And it was gone with the wind.
By Amber
@AmbiePam (120630)
United States
June 15, 2011 3:40pm CST
Well, it started with golf ball sized hail. It was so loud it started to freak my dog, Annabelle out. I went into the hallway because all of a sudden things started flying at the windows. I couldn't see anything outside, it was all a jumbled mass. I heard the loudest sound I had heard in quite sometime. Then I heard, "Get inside! Get inside! It's coming!" I thought it couldn't be a tornado I would have heard the siren. Then the power went out. So about 30 minutes later night was descending and I decided to go get a flashlight from my parent's home because the two candles I had were not enough to see. That was when I saw what the noise had been. The firemen and ambulance were waiting because half of my building's roof had been blown off (apparently the person yelling about 'it coming' was talking about the roof debris). I was blessed to be in the half that still had the roof.
Parts of the roof were in the parking lot, all over the sidewalks, up in trees. And parts of trees were strewn about as well. No one had been seriously injured. The Red Cross came out to help all the people who had to find a place to stay. The local news came out too, and all I could think was how can the news reporter wear a suit in the humid heat?
So it was jut really high winds, around 80mph. At least that's what I've heard so far. The power came back on around 3am, and then went off again around 11am this morning. Fortunately, it came on again a couple hours later and I won't have to deal with the heat without the air conditioner.
Do you have rental or home insurance? What was the last bit of damage that was done to your home? I've got dents in my car from the hail, but otherwise nothing else is wrong with my stuff.
8 people like this
20 responses
@carolscash (9491)
• United States
15 Jun 11
First of all, thankfully you are safe and unharmed and your home is still standing and with a roof. It must have been some really hard wind to take off the roof of a building. I hope that the people who lived there are all safe.
Yes, we do have insurance and I think that it is something that many people who rent are not aware that they can get, at least near me. I hear people say all the time that they need to get a home where they can get insurance. Renter's insurance is available to anyone who rents for a small charge.
2 people like this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
15 Jun 11
Although I have known about renter's insurance for some time, I don't think I ever had enough money to be able to purchase it. I find it hard to come up with enough to insure my car. I know that many auto insurers will give you a discount for having multiple policies if you include renter's insurance along with your auto insurance.
1 person likes this
@KrauseHome (36445)
• United States
2 Jul 11
Wow!! Sounds like that was quite a storm. We have Home owners insurance, and Car insurance so we are covered from a lot. We had to use the Car insurance last yr. when we were in a Car accident. Hoping we really never have to use the Home owners though. But a person that does not have that should only hope they never have to wish they did.
1 person likes this
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
16 Jun 11
I am glad that you are safe and that your half of the building is ok.
I do not have renters insurance. I really probably should have it though.
The last damage to my house was the ceiling in the dining room started to drip a little bit the last time it rained really hard. The landlord had someone come out and look to see what was going on. I guess we will see next time it rains hard if it really got fixed.
1 person likes this
@Hatley (163772)
• Garden Grove, California
15 Jun 11
hi ambiepam there are some good things about htis blasted Gold c rest retirement center. we are not liable for any damages should we have some catastrophe here. most of the time its just power outages as the
building and wiring are 40 years old .I suppose or at least hope that the wiring has been updated over the years.We have had no wind damage and the last hail storm in this area was five years ago. we have shake rattle and rolls occasionally but so far just 2 nd 3's and 4's. nothing to really worry about.Oh Ambie I do wish we did have a home, thats my dearest wish and pray it comes true before its my time to go to heaven. lol
1 person likes this
@rosegardens (3032)
• United States
16 Jun 11
I am so glad you are ok! I am hoping no one was seriously injured in that storm. Hopefully many people have rental insurance and will be able to have their stuff replaced. Most people who rent do not think about insurance though, and some just cannot afford it with all the other bills. I really hope everyone is ok, and glad to hear you and Annabelle have not been harmed!
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (169448)
• United States
16 Jun 11
I am glad you are safe and I hope you get a flashlight soon. Straight line winds can do a ton of damage and so can hail. I had not been watching television or checking weather online and did not know that there was severe weather down there.
1 person likes this
@Kashmeresmycat (6369)
• United States
16 Jun 11
Wow Ambie, I'm so very, very glad to hear you and Annabelle are alright!! How scary that must have been!!! I was just glued to your discussion reading it and pictured myself inside wondering what the heck I would have done. Those certainly are not miniature sized hail and I'm glad you stayed away from the windows.
We only had high winds for maybe 2 minutes here once and that was enough for me, just watching the tree and branches next to my bedroom window bend all over the place. The only good thing, I think, would be that I'm on the second floor so I'm in between everything. It was a very bad storm but we got nothing here compared to other people. I don't think they went as high as yours did at 80mph but around 60 or so and that was scary enough for me. And then of course, I worry about my daughters too, coming home from work, etc.
