Superior Restoration

Welcome back to another hopefully sunny week everyone. While our weekend was in essence a pleasant one we did see some awful weather. Friday much of the state fell under a tornado warning, or at least a severe thunderstorm warning. While a tornado did not touch down the town of Glastonbury did see a weather phenomenon that weather experts have been called in to assess. The town experiences what is called a microburst.

Now, what is the difference between a tornado and a microburst? This difference is easier to explain in writing than it is viewing the damages firsthand. Essentially a microburst is a downward movement of air that moves in a straight line with wind speeds equal to that of a tornado. The winds Glastonbury witnessed on Friday ranged between 88-110 mph. A tornado is a rotating movement of air that creates a vacuum sucking at the center. Both do large amounts of damage but it is in the opinion of this writer that microbursts can be even more dangerous.

There are no warnings for microbursts. They happen without warning in storm systems and while tornadoes may be a plausible threat in that time it is not always the case. This is one real that when a weather report says for you to get to an interior room or basement in a severe thunderstorm, one should listen.

Lets give a little story example, shall we?

Cindy just got home from a long day at the office. On her way home she noticed thunderclouds moving in over the horizon. She noted them and made a remark to herself about ruining her plans to hop into the pool. Once home she turns on the television and sees that a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued. Nothing new; after all these warning come up almost weekly in the summer. The storm comes, and they were right it is truly a nasty storm. Water falls in heavy waves making the world around Cindy sound like a waterfall, the weatherman on the television asks for people to stay away from windows and towards an interior room.

Cindy takes a moment to hesitate, but listens even though she doesn’t think anything would happen. Five minutes later trees are falling, and the front windows of Cindy’s home are broken. Power lines fall, and the weatherman’s voice comes to a screeching vault as the sound of roaring wind rips through her home.

Just a few moments later it stops, and the damage is done. Cindy was thankful she had gone to her bathroom to hide out for a few minutes. It could have very well saved her life.

Judgment is a powerful thing, and the most important thing to remember about storms is that they are not all the same. Each storm is different and poses different threats as we saw Friday afternoon. Flooding, wind damage, microbursts, tornadoes, water damage, even fire from lightning— there are logical and just reasons that we get nervous in severe weather. If you feel nervous, seek shelter. It doesn’t matter if nothing happens what matters is your own safety.

Later today we will be discussing wind damages, and how we can help you recover from these kinds of damages.

We here at Superior Restoration just recently spent an entire week focusing on the damages, causes, and affects of tornadoes, however due to the increased amount of twisters as of late we feel it pertinent to go over these terrifying storms as part of our severe weather week.

As most of us know tornadoes are strong wind storms that hold a tight rotation of air that acts like a vacuum. These storms rate on the Fujita scale of 0 - 5. Zero being the weakest, and 5 being the strongest. There are over 800 recorded tornadoes in the untied states each year on average, but last year we saw much more. These storms typically start as severe thunderstorms along a cold front. When the warm front and cold front collide the air may for a rotation, and if conditions are right a tornado can form. We all see the footage from the mid-west regarding these storms, but last year we saw two hit around our area that causes millions of dollars in damages and took lives.

We have tried to spread awareness and seriousness about these storms to remove the misplaced sense of security we feel against these storms. A common misconception people in Connecticut have is that because of our geographical climate and location we can’t fall victim to tornadoes. This is a terrible falsehood as tornadoes can happen in all regions of the United States, and even over water.

If a tornado warning is issued it is of our opinion and the opinion of NOAA, and military organizations that shelter is located immediately in a windproof room of a permanent home (not a trailer) and place a pillow over the back of your head while you couch down in a corner with your face hidden. These rooms can be basement rooms with little debris, under a staircase, or even a bathroom (get in the tub). Do not leave your location for any reason if a storm is in your area. If you begin to hear a roaring noise, or see the wind begin to pick up and you have not listened to the advice yet, we highly recommend you do now. Do not run outside to videotape the conditions, seek shelter. That camera won’t be any good if your dead. Then it’s just a more than likely broken camera.

Wait at least ten minutes after the roaring ends before you even dare to move. The best idea would be to have a NOAA emergency radio that could tell you if it’s safe to come out, or if another storm is coming. Remember that animals will be disorientated and commonly aggressive or defensive. Do not let them out of your control as the storm could have easily displaced wild animals, and wires are more than likely down. Check the windows and remember that while you have shoes on your dog or cat doesn’t, and glass hurts. If you are in a family make sure everyone is okay and if anyone is hurt badly call 911 with your exact location and stay on the line. Don’t hang up.

