We didn't need the National Weather Service to tell us this was a tornado!

On Wednesday afternoon I was having a little lie down. Suddenly I heard a howling and banging noise and some other strange sounds coming from the window that I could not identify. I instinctively moved away from the bedroom window, and then against good sense, but compelled by curiosity, I moved towards the front window of our apartment.

When I looked out to the street through the rattling window, I saw pieces of aluminum siding and tree branches flying through the air, level with our third-floor window and higher, in spiral patterns. I stared for a few seconds, fascinated, and then suddenly it was over. I remember at some point during it all I heard sirens, but not warning sirens as far as I know. I don't even think we have those here.

I got dressed and went downstairs and saw people in our courtyard picking up tree branches. What a wind storm, I thought. Then I walked to the front of the building, where I was able to take in the full picture. The man who works at the pharmacy downstairs was standing outside, along with just about the rest of the town's population, as far as I could tell, and I asked him, foolishly, "Was it a tornado?" "Yeah," he replied, as we all looked around us in disbelief.

The street was filled with people, trees and debris, but the silence was palatable at first. People conversed quietly and soon the sirens started in earnest. The National Weather Service took a day or two to offically decide what we already knew, that this was, indeed, a tornado, and a class F2 tornado with winds up to 125 MPH at that! Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt or killed. We sustained no damage at all to our apartment (thanks, Rockefellers, for ensuring our building was so well constructed with masonry and good workmanship). Here are a couple of the many photos I took.