As some of our more regular readers may know, I was born, raised, and still live in the part of the country known as Tornado Alley.  Yesterday afternoon, we had about a thousand tornadoes all on the ground at once.  Well, maybe not a thousand.  More like six.  But still, it was scary!  I was at work in downtown Dallas when the storm began and I spent almost the entire afternoon in my boss’s office, watching the tornadoes on his TV while the building trembled with each crash of thunder.   As soon as it was reported that one tornado had finally gone away, another one would suddenly be reported on the other side of town.  As the hours passed, I heard about and saw footage of tornadoes ripping through towns like Arlington, Forney, Lancaster, and Mesquite and I found myself wondering how long it would be before they found my home in Richardson.

Fortunately, despite the six tornadoes, none of them hit downtown Dallas and, though they came way too close, they also missed us in Richardson.  I did panic a bit when I first got home and I couldn’t find our cat Doc but eventually, he turned up hiding underneath Erin’s bed.  He gets scared of thunder.  My sister Melissa actually saw the tornado that hit Arlington but, thank goodness, it didn’t hit her house.

Anyway, this may stretch the definition of entertainment, but here’s a few Texas tornado videos that I’ve found on YouTube.

The video comes from outside of Forney, which is the town that was hit the hardest yesterday.

Here’s another one from outside Forney.

When the tornadoes first hit Forney, I was at work in downtown Dallas.  My boss and I were in his office, watching the footage that is featured in this video.  Essentially, a storm tracker named Jason was on the phone with our favorite local weatherman Larry Mowery and Jason suddenly starts going, “Oh my God, it’s hit the high school!  OH MY GOD!  OH MY GOODNESS!  THE HUMANITY!”  It was a bit like that famous audio of that reporter watching the Hindenburg explode.  Anyway, a few minutes later, as can be seen in the video below, Jason calmed down (a little, at least) and let us all know that actually the tornado did not hit the high school.

This next video was shot by a guy named Vincent Tang who was apparently sitting on the roof of his home in Lancaster, Texas and filming the whole thing while it went on and, unfortunately, providing his own running commentary.  I know that some people online love this guy’s commentary (mostly because he kind of prays at one point and pandering to God is always the easiest way to get lots of fans online — well, that and thong pics.) but I find it to be kind of annoying which is why I always mute it before I watch.

And seriously, why would you get on your roof in the middle of a tornado?

Finally, here’s the footage that everyone’s been talking about: one of the tornadoes hits a truck stop and sends a bunch of semi flying through the air.  As scary as this footage might look right now, just imagine watching it while you’re sitting in a fourth floor office with warning sirens going off all around you.  Agck!

Fortunately, we all survived and the sky is nice and clear today.  As for me, I’m working on a new script: The Towering Tornado.  I’m thinking either Jennifer Lawrence or maybe Aubrey O’Day can play me.  It’ll be great!