Black Funnel

During the summer of 2012, my family took a trip to North Carolina and rented a beach house in Rodanthe on the Outer Banks.  I will never forget the reality that took place on August 19, 2012 at about 1 p.m.

My brother, sister, dad, step-mom, step-sister, step-brother and I were playing in the ocean outside our house. We didn’t notice but the blue, sunny atmosphere was turning into a deep black sky. At about 2 p.m. a Coast Guard officer in a pickup truck drove on the beach yelling and warning everyone to get off the beach immediately and seek shelter due to severe weather conditions. All of us got out of the water, picked up our beach chairs and surfboards, took showers and went inside.

We got dressed and ran up to the attic deck to watch the storm. The sky was black. It was kind of cold and the wind was blowing hard. We were all watching the thick black clouds move closer and lightning strikes hit and thunder boomed just a couple of miles away.

“Wow dad, I think there's some rotation in the clouds, do you think there might be a tornado?” I asked.

“I don’t know.” my dad muttered.

“Oh you better hope not!” said Nerissa, my step-mom.

After a while of watching the clouds, it started to rain...hard. Sammy, my brother, Cassie, my sister, Elaina, my step-sister, and Alex, my step-brother went inside to check the weather report on TV. I stayed with Nerissa and my dad to see what the storm was going to do. Then it stopped raining. Though it was very, very windy.

Suddenly my dad’s Smart phone beeped with a message from his weather update system saying, “Tornado Warning. Seek shelter immediately.”

I gasped. Wow. “Could there actually be a tornado?”

Suddenly out of the sky a small funnel dropped out of the clouds and the wind started to pick up. My dad, Nerissa, and I were speechless. The black funnel lowered itself so the ground rotating clockwise. It was a tornado. I have always been excited to see a tornado, but I learned that its not that exciting. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach.

“Dad! What do we do?” I yelled.

“Alida, go tell the other kids first...they need to see this. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!” He answered.

I ran down the wooden stairs and swung open the glass door.

“Guys! There’s a tornado!” I screamed.

“What?!” Alex said.

“Come on!” I yelled.

I ran back up as the younger kids followed me to find that the tornado was huge, and rotating like crazy. I was feeling a little nauseous looking at it.

“No way!” muttered Sammy.

“Well, don’t just stand there, let’s take some pictures before it gets closer!” exclaimed my dad.

“Are you kidding me!!” I screamed.

“Yes, now get in front of it!” he answered.

All of us scrambled to the other side of the deck and tried to smile even though this was one of the scariest moments of our lives. After a few pictures of trying to smile, all the little kids ran down to seek shelter in the bathroom on the first floor. I watched the tornado get closer. I turned around to see the pitch black sky on the other side of the deck.

“Alida look!” my dad whispered. I turned to see that the large spinning black funnel disappear into the black sky. I heaved a sigh of relief.
 

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