Skip to main content Skip to bottom nav

Tornado warning anxiety attack

User Profile: PorcupineRay
PorcupineRay July 4th, 2019

While I was at camp, we would meet in the dining hall for lunch. Half way through lunch the counsellors burst in the doors and tell us we have to go to class NOW. Of course, everyone's on edge at that point. Me and about six other people from my class start walking to our building, which happens to be the farthest building on campus. The wind is roaring and the sky is a sheet of dark grey. We're not even an eighth of the way there when a counselor tells us we can't be walking and we need to run because there's a tornado warning. All panic breaks out. Half of us take off full sprint through the short cut that is normally off limits. We make it just over halfway there when all of us need to stop and catch our breath. At this point the wind is getting louder and everyone is looking at the sky claiming they see a spinning motion. The streetlights are on because it's dark and a giant tree branch fell behind us. I screamed at my friends that they were scaring me. They continued to make comments about it. I was so scared. I felt like my chest was being wound around me. My heart was out of control. I couldn't focus on anything. It hurt to try andEverything was too fast. I couldn't breathe. One of my friends noticed and told everyone to shut it. She took my hand and basically dragged me to safety. There wasn't a tornado, thank god. It was just scary to think that my anxiety could've trapped me in a potentially dangerous situation.

1
User Profile: AffyAvo
AffyAvo July 4th, 2019

@PorcupineRay That sounds really scary! I think situations like that are why were are often encourage to have a plan in place before a disaster stikes, it's not just about being physically prepared but also have a mental plan in place. It sounds like the counsellors didn't follow some standard safety procedures unfortunately. If the dining hall was a safe place it would have made sense to remain there and if not, then to have gone to the nearest safe place, not the usual location far away. I hope someone at camp is also being updated with weather watches - that way it's less likely for everyone to be caught off guard when it upgrades to a warning, although sometimes weather changes quickly.