I've lived in the midwest now for three and a half years after having lived in California the rest of my life. Last night was my first experience with tornados--or at least tornadic winds.

Firstly, no one I know of was hurt.

Secondly, the damage was significant, but not disastrous. There are a lot of snapped tree limbs, including a couple in my front yard. And they are very thick sections of limbs, too. One neighbor has an eight-foot section of tree in his back yard. He said he doesn't have a tree of that type, nor does a close neighbor, so he doesn't know where it came from. The neighbor across the street had a tree in his backyard uprooted and it is now in his pool. I have to park my truck outside, but luckily no flying debris appears to have hit it. We also had a very small section of shingle come off our roof. I also heard there's a power pole ripped in half down the street by the fire station, but that the power lines are all still attached.

Thirdly, I have to say I'm disappointed. Obviously, we were all down in the basement as the storm went by. But being down there, it didn't seem like anything was happening at all. I'd been looking forward to a tornado since I moved out here. But it was very anticlimactic. It doesn't even compare to the excitment of an earthquake.

Fourthly, the above paragraph is me kidding around. I'm very happy I didn't experience the winds up close and personal. I also don't mean to offend if you've been seriously affected by a tornado or tornadic-type storm.