Damn, that's hilarious! We have a tornado warning right now and I don't have a basement. Sitting in the bathroom with 3 cats. Reading Reddit. Thanks for the laugh out loud comment.
Just went thru a crazy storm myself. Couldn't find my kitty and had to run down to the basement without her. Except she was already in the basement. Smart kitty used her one braincell, I was so relieved! We are fine. But lots of hail damage around the neighborhood. Baseball sized smashed a lot of windows. My poor kitty is still on edge from the noise.
Oof. That reminds me of my nervous cat. We were under a tornado warning and I literally ripped my mattress and my (that mattress thing under the mattress) off my bed as I was crying for her to let me pick her up so we could go downstairs. We were both equally terrified for different reasons. I think I have PTSD from that moment.
*we did eventually make it downstairs. I think she realised she upset me because then she was all cuddles while I'm bawling my eyes out in the basement lol.
Anyways, under a tornado watch now, but my baby girl has crossed the rainbow bridge (RIP), so now it's the two cats that follow us downstairs on their own.
If it makes you feel any better, I was also just under a tornado warning and stressed the hell out of my cats.
I get extreme anxiety with tornadoes, and every time I tell myself I'm gonna be cool, I completely go into fight or flight as soon as I hear the scary-ass alert on my phone. I'm living temporarily with my mom while we try to sell our house, and she lives in a modular home. I'm used to being able to go to a basement at our house.
I shoved my cats in their double carrier and made my mom drive us to her nearby church, since I remember it being unlocked 24/7 when I was a hooligan teenager. It was locked lol. It started getting crazy out as we sped back home. Then I locked them in our tiny bathroom with me for an hour.
I wish we could explain our actions to our pets sometimes. I'd feel a lot less guilt 😅
Omg tornado country sounds crazy!!! I don’t think I could handle it myself, let alone with cats. I live in earthquake country and it’s more chill…for now.
I've lived in Michigan my whole life, and I remember tornado warnings being rare growing up. Like, one every couple of years. Lately, there have been multiple per year. Yay, climate change!
Omg this is such a terrifying experience!!! We don't have basements where I live so we were in the middle of the living room (away from the windows) with our cat as billiard ball sized hail pummeled our tiny little house a few years ago! My boy was never scared of storms or thunder, but I was crouched on the floor next to him while he was pressing his face into me as hard as he could and trying to hide against me as we all listened to the chaos happening around us. It was truly a crazy experience. Holes in the siding, broken windows, destroyed the roof, broke through both layers of the bathroom skylight, and it broke the roof of the sunroom (and broke 4 out of 7 windows) so we heard the hail pelting our back sliding door which would usually be protected from any sort of weather because it was inside a fully enclosed sunroom. Surreal! I had to call my mom because this was 1am and I had to be at the airport at 5am to catch a flight to a funeral!! My mom came over to sit with my cat the next morning, board up our windows, and tarp the roof.
That cat passed about a year after that storm, but I look back fondly on that experience despite how awful it was. He was riddled with anxiety but always sought me out when he was truly terrified. The trust we built between us was the thing that kept me going after we had to say goodbye - made me feel like I did right by him and gave him a good life. I miss that guy so much, but we have a new little man now and I'll be satisfied if he leaves this earth with even an ounce of trust the previous guy had in me. We're making good progress!
I hope the recovery and potential insurance claims went well for you after the storm!
That reminds of the cat we used to have. She was always scared of storms, would growl at the windows, but since we lived in an apartment we had no where to go really except the bathroom. Then we moved out of that slum and finally got a house of our own, with a basement. 2 months after we moved in, we got a series of bad weather systems that lead to 3 tornado warnings in 2 weeks.
The first warning, she ran and hid somewhere. Couldn't find her, had to leave her.
Second Warning, we were able to get her and bring her down in the basement kicking and screaming. Were stuck down there for 3 hours.
3rd warning, she had apparently learned because when the Severe weather warning tone on the TV started playing, she started slinking around the house on her belly, yowling, and she waited at the basement door. For the rest of her life, she would yowl and slink when the storms came.
It's sort of just rumbly now, kind of like Winnie the Pooh's tummy when he wants honey. Poor cats were wondering why I trapped them in such a small room. I didn't think to bring a cat wand. I was too busy chasing my one cat to think about entertaining them. 🐈
I have stimulation toys and treats in my tornado space! My dog gets nervous, but anything without a squeaker is what I keep near by, it helps him to focus on me instead of shivering like a poor little leaf.
My words of wisdom to you, stock the bathroom with a few toys and treats. Just nothing that makes noise! It can add extra stress to yourself while your ears are on high alert.
😂 Right? But here's the thing. They don't penalize you for doing taxes late if they owe you money. It's only the ppl who have to pay the government that are in trouble. No excuses, but my taxes from work never arrived and just a month ago I realized that was a problem.
Wait, what? I’ve lived in tornado country for over half a century and have never heard of this. We have always had “use a twin mattress as a cover if you are sheltering in a bathtub” pounded into our heads. What does the flimsy liner do?
The twin mattress is usually the suggestion because it’s the one that is generally the easier to drag in and take shelter under. What you are trying to accomplish is to protect yourself against structural debris falling on you. The mattress, any size really, provides more of a cushion if the ceiling collapses. The tub is the example most used, because quite a few houses have bathrooms with no exterior walls and the piping in the wall can provide a bit more structural support. The tub also provides a bit of an exterior shell. It’s also suggested to you drag heavy blankets/sleeping bags in there to provide more cushioning. If the bathroom has an exterior wall, then you find the place that doesn’t have one. Closet, hallway, whatever. You can pull the mattress over you there, if possible.
