianapolis, I
: certainly am familiar with severe storms and tornados.
Originally being from Arizona, the only natural disasters I had been witness to were flash floods and forest fires, and the only tornadoes we had were tiny affairs called "dust devils" and they were only good at knocking down trash cans and scaring small pets and children.
So after living in Mississippi for few months I had to laugh when I heard the air raid sirens signalling a tornado warning. I went into a Walgreens to get some trail mix and thought how it was nice to have something like some fun weather to break the monotony. Walking out of the store was a different story altogether. Something changed in those few minutes; pressure, wind, temperature, that made the hair on my neck stand up. Like how they say dogs can sense earthquakes? That's the feeling I had.
I hurried my butt home right as the lightening started; apparently a few small funnels touched down north of Memphis but nothing major. Now when those sirens go off I take heed. The lesson here I guess is not to screw around when mother nature is pissed off...
