A tornado touched down just after noon yesterday in my hometown of Vancouver, Washington. Tornados are extremely unusual in that region and the last one happened in 1972. The tornado, rated as an EF1 (the '72 storm was an F2), caused winds from 90-100mph which resulted in trees being uprooted and broken in half. A semi truck was flipped over in the wind, and several store signs and billboards went flying. The storm touched down near Vancouver Lake, then again near 78th and HWY99, quite close to where my sister lives. Although there was a ton of property damage and 1,200 people left without power, there were no injuries or fatalities as a result of the storm. Here are some photos of the damage:

I have a friend who I met playing hockey in Los Angeles. A couple of years ago, she and her husband moved their family, coincidentally, to Vancouver. I got an e-mail from her last night saying how bad the storm was and that she'd take southern California and sunshine any day. Clearly, she's forgotten about the earthquakes, mudslides and fires.