Generally here is where I’d like to give advice on home protection, but in all seriousness this author can think of very little. Debris is a major issue along with the wind, and that debris that’s hitting your home could be from the beginning of the storm itself. Tornadoes are sudden and a day can be nice and sunny and then boom, the clouds are green and your being told to seek shelter. The best you can do is make sure there is someplace safe for you to be, and know that we are here to help with the recovery process. Day or night we’re here to keep water, soot, mold, and debris out of your home.

If you have any questions regarding tornadoes please feel free to email us at Servicepro44@gmail.com or simply go to the NOAA website for in depth information on all weather situations. Be informed, it’s the best weapon and defense you could ever have against mother nature.

Today I am taking some time to discuss three of the questions I’ve gotten this week that didn’t relate to our topics. I’ve done a bit of research on them and hope that I can answer your questions properly. If not feel free to tell me.

The first question comes from a woman who signed the note “super mom”. Nice name by the way. She asks: I live in Connecticut, and after last year I’m getting scared of tornadoes. “I’ve read there are these safe rooms that can be built into your house that are tornado proof. Is this a good idea to get one or am I overreacting?”

I’ve read about these, and they have had some great success in the past. I’ve read a lot, and I mean a lot of stories about people surviving EF4 to EF5 twisters without a scratch because of these. Tornadoes can happen anywhere this is true, but those systems can cost as much as $10,000 for a family sized unit. Personally I feel that if you live in Connecticut and have a basement you should be fine, however if you don’t it might not be a bad idea to have a storm shelter. Regardless I don’t think there is any overreacting when it comes to peace of mind. If you feel like your family will be safer in having it, then go for it. I just have no idea where placed around here make them. Most of what I’ve found is in the mid-west. More power to you for researching this topic, you are a super-mom.

The second question came from an anonymous person on tumblr. I will take a moment to say we don’t mind if you don’t say who you are, it’s entirely your call. This person left us a message yesterday after apparently seeing a news article we posted to our Facebook on the danger of riptides. They ask: “Hey this is all fine and good, but I don’t see the danger it poses to our home”

Anonymous person you are right. Riptides shouldn’t affect your home unless you live underwater. Which I hope you don’t. Actually we posted that because we know people are getting ready for vacations, or are already on them. We love our customers like family, and if we find some important information we pass it along. This doesn’t mean I’ll start posting “OMG Facebook is going charge us if you don’t put this in your status” No, no I will only post fact based information about weather, safety, or news stories showing what can happen. With that said please be aware that if you live along the shore storm surges can cause catastrophic damage to your home, and your life. If high storm surges are projected during a storm seek safer ground immediately.

The third came from a woman who sent us an email. Her name is Jill, and she’s given us a few really amazing questions before. Jill asks: I know we’re covered home security systems and fire detectors before, but what about carbon monoxide? I know I would like to know more about it and how I can prevent exposure to my family. Think you can help?”

Absolutely! I won’t answer this question here, but I will write a comprehensive blog on the topic tomorrow. I’ll go through different detectors and problems in a three part series: fire detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and causes, and natural gas leaks. I love readers who ask questions, they make my day. Really, if you have any questions we don’t put it at the bottom of every blog entry for nothing. We will answer them all.

So here it goes.. Do you have questions about home hazards, cleaning, water, fire, mold, trauma clean up, carpet cleaning, weather disasters, or possible threats to your home? Leave us a message in our ask box, send us a message on twitter or Facebook, or email us at servicepro44@gmail.com . We answer questions Monday- Friday from 8am to 2pm, and are happy to help.  

There is on average 13 minutes between the initial warning of a tornado, and when it will hit. That seems like a long time, but when panic and fear grip you that can seem like only a few seconds.

We live in a wonderful age where technology is at our fingertips, warnings can be received by television, radio, text message, robot call to home and cellphones, the internet, and social media. Why is it that a tornado like the one that struck Joplin a year ago killed so many people? This question is still up for debate, but because of that storm the language of weather warnings has changed.

Last year today a catastrophic F-5 tornado hit Joplin Missouri just before six at night. Warnings had been coming all day about severe weather but very few thought anything of it. And then the warnings started to pour in, but there were high numbers of people who didn’t listen. Many were said to be in denial: that a storm could not hurt them, but many more sought out more information about the storm which cost them precious minutes. Many more raced outside to see the tornado barreling towards their home, but why?

We are innately triggered to look. It’s why we slow down by accidents, it’s why when a weather is yelling for everyone to seek shelter immediately we run to the windows to snap a glimpse at what is out there. This could have saved many lives that were lost.

