Ping John Eldredge

Did y'all make the through the tornadoes in Nashville without damage?

Julie, Hobbes, Selena, Lacey, Sam and Barnabus

John F. Eldredge...

Yes, the storms mostly hit Gallatin, a suburb 10 miles or so north of
where I live. I left town Friday evening for a church-group retreat,
and didn't get back to Nashville until a couple of hours ago.

My retreat was held at Tims Ford State Park, in Winchester, TN, which
is fairly close to Chattanooga, so I had a long drive down Friday
night. I wondered if I would encounter a tornado on the way down. I
didn't do so, but did go through an area that had received a heavy
fall of hail a few minutes previously, and had to drive through some
rain heavy enough to have me creeping along about 10 miles per hour.

John F. Eldredge...

P.S. The web site for the local (Nashville, TN) newspaper is
tornado-related. They have a lot of photos of the damage, and (to
make this on-topic) a picture of a firefighter carrying a rescued cat.

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)...

At least drivers in your part of the country have the good
sense to "creep" under those conditions. In Southern
California they tend to drive as fast as ever, and delight
in seeing how far they can spray water, when they zoom
through a flooded intersection! (Out here, those of us with
any sense do our best to avoid driving in the rain, whenever
possible - mainly because we're afraid of the other drivers.)

John F. Eldredge...

Having once hydroplaned on a bridge and spun out, years ago,
fortunately without hitting anything, I now know not to drive too fast
in a pouring rain, particularly if parts of the road are flooded
several inches deep by runoff.

By the time I hit the hardest rain, I was off the Interstate and
driving down a twisty country road. Between the bends in the road and
the heavy rain, there were times my visibility was down to just a few
car-lengths. I considered finding somewhere to park until the rain
let up, but decided that, given the possibility of a tornado, I would
rather keep going until I could make it to my destination, rather than
remaining in the car.