In a message dated 10/5/98 5:39:47 AM, ednix@pacbell.net wrote: <<Lived at Hillsdale when I was in second grade. We had no cellar so Mr. Greene, across the road, invited us to spend the night with him and his family in theirs. After that night mamma swore she would not spend another minute in a storm cellar. We never did. If dad was at home we would get into the old Buick and drive. If dad was at work we would sit out on the porch and watch the action. >> I grew up in Waurika (US 81 and 70) in southern Oklahoma MANY years before radar. I still remember the nights that the fire sirens sounded loudly and I was wakened from my deep sleep and carried to either the Stuarts or the Bartlings...the only ones in our neighborhood with storm shelters. I didn't like going down in them and it especially bothered me that my daddy and all the other men stood out in the yard watching!!! I also remember a spring Saturday when I looked out our upstairs bathroom window and could see nothing but black in the northwest. I later learned a tornado had hit Hastings. Today I was grateful for the Weather Channel. We were "down" in Norman (live in Wichita, KS) and usually don't leave the area until 3-3:30, getting back to Wichita about 6 p.m. When the Weather Channel showed a very good possibility of severe storms along I35 we high-tailed it back to Wichita about 11 a.m...otherwise we would have been caught in the severe weather! Glad everyone down there is OK tonight. sbd