We may move to Omaha and I am terrified of tornados!!!

[Coyote]

Last time I checked Catholics considered themselves to be Christian.  They believe in Jesus as Christ.

Be careful here. I think she meant Protestant vs Catholic population in Omaha.
It may have been poorly worded - but let us not go down that road.

[guy4omaha]

She may have also meant interdenominational instead of any one denomination such as Catholic. The Catholic and Lutheran schools are open to enrollment from all denominations but are in fact sponsored by those two denominations. In fact, I know Concordia accepts unchurched youth too.

Perhaps she is looking for a school sponsored by a more interdenominational church such as Trinity at 156th and Dodge.
Its website address: http://www.trinityomaha.com Once you get past the intro click on "About Us" and then you will see a link on the left navigation bar for Trinity Christian School.

There are a lot of parochial schools in Omaha. Unless you are active in that community, these schools and their networks operate a little under the general radar at least for me. But they are out there.

Another school for male, high school enrollment is Mt. Michael at Elkhorn. I always tell my boys if they don't behave it is off to Mount Michael for them. (i.e., boarding school). Just a little family inside joke. I guess you had to be there.  8) Anyway its website is: http://www.mountmichaelhs.com

You will find many, many quality education opportunities both public and parochial in the Omaha area.

Back to the tornado topic. Who has the stats readily available? How many people are killed a year in Nebraska by tornados. My recollection, if at all accurate, is that it is less than 5 per year. Can't be too far off. Compare such a low number to how many people are killed in the state by auto accidents as one example. Tornados are scary but a very rare event when you consider all the geography and your chances of even seeing one much less getting injured or killed by one. And then with proper preparation for safety, the chances are diminished all the more.

[edsas]

Hi Scared,

I know you've already received plenty of comments on this, but I thought you'd like to hear somebody's California/Nebraska natural disaster experiences.

I lived in Nebraska for 25 years and had to go to the basement exactly twice due to tornado sirens. Neither tornado came anywhere near my house and, aside from some large branches in the yard, you wouldn't have known there'd been any tornados at all if the sirens hadn't gone off.

In turn, I've lived in Southern California for 8 years and have experienced more earthquake jolts than I can remember. Now I shrug them off like the natives. But I've often heard Californians express fear of tornados should they ever find themselves in the Midwest, which seems peculiar to me.  But fear of the unknown is not surprising.  Seeing the destruction of earthquakes on television gives Midwesterners the same uneasiness about California that twister footage gives West Coast people about the Midwest.

But having lived in both places, my feeling is that the danger posed by earthquakes is much worse. The analogy I always give my California friends is this. If you saw the first Austin Powers movie, you may remember a scene in which one of Dr. Evil's henchmen gets run over by a steamroller. The joke is that the henchman was 20 feet away from the machine as it inched-closer to him. But instead of getting out of the way, he just stood there and screamed "Nooooooooo!" for a full minute until he got steam pressed.  The danger of tornados is like that. You definitely don't want to have one bear down on you, but in the modern age of tornado spotters and Doppler radar, you've got way more time than you need to take evasive action.

Earthquakes, on the other hand, strike out of nowhere.

[Brad]

edsas:
I have expierenced both.... What a GREAT way to describe the difference!

[AlmostinOmaha]

I've lived in Omaha for 14 months and had to go to basement twice since I"ve been here.   As a native Californian, I'd take an earthquake any day.  I've been thru a 7.2 quake( SF Loma Prieta 1988 or 89) and lots of little ones...they last maybe 10- 30 seconds and then end.   I don't think many Californians worry about earthquakes because you truly rarely feel them .  Really, by the time you feel one, you sit and wonder when the last one you felt was...sometimes it's been two years since you felt one).   Sitting there anticipating and waiting for the tornado to touch down (or hopefully not touch down) is stressful (in my  opinion). The good news is that if a tornado touches down, it really only touches a small part of land, so the odds are you won t be in it's path (right? or is that just complacent Midwesterners trying to make me feel better?).

