Tornado kills four people, injures others in west Texas town

Associated Press | May 5, 2002

[MeekOneGOP]

Happy FReepers:

Not so "happy" news for Happy, Texas........

[MeekOneGOP]

Yep. There not as Happy today as they were yesterday.....

[drdemars]

Hi Ceder Dave, Was Hobbs hit bad from storm?

[palo verde]

Hi Mom
thanks for that incredible photo
Love, Palo

[CedarDave]

No -- heavy rain and quarter-size hail. It (and the one that hit Happy, TX) really gathered strength once across the border in TX. Though the border is a line drawn on a piece of paper, more often than not it really is a dividing line for severe weather systems.

[palo verde]

Both photos are thrilling
I'm stunned at all the power in that storm
I can see now why it can uproot trees and overturn cars
I too pray for the safety of the people and their pets
Love, Palo

[WIMom]

Hi palo. They look fake, don't they, like that really couldn't happen. It does. I've only seen a couple 'baby' tornados, nothing like that. Those poor families who lost their loved ones :-(

[happygrl]

Happy, Texas was where that movie with Steve Va Zant was filmed a few years ago. It was about two losers who come to rob the town's bank but are mistaken for Pageant Contest coaches who have been hired by the town.

THAT was a funny movie!

[MeekOneGOP]

I hadn't heard about it. But I don't go to many movies like I used too, either! LOL! :O)

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Hi WIMom......I was in an F5 years ago....53 people killed....20,000 without homes.....it was like being in a combat zone, after a bomb.......the amazing thing was the tornado was so huge it looked like a cloud on the ground....not a funnel!

[WIMom]

That tornado was an F5. (winds above 261 mph) There was a canning factory in the town which was destroyed. Empty vegetable cans were found 50 miles away. My parents live 5 miles from there and the storm completely missed their small town. The city was closed to all visitors for a couple weeks, but because we were volunteers for clean up, I saw the damage the next day, and you're right, it looked like a war zone. My dad was there that evening. I remember seeing a metal garbage can wrapped around a tree like plastic wrap 40 feet above the ground. What's real eerie about tornados is they can demolish a house and the one right next door has not one bit of damage.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

My sister's house was destroyed, but a candy dish on a table was still there, with the candy in it!.... and her car sat in the driveway......(of course the house was almost entirely gone..........but about a month later she had someone check under the hood (oil or something) and there was a tire iron lying across the engine.......now how in the world did that get in there? lol

[WIMom]

There are so many wierd things that tornados do. Yours is a good example. How did that tire iron get there?

Just today, as we were driving home from my daughter's track meet (about 120 north of here), the national weather service interupted the radio with a severe tornado warning. We were 10 miles north of where the storm was heading. High winds, hail, and the potential for tornados. A couple funnel clouds were spotted. We had two choices, we could have storm chased or wait it out. Since we are not professionals and have no business chasing storms, we opted to wait it out at a local coffee shop in a one horse town. That storm I was telling you about above, you should have seen all the families chasing that storm with little kids in their cars. How foolish.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

When a person has never experienced a large tornado, some tend to laugh it off and want to "watch"......but if you have ever been in one, or seen the damage a large one can do (like cut off an arm or a leg) - you tend to be a little fearful and take more caution........

I'm glad you were smart enough to wait it out........wise decision......

[Washington-Husky]

have you been in or near a tornado, TG?

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Several WH........several very large ones ------I have more than a healthy respect for tornados.......they scare the crap out of me!

[Washington-Husky]

I can only imagine!... They look absolutely frightful; sometimes you see live footage of them, when they capture them live on video. I would hate to see what would happen if a large tornado went right through the downtown section of a large city.

[WIMom]

they scare the crap out of me!

Ditto. They are very dangerous, even small ones are horrible.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

I used to get so mad at my husband when we lived in Texas - he would stand outside and look up at the sky.......I kept expecting him to be swept up in a cloud and dropped in a pasture somewhere......lol

[WIMom]

Or riding a bicycle in a cyclone...... Door-thee, DOOR-THEE!