So sorry to hear about your car too. Isn't it always something. The worst part of all this is, I don't see the storms, tornado's, earthquakes, etc. going away. I think over the years, it's going to get worse.
As I said, I'm glad you are ok along with your dog. Hugs hon. 
1 person likes this
@oscar6 (1938)
• United States
16 Jun 11
Oh my I am sorry that this happened to you. My mom's house recently got hit by a tornado. The roof got torn off in three of the rooms, two bedrooms and a bathroom. They are still trying to rebuild it and its been a couple months now. Its a really scary thing but thank goodness noone was home and everyone was ok including my moms dog whom was the only one home.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
16 Jun 11
How scary! I'm glad you're okay!
1 person likes this
@paula27661 (15811)
• Australia
16 Jun 11
What a relief that you and Annabelle are unhurt and your damage is minimal. We haven’t had any personal experience like that thankfully although we did have a huge hail storm a while back that caused a lot of damage to people’s vehicles. So many were completely written off due to the hail damage. I have never seen so many dented up cars around as I have since the storm. Those who were insured were covered for new cars and my heart goes out to those who weren’t...
1 person likes this
@feeltheirie (301)
• Philippines
16 Jun 11
It is good to hear that you are okay. The last time our house was affected by a natural disaster was hen a typhoon hit our country and the whole city was flooded. We were really not ne of those who lost their house or whose house was totally ruined. but it was the first time that there was flood inside our house. Thankfully it was just below knee level. We are very fortunate as other people's houses were really deep in the flood that they had to go on top of their roofs.
1 person likes this
@RitterSport (2451)
• Lippstadt, Germany
19 Jun 11
Dear Ambie just reading this makes me shudder. It must be scary to live in a part of the world where tornadoes and other such catastrophes hit quick and hard.
Yesterday we went to church, it drizzled a bit but the weather was still okay, also when the Mass was finished some 45 minutes later.
I had asked husband whether we could drop some important stuff at the dentists and put it into his mailbox so he has it by Monday Morming and he said yes but it really started raining like mad. I have not seen something like this in a long time. You could barely see and I asked my husband to park the car till the worst was over and so he did. We decided to get home as soon as we can instead of getting the papers to the dentist then.
1 person likes this
@jillhill (37353)
• United States
15 Jun 11
About 15 years ago I had my roof destroyed by hail also....I was gone which to me was a blessing as I had my car. The insurance totally covered it...and my eave troves....and a few other things like water damage upstairs. Yes...I carry insurance on my house. Glad you are okay...if it gets really hot there someday....take a tray of ice cubes out and when the metal on your car is hot put an ice cube on it.....many of the dents will pop right out!
1 person likes this
@daeckardt (6237)
• United States
15 Jun 11
Wow! It sounds like you got lucky in this instance! I don't know much about tornado sirens, but the last time ours went off, it turned out to be a false alarm. Of course, the day that the tornado hit Joplin, I didn't hear about it as it was too far away from where I live. I think I would freak out if I knew there was a tornado hitting my neighborhood. That would be really difficult to deal with! I'm glad you are ok and that everyone was able to have a roof over their head, even if it were a public shelter rather than their own home.
1 person likes this
@jerzgirl (9384)
• United States
15 Jun 11
Holy cow!! I'd be scared spitless in that situation!! I'm so afraid of tornadoes. And, I don't even live in tornado alley!! I'd have been a nervous wreck during the whole ordeal. Thankfully, your part of the building wasn't damaged, but that was some severe wind to rip the roof right off! You're very lucky.
1 person likes this
@yoyo1198 (3641)
• United States
15 Jun 11
So glad you and Annabelle are safe. That had to be down right scary. We had hail here last month but it didn't last long enough to do damage to my car. The strong hellish straight line winds did blow my front screen door off of the hinges. The door was closed. I was at the neighbor's sitting with her as she was afraid with all of the warnings that were out. I had the maintenance guy take the door completely down and told them not to put up another one until after the tornado and storm season is over. So I've still got no screen door.
We get siren warnings for severe thunderstorms as well as tornadoes. It would have been better for you all to have had some kind of warning.
Did you talk to the people on the lower level about sharing their place during a warning?
1 person likes this
@bunnybon7 (50970)
• Holiday, Florida
15 Jun 11
oh my gosh, how scarey that is. my little dog freaks to from things like that and strangely, its mostly what we get here in az, is high winds and sometimes hail. but seldom. maybe once every couple of years. 
glad it wasnt to bad after all and you are ok