I guess the fact that we were out of power last week for awhile was a small price to pay considering it could have been worse. It was a good thing the EF2 tornado Sunday, that passed about 4 miles South of us wasn't very wide at the base, because the destructive force within that base was unbelievable. As it wobbled back and forth in the narrow valley for the better part of 20 miles, the smaller area helped to lessen the damage to houses. A corner of a house here, shingles blown off there, but fortunately the property damage was light and no injuries. The other fortunate thing was it's speed, radar was estimating it was traveling at upwards of 60 miles an hour, which is pretty fast for tornadoes, usually they drag along, giving them more time to destroy.
As we watched both twisters approaching on radar, it was evident the one that went to the north would miss us, but this one was headed straight for us. Here we have fairly narrow mountain ridges with valleys in between, once a tornado gets in a valley it usually stays there until it runs its course. Radar showed it enter our valley, then the power went off, all we could do is wait. For some unknown reason, it must not have hit the valley square because at a gap about 4 miles from us, it jumped over the ridge separating us, continuing up the valley on the other side.
The one that went to the north of us about 10 miles (also an EF2) struck the south edge of a town, completely obliterating houses and businesses, and injuring several people in it's path. I didn't go there to take pictures because it didn't feel right going there to gawk while they were trying to clean up from the tragedy.
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