Today on January 9th, after a whole night of light sleep because of strong winds and driving winds throughout the night, we are awakened by an alert on our phones at 6:45, directing us to take shelter due to a tornado watch. Claudette pulled out her “go” backpack and we simply had to cross the street in the campground since the bath houses are just diagonal across us. The watch was allowed to expire at 07:15, and thankfully it was a false alert. Nevertheless it was a close call, as an actual tornado impacted the Florida Panhandle where we are staying. See a picture of an campground which was impacted in the area. Thankfully, we by lunchtime, we had a clear blue sky. But strong winds are ongoing.
Claudette’s 2 Cents.
In all our years of RVing (since 2005), this is only the second time that we’ve had to seek shelter. I’m glad we did because the weather is so unpredictable. The idea of the emergency backpack came to us when we lived in Herndon and experienced the derecho in 2012. Since then, I’ve maintained a dedicated backpack with emergency supplies, a first aid kit, and now, with Bernard’s tracheostomy, his travel kit.