Bit of a scare - Day 1942 (Year 6, Day 116)

Zephyrhills, FL

Last night (Friday night, Shabbat), we were woken up very abruptly at about 11:30 pm, when 2 simultaneous, loud alarms went off: our weather station, and my phone emergency alert.  Almost in unison, they both said "this is an extreme severe weather alert.  There is a tornado in your area.  Take shelter immediately."  Being Shabbat, we weren't on emails or anything to learn that there was even a watch in the area so this caught us off guard (then again, at 11:30, we'd have been sleeping anyway).  There is a tropical disturbance in the gulf, but the effects were supposed to be flooding and storm surges along the coast; and we're about 40 miles from there.

In any event, we quickly threw on some clothes, ran to the truck (with the sky opening and crossing the lawn in ankle deep water) and very quickly drove 2 miles to the 24-hour CVS, where we sat it out in safety and comfort for about 1/2 hour, while watching the weather broadcast from my phone (we only grabbed my phone and a magazine to read--Mitch's idea!). 

There were 3 tornados; the closest one to touch down was about 20 miles away.

Thank G-d we are safe and we were quick enough to run for cover. And thank goodness for a 24 hour store!!!