Random weather thread
- Thread starter giles
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Just talked to my guys. Gonna take a load of trash and extra pipe into the shop and call it. Get a few hours in but F this.
Bighoun52
Active Member
Week? How about a day!
Watched out the front windows. Screen door glass was down so we could listen. We were okay. (I think. I never did walk around the property to confirm.) Sounds like they were hit all around us. Ada, west of Findlay, Botkins, Fryburg (outside of Wapakoneta), Lakeview. . . Probably some others. I've seen pics and read some posts. Classmate of mine had a tree go thru their family cottages at Indian Lake. Sounded like his dad was there when the tree came thru the roof. Didn't sound like he was hurt but lots of family memories gone. Not confirmed but my son's friend text him pics. Kid's grandmas building was down and said part of the Menards building came apart. Not the first time Havemann Road has been hit by a tornado. Scary stuff. Prayers for this affected.
Sounds like Russell's Point and Lakeview got hit hard. They are looking for any and all volunteers and EMS from what we heard. Myself and two other guys are loaded and rolling. 10-15min ETA. Lights. Batteries. Reflective vests. Radios. Water. I put a text out to several PD and EMT people I know who might be there. Hopefully they can direct us to where we can help.
Update: made it thru check point one. They are sending us to the fire department for further instruction.
Update: made it thru check point one. They are sending us to the fire department for further instruction.
God bless you and the others for stepping up and helping out Phil. Thoughts and prayers to all who were effected.
Wish I could say I've done something. Sadly, all I did was clean off some spare EMS stretchers. They were being put back into service for duties I'd rather not type out loud. Other than wiping off some stretchers, we've walked 4-5 miles. Fortunately we haven't found anyone. It's just a flurry of gas, power, EMS, police, skid loaders, chain saws, people on foot like we are. . . Expected chaos of a mass casualty scene. Especially one spread out over such a wide spread area. Truthfully, it isn't "out of control chaos." There are just a ton of people doing a ton of different things. Maybe "hectic" is a better word. Less negative connotation. About to walk several miles back to our chase vehicle.
Edit number 3: pretty much at ground zero. Sit around and wait. Not sure how we got thru. PD and FD staging. Probably 50-100 people. Maybe a dozen of us volunteers. Wish we had a radio. We are pretty much just on standby. Waiting to do a sweep.
Edit #4: Heading home. Walked between 9-10 miles. What appeared to be the worst areas was pretty demolished. Hard to describe the mount of debris in the lake. Surprised to see the people hunkering down in their homes in areas they couldn't get the gas turned off. I think I would have abandoned the house and returned after the gas was shut off.
Sad night for a lot of people. Lost loved ones. Memories blown away. Let's hope we hear more feel good stories of hope than sad stories in the news.
Edit number 3: pretty much at ground zero. Sit around and wait. Not sure how we got thru. PD and FD staging. Probably 50-100 people. Maybe a dozen of us volunteers. Wish we had a radio. We are pretty much just on standby. Waiting to do a sweep.
Edit #4: Heading home. Walked between 9-10 miles. What appeared to be the worst areas was pretty demolished. Hard to describe the mount of debris in the lake. Surprised to see the people hunkering down in their homes in areas they couldn't get the gas turned off. I think I would have abandoned the house and returned after the gas was shut off.
Sad night for a lot of people. Lost loved ones. Memories blown away. Let's hope we hear more feel good stories of hope than sad stories in the news.
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Nature always wins. Sad stuff. I'm sure we are headed somewhere to fix things today.
Damn, sounds horrific. Thanks for stepping up Phil!
It’s volunteers like you who make a difference.
It’s volunteers like you who make a difference.
Hope everyone across the state made it thru last night OK, definitely got sketchy in lots of places. Crazy how they all spawned within a few minutes of each other. We had to keep an eye on the one from Findlay to Shiloh, but everyone is good. Phil, way to be there for the community!
The only issue with volunteers is the lack of direction in something like this. Everyone has good intentions. They all want to pitch in. So much so, it overwhelmed the people handling the scene (s). They had to turn people away. I felt kind of useless. Like I would have been better off if they said "Can you run this loader? Good. Jump in. Let our guy go eat and rest a few hours. Listen to the guy over there and clean up whatever he needs."
