Cars don't go on trees

We had some uncommonly severe weather in North Carolina a few weeks ago.  Gunnar was safe and sound sleeping in the arms room.  Probably the safest place I could dream up during a tornado.  It's 12 inches of solid steel and concrete, what could be safer?  The other guys in his unit however were still out sleeping in the woods.  I have mixed feelings about this.  I have read that outside in a ditch is much safer than being in a house or a car.  But then again, it would take a good amount of time to dig a ditch to jump into.  Just saying. 

So we had some tornadoes blow through Fayetteville.  Somehow Fort Bragg was missed by the tornadoes and we suffered only high winds, broken trees and 24 hours of no electricity.  Just outside the gates to Fort Bragg however, was an entirely different story.  Roads were closed for nearly a week while crews cleaned up the debris.  Dozens of businesses and homes were completely destroyed.  Roofs were gone, trees had fallen and were laying in all kinds of crazy places.

Growing up in the Midwest, I'm not unfamiliar with tornadoes.  Plenty of times we've headed down to the basement with a radio and flashlight and nothing significant ever happened.  Of course here my whole house is windows and I have no basement.  I have no idea where I'm even supposed to go for a tornado.  Next time I'll be in the arms room if I can! 

Here's a photo Gunnar took about 2 miles from our house:

Notice the minivan in the tree.  And the tree on the cars.  There used to be buildings right there too.  Such an incredible amount of damage was done around here.  Driving down some of the roads smells like Christmas because of the ridiculous amount of pine trees snapped in half. 

Tornado recovery is going to take a long time around here.