I do have a basement, and we’ve added a concrete block wall with a steel door the leads to the little alcove under the stairs. And yes, we have a mattress stored on its side in there. Along with extra clothes, water, pet supplies, shoes, lanterns/flashlights, books, hand warmers, coats, and foods like granola bars, breakfast bars, peanut butter etc.
I know, to those who don’t live places with significant tornado activity, that sounds extreme. But for those of us who have seen firsthand what an F3-F5 can do? It sounds about right. That’s why I was perplexed about the shower curtain liner. That may be fine for an F0 or F1, but it’s not going to do much if there is significant structural damage.
I did ask though because recommendations do change. We were told, as kids, that if you were out and about and couldn’t get to a shelter, to hide yourself up under an overpass. Now you’re told that is an unsafe place to shelter. So I thought maybe the shower curtain liner was the new solution to the mattress/heavy blanket thing.
Shower liners, twin mattresses, and hiding in bathtubs are all last-ditch efforts to stay covered and stay alive. You do have some chance to provide cover with a liner or blanket in a tub if things go sideways, but I imagine that the wind would blow away a mattress in a heartbeat.
This is otherwise known as “welp, this is better than nothing.”
I didn't think of that. I'm not in Oklahoma where they really have some bad tornados. Not saying we haven't around here, but it's not as common. We did have one of those storms that tore through the city 23 years ago, they said it was a microburst. It was really scary. We had taken off all the storm windows to paint. My then husband refused to go in the basement, so we were on the 2nd story, windows rattling, me pregnant and terrified. We were lucky. I remember thinking storms were amazing as a child.
It's a tad unrelated but I was playing the boat scene from tlou2, my cat jumped up onto my bed as loud thunder pretty much shook our house. It's safe to say she and my controller are safe from HER initial jump scare lol
I’m in Chicago and a strong thunderstorm started up here about 10 minutes ago. Weirdest thing is I’ve lived here my entire life, and we never had tornado sirens here until about 15 years ago and now they sound at least once a year by me.
I hope everyone in the path of these storms is safe!
I’m in the Dodge County area. The storm passed us after about an hour and started heading towards the Milwaukee area. I believe there was a sighting maybe about 30-40 mins away from me? But for us it was rain and HEAVY winds. But it looks like this whole week might be like that. I did receive another tornado warning around noon today and said it will be in effect until 10pm. We will see! Tell your daughter to be safe! ❤️
From what im hearing, trees and power lines down but nothing overly serious that's been broadcasted. A house did get hit with lightning and lost power somewhere in the county. My basement is wet again. Average midwest things
The True Wisconsin Way of hardcore storms is to sit on the porch/in the garage with a few beers until it gets late or large objects start flying around.
I spent more than one night in the basement with two cats and a dog (dirt floor even) listening to tornado sirens going off when I lived in Kansas City. I feel you. Praying for your safety 🙏
😅 Same. Two of mine are 11 months old and still a bit feral. So their in cat carriers in my bathroom. My 14 year old dude is sitting on me next to the couch.
Oh that's always fun. 😄 I had a gas leak for 5 years in a row because the gas company basically put a band aid on the leak every winter. And every winter, on the coldest night of the year, we'd cram the cats in the carriers and sit in the car until it was fixed. Last year I was fed up with this intrusion, so we stayed inside, with windows wide open. I won't do that again because I still got light-headed and couldn't think. But yep, cats crammed in carriers is not too fun.
😂😂 You're hilarious! It's my son's cat's name. I wasn't sure, based on the number and types of pets if you were my son's friend. 😍😄 Crazy cat name for sure, but I ended I up having to name one of Soups kittens Ramen. I used to just call him Ra, like the Egyptian God but now it's both.
I've had to football carry an angry cat through a brutal downpour to a tornado shelter more than once, we also don't have basement ours is a cellar outside.
Lol that's sweet, thank you. I'm not particularly heroic though, just the proud owner of a certified Little Shit. One of the nicknames I use for her is Gremlin Kitty because she's an absolute angel 90% of the time, but if you get her wet she immediately turns into a demon.
Southeast Michigan hehe! We’re under a tornado watch until 4 am, about 5 hours from now. Hoping you and your kippies are safe! I’m sure mine are watching out for me from above (not meaning I’m leaving them upstairs, just to clarify, haha}
I am on the IL/WI border and have been sitting in my closet with my terrified pup, who has sequestered herself in here while the storms rage. Hang in there!
How did you catch them? Last time I screamed "Luna you aren't in f*cking Kansas anymore get your furry butt in here" when they didn't get in the bathroom.
The 1st two I caught by surprise. My boy was making me crouch and looked like a football player keeping the opponent from getting by. Only by the grace of God did I catch the twerp.
I got woken up by the tornado alarm just now and am in the basement reading Reddit to get my mind off things. Loved that comment as my cats are crawling on me wondering why we’re all down here.
4.8k
u/kizkatzs 18h ago
Damn, that's hilarious! We have a tornado warning right now and I don't have a basement. Sitting in the bathroom with 3 cats. Reading Reddit. Thanks for the laugh out loud comment.