STUCK IN A INTENSE HAIL STORM WHILE LIVE ON THE AIR! (April 9th, 08)

Getting cored while live on the air with KFSM 5News (Ft. Smith/ Fayetteville, Ar) (April 9th, 08)
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On April 9th I was intercepting a tornado warned cell along I-40 in Oklahoma just before sunset. I got into position near Salisaw and waited as the cell approached me from the SE. The storm began to turn right and I had to head east to get my self away from the core and in position to see the updraft basin. As the cell passed directly over me in Muldrow, Ok I spotted a small funnel descending from a small wall cloud. The storm was still in the midst of turning hard to the right and I became trapped. I tried my best to outrun the storm but was unable to and was forced to pull into a rest stop near the Arkansas, Oklahoma boarder by Van Buren, Arkansas. This was really the first time I ever was unintentionally cored by a supercell. While trapped their I was put back on the air and in the middle of my "call in", right after I said I see power flashes my Chief Meteorologist told me that they were taking shelter in the studio and they may have been knocked off air but to keep talking just in case the station was still transmitting. Surprisingly I only lost my rear view mirrors and suffered minor dents. The station however, took a direct hit by extreme straight line winds and softball sized hail busting out many windows and destroying most of the cars in the parking lot.
While this was not near close to the worst hail I have ever seen it certainly wasn't the weakest nor was it not damaging. I was lucky to keep all my windows but I lost both of my mirrors and tail lights and every panel on my vehicle was badly dented.

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[jhatf07]

See if you can't get what we saw as this storm moved over live on tv. I was down the street when this storm came over and when the crew at the station took cover I didn't blame them for a second, but would like to see the broadcast again...without the risk!

[TheTornadoChaser]

@jhatf07 I would if I could, however I have since moved from KFSM to KNWA/ FOX24 and no longer have access to the archives at KFSM.

[guitarheroexpert435]

this was a powerful storm... i was there but there was a tornado but it didnt touch the ground... 700 dolars down the drain 4 me...

[TheTornadoChaser]

Well remember it isn't a tornado until it touched down.

700 dollars... was that in damages or do you mean you chased it and had a "incident"?

[stormspinner1]

Dang. How much damage?

*StormSpinner1* in Texas

[TheTornadoChaser]

lost all the rear lights, and side mirrors and it left nasty dents in all the body panels but I was lucky and didn't lose a window, not even a crack.

[hammerogod]

That is what the Auto Body Repair shops and Roofing Contractors pray for.

I lived in S.W. Okla (for far too long) and I have seen Roofers come from 1000 miles away to get a piece of the action.

After one very bad Hail Storm in Duncan OK. the local Insurance Agencies had to call in Adjusters from Texas, Kansas and Missouri.

Every other car I saw had an Insurance Company Logo on the side.

That lasted for several days.

$2M in compensable damages in 5 minutes.

The Tornado Alley way.

[TheHickstead]

I hate that noise! Cause I know it sounds like money i have to pay to fix the damage!! lol

[Hbryant188]

@cmetalrocks haha agreed!

[cmetalrocks]

@Hbryant188 i have no idea how much damage ours got, i still live with my parents. but me and my dad reroofed our house and our rent house. and redid the siding on ours also. 10 year old vinyl siding holds up great against baseball sized hail! haha! and from that unfortunate night i knew for sure i didnt want to be a roofer :) yes we were very lucky, i cant believe we didnt get more than we did, all that happened at my house was a light rain, nothing compared to monday nights rain!

[Hbryant188]

@cmetalrocks My house sustained $34,285 in damage that night. Had to have a new roof, new siding, new collums....it took all summer as you said to get it repaired lol. As for lastnight...Agreed. I feel bad for the poor folks in Logan and Johnson counties. I can only hope they recover quickly. I think the last death count was at 4. Anyway, Fort Smith and VB were pretty lucky, only thing that happened here was I lost my power.

[cmetalrocks]

@Hbryant188 i agree with you, worst hail storm ive ever been in as well. and then after that all you could hear for the rest of the summer ,probably longer, was hammers pounding on roofs. there were soooo many cars and houses that got messed up from that. glad lastnights storms didnt give us much of anything, i live just north of van buren and we just got a little rain.

[Hbryant188]

@cmetalrocks That was by far the most intense hail storm I've ever seen. I had a buddy of mine who works for the CCSO who was on patrol that night. His car was pretty much totaled...

[cmetalrocks]

@Hbryant188 i remember that like it was yesterday, i was in alma at the time. driving down hw71, stopped under sergeants gas station right next to i40 when it really started coming down.

[Hbryant188]

I remember this night all too well. That storm did the most damage to Fort Smith since the 1996 tornado. I live on the intersection of Free Ferry and South 46th street and snapped a photo of two trees that fell on my neighbor's house. It was featured on the front page of the Times Record the next day..

[pingtang666]

insane hail. great work!!!