CALLANDER: Facing local weather worries

By Alane Callander
For the Stafford County Sun
Published: June 12, 2008

Conditions converged to create some extreme turbulence in the skies last week, bringing home the importance of preparedness.

Having seen newspaper pictures and television reports about the tornado that hit England Run a few weeks ago, I was concerned about whether my family was prepared should our home ever take a hit in a storm.

One of the basic preparedness warnings is to have all your important personal papers in a safe place, not likely damaged by wind or rain or fire. My husband and I have had a small “strong box” in our home since we were married. Copies of wills, automobile and insurance information, and other critical personal documents are supposedly protected in such boxes. We also have a safety deposit box at a nearby bank where the most vital items are kept, like birth certificates and actual wills.

However, after the England Run storm, I was thinking how there are additional things that we would be wise to store in a larger strong box, one of those like you see in office supply stores that can hold actual file folders or files on CDs.

Well, it turns out I purchased one of those heavy, fire-proof file boxes at a discount store the day before new storms exploded over Stafford County. It was still in the trunk of my car, when I saw a huge black storm front crossing the sky west to east as I was driving north on U.S. 1 in the City of Fredericksburg.

I immediately used my cell phone to call my son to alert him that atornado might be forming. His response was, “Yeah, it looks ominous, doesn’t it?” He was also in town at the time and I told him to find a place with a basement to hang out. Instead, I later learned, he headed to our basement-less house. (You know how kids are!)

I hurried to a good sturdy building, Mary Washington Hospital. I found a parking spot next to a light pole, not the best place to be if a tornado hit, but I figured better the car than me.

Grabbing my raincoat to cover my head, I dashed upstairs and into the main entrance as rain began pouring down. Slightly out of breath, I entered the atrium of the hospital and tried to calm myself while walking toward the center of the floor, away from the windows. Still not feeling totally safe, I took the stairs down one flight to the basement level, where I found a secure area away from windows.

It was the perfect place to find safety in a dangerous storm, but few had thought of it, though a couple of nurses joined me. They learned by cell phone that a tornado had touched down at U.S. 17 at I-95. A friend’s truck was damaged by a downed tree limb. She took shelter at a church.

I mentioned that I take tornados seriously, having grown up in the Midwest. I really appreciated the security of the hospital basement, having sat through a tornado on the hallway floor of a single-story house without a basement in Illinois one summer. I heard the tornado whistling overhead as my mother, father and I huddled together silently praying to the powers that be.

As the nurses and I shared stories, my cell phone rang with a call from my husband. He had secured himself at the Stafford government center, since the sky to the south — as he headed toward home — was like an unconfined Fourth of July fireworks show. He left there when word came that a fierce storm was headed to the courthouse area.

Eventually all three of us made it safely home. Our son had witnessed a transformer blow up near Chatham and then arrived to a dark house. He lit a couple of candles, which sufficed until flashlights took over. I was the last to arrive home, having stopped to pick up grocery supplies that might be needed in an extended blackout.

We shared our adventures in the dark. It was fun being together and we were grateful to be safe. No television. No computer. We just lucked out.

Alane Callander is a south Stafford resident active in many local causes. Reach her at .