Southwestern Virginia is getting hammered

[ohheckyeah]

Tornado warnings, tornadoes touching down, severe thunderstorms, hail, flash flooding.

I guess I'll stay up until the danger has passed so I can head to the basement if necessary.

Stay safe Virginians!

[Jane Austin]

1. Where are you in SW VA?

Are you near Bristol?

[ohheckyeah]

3. No, closer to Roanoke.

I live in a rural area close to Roanoke.

[Oilwellian]

5. So do I

I'm leery of going to sleep. Although it seems to have calmed down. For now.

[ohheckyeah]

7. I think it's calming down some

so maybe we can both get too sleep before too long. Stay safe...it's been a wild one in SW Virginia tonight.

[Jane Austin]

11. Our daughter in Bristol said the warning was changed

to a watch, but their power is out.

They'd been down in the basement most of the night.

She's pretty sure the large hail caused a lot of damage to their siding and roof.

[joshcryer]

10. Damn, be safe. Grew up in Tazewell (up near Bluefield).

[AsahinaKimi]

2. The weather channel

Has some videos posted of recent tornadoes at weather.com

[ohheckyeah]

4. There are some deaths reported in VA

and people missing. I don't know if I want to see videos or not. I'm a chicken when it comes to tornadoes.

[Maru Kitteh]

6. Can you just sleep in the basement? Thank goodness you have one!

What fresh hell we've brought. It's only late April, and so many of these tornadoes are so HUGE. You have all our best thoughts and wishes. Stay safe. :(

[ohheckyeah]

8. Yes, I could.

I'm letting my husband sleep now while I keep an eye out for warnings. We'll change shifts if it stays bad and he'll get up about 5:00 a.m. There's only one couch in the basement but he would sleep in his lounge chair if it came to us heading for the basement.

I've got WSLS tv on and they are doing a good job of keeping us updated.

Crap, Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem just went on tornado alert and Bedford County on flash flood warning.

I have family in the above areas.

[Maru Kitteh]

9. Yeah you really don't want to watch the videos then. Scared the H outa me and I'm from NEBRASKA

Home of some of the biggest damn tornadoes ever recorded. If I were in the path, I'd be under ground-level. Nobody dies when they go underground.

[ohheckyeah]

12. Probably not.

Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem are now on tornado watch. Lots of my family are in those areas.

[Maru Kitteh]

13. With all of my heart and soul

I wish all of you and yours the best. We barely (1 block and a 1/2) dodged a bed one in 2009. I can't say I know how you feel, but I certainly remember well how I felt. I called my daughter to tell her goodbye.

[ohheckyeah]

14. Thanks very much.

I wish we had brought my 84 year old parents here. We could have moved the queen sized bed to the basement and they could have been here. They are the one's I'm most worried about.

Okay, now I'm freaking myself out thinking about them.

[kimi]

15. Best wishes to you and your family

I was raised in CA, never learned the power and fright of tornadoes till I moved to MO in my 20's. I've moved in and out of Tornado Alley since then, but it's a recurring theme in my dreams when I live there - I have dreams of tornadoes, big ones, little ones. Moving to Iowa in a week, so I guess those dreams will start up again.

Those videos were scary, I feel badly for all those affected. I really hope you all are safe.