No matter where you live there's some type of risk and we can't live in fear everyday right?  Odds are we're all more likely to be injured or killed driving  to the grocery store , than in an earthquake, tornado or other natural disaster.  I wouldn't stress about it too much. The first warning I experienced in April, I was terrified because I kept watching the TV and they were like "it's coming, it's coming" for hours...then there was a warning and we had to be in the basement for 10 minutes and then voila! it was over.  The second warning (was it Sep or Oct?), I was nervous, but not terrified...hopefully I'll be even more relaxed for the next one.

[Stargazer]

Oh brother... you had to go to the basement twice since you've been here, huh?  Those must have been the same evenings I was out on the front porch enjoying the interesting looking cloud formations.

[guy4omaha]

I've lived in Omaha for 14 months and had to go to basement twice since I've been here.  

And as those storms came in this spring, I was thinking about you and trying to imagine what it must be like experiencing your first spring here. Frankly, I am glad to hear you're still here.

The news stations need to tell us about the storms there is no question. However, I also think they hype these storms up too. One so we don't get more complacent than we already are. And more cynically, I think they also add the hype to get us tuned in to their channel. Whether its snow, hail, threat of tornado, they embellish it. Just my opinion. However, you can't afford to ignore them either especially with tornadoes.

[Omaha Cowboy]

Well stated edsas!..

..Ciao..LiO....Peace

[Coyote]

During the Nebraska USC football game there was a tornado warning which showed its path to go right over my brother's house (near 156th & Dodge) where we were all gathered to watch the game. The damn station put the game down on the lower quarter of the screen while this weather dude spent an hour 'helping us' watch where the funnel cloud was. Needless to say nobody left the big den TV for the minature downstairs TV.  You get used to it as a matter of facts of life. When I hear the wind sound like a locomotive coming toward the house - then I will look for the stairs.

[almighty_tuna]

During the Nebraska USC football game there was a tornado warning which showed its path to go right over my brother's house (near 156th & Dodge) where we were all gathered to watch the game. The darn station put the game down on the lower quarter of the screen while this weather dude spent an hour 'helping us' watch where the funnel cloud was. Needless to say nobody left the big den TV for the minature downstairs TV.  You get used to it as a matter of facts of life. When I hear the wind sound like a locomotive coming toward the house - then I will look for the stairs.

During that same game we decided to turn it to Channel 3 since we live just a few blocks from their studio.  Talk about embellishing - while the other stations were displaying the funnel around 180th & Harrison, etc, Channel 3 says "if we have to take shelter in the basement, we'll go ahead and leave the radar up for you."  

[RockHarbor]

That is one of the things I am excited to go back to.  I love Omaha's severe weather.  Seriously, I love tornado watches and watching black clouds building in the west.  However, having a tornado hit is scary.  Good thing they don't happen that often.

[murfj]

Hi Scared,

I know you've already received plenty of comments on this, but I thought you'd like to hear somebody's California/Nebraska natural disaster experiences.

I lived in Nebraska for 25 years and had to go to the basement exactly twice due to tornado sirens. Neither tornado came anywhere near my house and, aside from some large branches in the yard, you wouldn't have known there'd been any tornados at all if the sirens hadn't gone off.

In turn, I've lived in Southern California for 8 years and have experienced more earthquake jolts than I can remember. Now I shrug them off like the natives. But I've often heard Californians express fear of tornados should they ever find themselves in the Midwest, which seems peculiar to me.  But fear of the unknown is not surprising.  Seeing the destruction of earthquakes on television gives Midwesterners the same uneasiness about California that twister footage gives West Coast people about the Midwest.

But having lived in both places, my feeling is that the danger posed by earthquakes is much worse. The analogy I always give my California friends is this. If you saw the first Austin Powers movie, you may remember a scene in which one of Dr. Evil's henchmen gets run over by a steamroller. The joke is that the henchman was 20 feet away from the machine as it inched-closer to him. But instead of getting out of the way, he just stood there and screamed "Nooooooooo!" for a full minute until he got steam pressed.  The danger of tornados is like that. You definitely don't want to have one bear down on you, but in the modern age of tornado spotters and Doppler radar, you've got way more time than you need to take evasive action.