No one is denying that this was anything less than a tragedy. However as a result of this tragedy new language and warning systems have been developed. The language for a tornado no longer sounds passive, but includes words like “catastrophic”, “Unsurvivable”, and “Massive damage” to convey the severity in stronger terms in hopes people will listen. The controversy with this is that it may cause unwarranted panic that will eventually result in a banal coldness to those words. The theory is that is you say the sky is falling enough eventually no one will listen. However in studies where these warnings have been issued the result of people going immediately to shelter has risen by nearly 10%.

What everyone does know is that something needs to be done to improve storm warnings, and keeping everyone aware of the potential risk. In the last few years technology has met several demands to try this. We can now look at storm systems and have more accurate risk assessments that give people hours if not more to know if a system could produce tornadoes, but what comes beyond that?

Many people still deny the warnings and wait until they hear the sirens, but in many cases those sirens don’t go off until it’s too late. People die because of their denial and as a result we firmly urge stronger tornado and severe weather education from an early age that conveys the severity and dangerous nature these storms in ways that help the next generation survive. In Joplin we saw many children save their families by getting them to a save place, and thankfully someday those children will have children of their own, but lets hope for all of humanity that we learn from this tragedy and not forget.

Heed warnings, keep alert, and when the weatherman says “seek shelter in a basement or windowless interior room or closet” listen. They are not saying it to be funny, they are deathly serious.

It was a pleasant, sunny afternoon. It was June 1st, and after I got out of work at 2pm I came home to find the peonies had finally bloomed. I went outside and took pictures of their heavy, seemingly perfect blossoms as bees hummed around my head and the faint lofting of early summer air danced around me. The world seemed oddly perfect in those few moments, and when I went inside again I turned on the television to see when those thunderstorms they said in the morning would be coming in. I had about two hours until then.

I went for a walk, and enjoyed the weather before coming home, as the distant sounds of thunder rolled over like all those airplanes. I turned on my computer and kept the Channel 3 news on in the background in case anything went south. I’ve always loved watching radar, and researching the current weather forecasts. As a child I desperately wanted to become a storm chaser, probably shortly after I first saw the movie Twister.

The storms began to pick up, and while there was a severe thunderstorm warning I thought little of it. Personally I felt that our area should have still been under a watch as the system wasn’t showing significant winds, but the rain was impressive. That thought lasted about two minutes until the rain somehow stopped, but the winds? The winds got worse. A microburst? I thought as I turned to look at the radar that was playing along the television screen. It could have been, but being noisy I flipped back to my computer and started looking up the more advanced weather modules and noticed that only about two miles away a very strong storm was coming, strong enough that I debated informing my brother and sister to head for the basement.

My mother was at the neighbor’s house with her daily job of being a Nanny for their two children. I gave her a call and told her that she may want to come over with them to come into the basement. Yes, that house did have a basement but it was still partially above ground, and less than safe. She said she wasn’t sure, that it would pass. Sure the baby was upset, but it was just a—

I looked back to the television where the nervous weatherman began to meek out a tornado warning had been issued. We were right under that warning. I think my mom was over my house in less than three seconds. We all went to the basement into my father’s office. We turned on the television down there as we made inventory: baby and toddler from neighbor: check, hamsters: check, my goldfish: check, emergency kit: check, cell phones, one laptop, and our box of personal information: check. Everything was going okay. We watched the news as footage came in from quite literally a smile from my home where a later classified EF3 tornado had touched down.

Here’s where this author was a little stupid.. I ran outside and managed to catch a glimpse of the wall cloud, though the woods and tall trees from behind our neighborhood blocked my view of the funnel itself. I did manage to snap a couple of photos; I’d never seen the sky look like that before in my life. The photo above is an unaltered photo I took with my canon camera in my own backyard in Enfield CT.

Once the storm had passed we looked at the damage. The peonies were all snapped from the winds, a small tree limb that had fallen had crushed my mother’s gardening shed, and a baseball size piece of hail had dented my car. I thought us pretty lucky when I looked at the devastation in the town right above us. From that day on I began to prepare. I increased the emergency kit, signed up for the weather alert system, bought a NOAA weather radio, you better believe that for the next few months every time I saw the weather turning south my heart began to race.

I thought I was weather ready, but until that moment I didn’t realize that it was just a delusion. It doesn’t matter how much you research and read books on tornadoes, at the end of the day they don’t care. I don’t think we’ll ever see a tornado stop and say “Oh hey, you know about me? Well I’m flattered! As a prize I won’t ruin your home.” However if that ever does happen I will be giving myself a high-five. Prepare, know your risks, and be weather ready, because you never know when a beautiful day will turn into a nightmare.