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Funnel clouds pass area by

Southeast Missourian

Funnel clouds were sighted Saturday evening in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties, but they passed through the area without touching down.

Around 7:30 p.m. the Department of Public Safety at Southeast Missouri State University sounded a tornado siren when a tornado warning was issued for Cape Girardeau County.

There were unofficial reports of funnel clouds north of Advance, Mo., and west of Jackson as well as large hail and strong winds.

A Southeast spring football game was called off with less than five minutes to go in the fourth quarter. At Rose Theatre on the university campus, the audience was temporarily relocated to the basement of the building when the warning siren went off.

And just across town here, we got no wind and just a gentle rain. These tornado warnings are nerve wracking. A warning means that one has actually been spotted. A watch means that conditions are favorable for a tornado to form. No one around here really pays attention to a watch, as they are so common. We lucked out again here.

I used to dread the warnings so much if on shift at the hospital. Security actually went up on the roof to act as spotters. When the weather code was announced over the PA, we had to rush patients in rooms on the outside walls to the hallway and provide tanks for those on oxygen. Those that could not be moved, we put their tray over their heads. Then we had to rush to the critical care areas to standby for those on ventilators. One night the electricity was going in and out in a matter of seconds. Our generators kept sensing power on and then shut down. It was pitch black for about thirty seconds, but felt like an hour. After that mess, they installed battery lighting all over.

All in all, I'd rather go through a hurricane than a tornado.