Tornado Experience in Four Oaks NC

Yesterday, we spent 10-15 minutes in the men restroom of the Four Oaks NC police department while dime sized and a few golf ball sized hail plummeted us. Not our idea of a fun afternoon in our adventure of a lifetime.

About 30 minutes before our bathroom experience, the RV Park owner came to warn us to watch the weather. We turned on the local cable television and sure enough there was a long front the length of South Carolina, North Carolina and into Virginia that had purple (tornado potential) cells in it. I called 911 and asked where we could go since we were in a motorhome. They suggested the Four Oaks Fire Department or EMS building.

We started putting things away and brought in the motorhome slides just in case. I put our backup drive, our medications, my kindle -- who knows how long we would be holed up -- in my carrying case. We turned off all the electrical appliances and air conditioner. We were ready to leave if things got worse. They did....

Our first alert radio and been real active for the last few hours -- it was now about 4:20 pm. Then came the announcement that the following areas needed to take cover and Four Oaks was one of them. So off we went not real sure where the Fire Department was. However, Four Oaks is a real small town so we thought we could find it. We saw a police officer driving in the police car. We followed her into the parking lot and asked where could we go. She said, "Here". So we went in and she told us if the tornado hit we should head for the men's bathroom. In the meantime, we watched the police department television. They predicted the tornados would hit at 4:38 pm

Sure enough around 4:38, we looked out the front windows and it had started to hail. First it was dime sized, then it was a few almost golf ball size. Then a couple with a teenager came -- they lived in a mobile home and decided not to stay. The officer was standing at the back door and actually saw the tornado and said it was time to head for the men's restroom. Thank god we were in the restroom. I had to pee!!! Then the lights went out. Well, it did not hit us and it was over in a few moments. We were told by Police Officer Holly it had moved out.

We just have a few minor dents in the car and if anything dented on the motorhome it did not show and who cares if the roof got dented. They figure we had 62 tornados in North Carolina. There were nine that hit down alone in our area. It did hit a KOA RV park about 6-7 miles from us and decimated a bunch of RVs. So, going cheaper was a good thing!!!! Whew!!! That is as close as I ever want to be to a tornado.

A sign that was demolished.

Trees, houses, businesses and electrical lines all affected.

This house had lost some of its roof.  A Lowe's in Raleigh was totally smashed and the hero manager saved 100 people by having them all go back to the back of the store.  Way to go!!!

Two hours later you would never know the havoc that had just happened...except

 maybe that the electricity was out for 12 hours.