I've got a diverse background. Combat life saver (which is crude life saving skills and thankfully nothing I ever needed to practice), EMT-B, Fire fighter, motor pool, equipment operator. All the medical stuff is expired. I'm not current. Standing next to me are two ER nurses with a doctor on the way. What do I do? Step back and let them do what they do for a living. And truthfully, I think they were sent home.
Typical mass movement of people wanting to help with no structure to handle the volunteers. They couldn't use the resources sitting at their disposal. It truly was a good problem.
The reality is they may never need to prepare for something like this because they may never see it again in our lifetime.
I recognized my place. I knew there was a greater chance of me being in the way than being an asset. We sort of free lanced a bit. Walked thru. Listened. Talked to home owners outside who were really just digesting the events. I think a lot of them just needed someone to listen. They were okay ok physically. Just emotionally smacked around. Wish I could say I was a benefit to them. Not sure I was. That's okay though. Most well intentioned people in these events create more obstacles for the first response teams. I made sure we didn't create more emergencies for them to deal with. Why go crawl into a structure that is sketchy at best in regards to collapsing? That is dumb. Now if you heard someone in there looking for help. . . Get a hold of the right people to handle it. Let them bring their axes and haligan bars and sledgehammers out to play. Don't try to be a hero and create more casualties.
To summarize: I was there. Doubt I was of any benefit to them. Had good intent. Not unlike the hundreds of others. Didn't create more work for the overworked fire, EMS, road crews, utility workers. . .
I've got a diverse background. Combat life saver (which is crude life saving skills and thankfully nothing I ever needed to practice), EMT-B, Fire fighter, motor pool, equipment operator. All the medical stuff is expired. I'm not current. Standing next to me are two ER nurses with a doctor on the way. What do I do? Step back and let them do what they do for a living. And truthfully, I think they were sent home.
Typical mass movement of people wanting to help with no structure to handle the volunteers. They couldn't use the resources sitting at their disposal. It truly was a good problem.
The reality is they may never need to prepare for something like this because they may never see it again in our lifetime.
I recognized my place. I knew there was a greater chance of me being in the way than being an asset. We sort of free lanced a bit. Walked thru. Listened. Talked to home owners outside who were really just digesting the events. I think a lot of them just needed someone to listen. They were okay ok physically. Just emotionally smacked around. Wish I could say I was a benefit to them. Not sure I was. That's okay though. Most well intentioned people in these events create more obstacles for the first response teams. I made sure we didn't create more emergencies for them to deal with. Why go crawl into a structure that is sketchy at best in regards to collapsing? That is dumb. Now if you heard someone in there looking for help. . . Get a hold of the right people to handle it. Let them bring their axes and haligan bars and sledgehammers out to play. Don't try to be a hero and create more casualties.
To summarize: I was there. Doubt I was of any benefit to them. Had good intent. Not unlike the hundreds of others. Didn't create more work for the overworked fire, EMS, road crews, utility workers. . .
Talk about an overwhelming amount of pics and drone footage for the Indian Lake area. . . Horrible. I suspect it will make national news networks if it hasn't already. Haven't heard an official number of fatalities or casualties. I've heard a lot of different numbers though. One fatality is too many. Sounds like there was more than one.
Back to the good news. Let's find our silver linings. More volunteers than they can handle. More food, diapers, water, etc than anticipated. People offering generators to strangers. Restaurants opening up to serve in spite of their own damages. YWCA/YMCA opening their doors for showers. I could go on. Lots of positives if you look for them. Helps offset some of the terrible images we are seeing.
Back to the good news. Let's find our silver linings. More volunteers than they can handle. More food, diapers, water, etc than anticipated. People offering generators to strangers. Restaurants opening up to serve in spite of their own damages. YWCA/YMCA opening their doors for showers. I could go on. Lots of positives if you look for them. Helps offset some of the terrible images we are seeing.
That's the real rural America showing. The part that needs to shine again. In hard times we help eachotger with whatever need. People talking face to face and lending a helping hand. We don't need to wait on a hand out from big brother, we take care of our own. That's damn good and I'm proud as hell of the community.