Severe weather and RVing

[Neal]

I've had one situation where I found myself in a large hail storm, over $4K in damage to my toad, repaired like new thankfully, and the coach did fine other than the skylight over the shower took a hit and I had to replace it. It's scary to think of being caught in the middle of severe storms such as just went through the south along paths I traveled recently coming back home to VA from out west. Some places outline storm shelters not that I think it can hold the capacity of the campground guests. It's important to know where to go if you have a place to go in severe weather scenarios.

Anyone have stories to share of severe weather experiences while RVing?

 

[boomer]

Just went through strong thunderstorm in Myrtle Beach, watched the TV showing Tornado 4 miles off coast. Had go bag and escape plan. Strong winds and hail are things that don't scare me (can cause damage to RV & Car, but not life). Tornado is whole other story.
BTW: No damage or issues, however, campground is basically empty due to Virus restrictions

 

[Buly]

Glad to hear you are okay Neal. I knew you were in VA and looking at the radar, did not look good for your area.

 

[Neal]

Glad to hear you are okay Neal. I knew you were in VA and looking at the radar, did not look good for your area

Thanks @Buly - this storm fizzled out before it got here thankfully. The hail storm I got caught in was when I was in Hilton Head Motorcoach after the FMCA Perry, GA rally around March of 2018 if I recall.

 

[AbdRahim]

When in Elkhart, last year we had a really bad thunderstorm with very high winds. The lady in the camper next to me was terrified. She kept going back and forth between her camper and the shelter. I rode it out in the MH, but it was closer than I would prefer. There was egg sized hail reported on the ground about 20 minutes from where I was. What I did not know, since visibility was so low, plus, having my veiw limited by the surrounding RV's, was that two funnel clousd formed quite close to the campground. Fortunately, neither touched down. That was too close for comfort. Fortunately, nothing was damaged. If I were to build a coach, I would do away with skylights.

 

[J&JD]

Encountered 80+mph winds on the interstate near Cheyenne. No coach could handle that. Managed to get parked but no way to extend the FWS in that kind of wind. That Mother Nature is one tough cookie at times.

 

[NWIP]

September 2018 I was in Hilton Head and had to make a decision of what to due reference a possible hurricane. I have always said I would get my coach out of harms way, predictions were this would pass inland. I wasn’t sure where to go with predicted model, an area of possible tornadoes. Normally these storms diminish intensity as they travel over land. We decided that since it was predicted to pass 200-300 miles inland up the coast we would stay put. Surveyed the area around our site, brought in the slides, planned our nearby shelter to be bathroom by the pool area under the restaurant and turned on the TV for weather updates.

Long story short this storm (Hurricane Florence) passed to the west, some high winds with heavy rain for a period about an hour and no damage to surrounding area. We all know this hurricane caused serve flooding and damage in North Carolina area. I still question if we made the right decision even though all was fine where we stayed.

 

[RKins]

We live in Florida full time in a S&B and enjoy month or two long trips in the RV. Florida is one of the prime targets in the US for hurricanes so we keep our ears open and eyes on the news and hurricane web sites. I don't like to advertise that we are not home by putting up our shutters when we leave for a trip in the storm season. But I am one that will run back into the approaching storm depending on where the path forecast is. If it is toward the East coast of Florida vs the storm getting into the Gulf of Mexico makes a difference and since I've got 60+ years of experience with hurricanes, I'll react differently. If it looks like the storm is going into the Gulf, I'm for sure heading to the S&B to take care of the S&B and also the boats on our property. So even if we are in Maine, we can make it back to our S&B in about 10 days and we get about 2-3 weeks notice of the hurricane as it approaches the US. If the hurricane forecast path changes we can change our route, good or bad.
I really feel sorry for people that live in the Tornado alleys and that is another area I'll plan around during the spring. I feel that Tornados are the worst storm anyone could encounter. If I had a S&B in the alley I would have an inverse typical home, i.e. build a home with livable areas on the ground floor but instead of building up, I'd dig down and have all the bedrooms in the basement. I'd also make sure that there was a 1/2" steel barrier covering the basement from the living area. Thinking is, if there is a tornado strikes during the night (like we see often on the news), you're safe. The upper living area can be destroyed and you're protected via the 1/2" steel barrier and the basement.