Earthquakes, on the other hand, strike out of nowhere.

Also, another point is that earthquakes- besides striking out of nowhere- also affect the entire area.  So if a devastating earthquake hits LA, all of LA is affected.  However if a tornado hits Omaha, it likely only affects one neighborhood, possibly even just a few homes, so you can go a couple blocks away and and find normal reality.  Tornadoes are powerful and appear very scary, but they are so very localized, in general just touching down for a brief few minutes in open fields doing no property damage at all.  In fact someone mentioned 5 people a year killed in Nebraska by tornadoes- actually we went the entire decade of the 90's with NO tornado deaths.  There have been a few deaths in this decade, but I suppose those average out to maybe 1 or 2 per year.

[joeglow]

While it may be late, I would recommend Creighton Prep.  I went there and can tell you that right around 50% of the student body was Catholic.  There were a  lot of people who went there for the Christian aspect and the great education.

[Coyote]

KPTM will be airing the 5 worst storms in Nebraska history tonight at 9.
They will have videos and pictures of their destruction.
I hope they post some of their videos.

[almighty_tuna]

HELP!!!

We are thinking about moving to Omaha. The only problem is, I am TERRIFIED of tornados.

It's a lot like last night.  Just FYI ;)

[adam186]

Check out this video footage of the 1975 tornado.  Pretty creepy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L2GN4dZ7_w

[NYCGAL]

HI,
I'm from NYC and I got a job offer in Omaha. I'm thinking about not taking the job because I'm terrified of tornadoes. I read on here that houses have basements for you to stay in during a tornado, but where do people go when they live in apartments in Omaha?

[GrandpaaSmucker]

HI,
I'm from NYC and I got a job offer in Omaha. I'm thinking about not taking the job because I'm terrified of tornadoes. I read on here that houses have basements for you to stay in during a tornado, but where do people go when they live in apartments in Omaha?

There are thousands of apartments in Omaha and the odds of a tornado hitting the apt you are in are extremely slim. Most people don't do nothing more then turn on the TV and watch the radar and look out the window. Its not the smart thing to do but truthfully that is how the matter is handled in Omaha for the most part. I think most apts are built stronger then the average house is as well which helps. In the 50 some years I have lived here I only have seen one apt complex damaged pretty good and that was in 1975. There are lots of good reasons not to move to Nebraska but tornadoes are not one of them!

[ricko]

HI,
I'm from NYC and I got a job offer in Omaha. I'm thinking about not taking the job because I'm terrified of tornadoes. I read on here that houses have basements for you to stay in during a tornado, but where do people go when they live in apartments in Omaha?

I grew up in Omaha, lived in Oklahoma,Texas,Illinois and Missouri. I'd never experienced one until an F1 tornado zipped down my street in West Springfield, Virginia---and I slept through it! I think you'll be fine. You're probably more likely to get eaten by an alligator in the Central Park Zoo than get injured by a tornado in Omaha (OK, I'm exaggerating, but I think you get the general idea).

[Omahacritic]

Such fear is irrational. I don’t fear falling off a subway platform when I travel to NYC.

1. Look up the frequency for tornadoes. (How many per day).
2. Look up the frequency rate of death and injury.
3. Look up frequency rate of death and injury for any cause in NYC.

4. Look up how much further your money will get you living in Omaha.
5. Look for Apartment Communities that have tornado shelters. Most of the newer ones have them.

6. Enjoy your new, improved quality of life.

[S.O.Boy]

They are not that bad, unless you get hit.

[Cermak]

The Chances of getting hit by a tornado is very low. During certain times of the year, mainly April thru June just pay attention to the weather. Usually you will have some sort of warning, but take them seriously. A full blown tornado is one of nature’s most powerful Forces and should never be taken lightly.