Well here I am again telling another story about my crazy life. Friday Aug. 24th almost ended my life. I was spotting for the National Weather Service and things got ugly very fast. Normally I try to stage myself in a area that I can seek safety if conditions turn sour. Friday I did'nt have that opportunity. The storm I was spotting came up on me with intense speed and power. When I relized I was in a bad situation I turned my car around to try to get away. It was too late. The next thing I know was I can't see the front of my car because of the extremely heavy rain and hail. Oh and the 85+ mph wind did'nt help much either. This was'nt a Tornado, but instead straight line winds. These winds can be just as bad as a tornado and sometimes worse. Debri was flying all around me and I felt my ears popping from the change in air pressure. The worse was yet to happen.

As I was trying to escape mother nature, she was'nt gonna let me get away. Before I could blink, I felt my car being pushed to the left. I tried to steer back to the right, but my VW Getta did'nt respond. The next thing I relized was I am being blown across the road by the high winds. Then blam! I am in a corn field blinded by corn stalks. The only window I could see through was my passenger side, which faced the road I was once on. The car was still shaking violently and the hail continued to pound my car. I was totally out of control of the situation. I just sat there waiting to flip over or even die. It lasted another 10 mins or so ,which seemed like 10 hours, and then it stopped! The rain seemed to just instantly quit. It also got very quiet except for thunder to the east. I got out of my car through the passenger door and walked to the road. All I could see was tree limbs and corn stalks all over the road. It was a mess. My hands were shaking and the hair on the back of my neck was standing up. But then I relized I had a job to do. So I took my cell phone out and called the NWS and told them that the county to the East was getting ready to get pounded and to hit the sirens. They thanked me and did just that. It may have saved some lives, but I'll never know for sure.

AS for my car, It was covered with corn leaves, but no major damage. A nice farmer drove by in his truck and pulled me out. I told him I was sorry about the damage to his field and he replied "As long as you are alright I don't care about the field".

7,000 people lost power as a result of this storm and many trees were downed. Thankfully there were no severe injuries. One house was completely destroyed by a tree, but no one inside was hurt.

Well that was my weekend......How was yours?

Lt. Dan