Episódio 22: Tornadoes (Os tornados)

Nesse episódio, vamos ouvir a história de duas pessoas que enfrentaram tornados — uma por acidente, e a outra de propósito.

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Transcrição

Helena: Foi por pouco que Chelsea Ardisson não chegou ao altar. Doze dias antes do casamento, seu noivo acordou no meio da noite preocupado com o cachorro, que tava escondido no porão, ou basement.

Chelsea: My boyfriend Preston was awake in the middle of the night because our dog, Theo, didn’t want to leave the basement. It was so strange. Theo hates storms, but it was calm outside. It wasn’t windy or raining or anything. We thought that maybe Theo was sick, but then we turned on the TV.

Helena: Quando ligaram a televisão e viram as notícias, Chelsea e Preston descobriram que um tornado, um turbilhão enorme de vento, tava vindo na direção do bairro deles na cidade de Nashville, no estado de Tennessee, nos Estados Unidos. Na mesma hora, eles pensaram em todos os animais de estimação que tinham, inclusive no ouriço, ou hedgehog.

Chelsea: In a panic, Preston ran upstairs to get our hedgehog, Pepper. Then, I saw on the TV that the tornado just hit a school very close to our house! I screamed for Preston to come to the basement.

Helena: Welcome! Esse é o episódio 14 da segunda temporada de Histórias em Inglês com Duolingo. Eu sou Helena Fruet. Nesse podcast, você vai poder praticar inglês no seu ritmo, ouvindo histórias reais e emocionantes.

Os personagens falam um inglês simples e fácil de entender — perfeito pra quem tá aprendendo. Eu vou te acompanhar em cada episódio pra ter certeza que você tá entendendo tudo.

Hoje vamos ouvir histórias de duas pessoas que enfrentaram tornados: uma por acidente, e a outra… de propósito.

Chelsea e Preston se conheceram pela internet em 2017. Depois de namorarem por um ano, decidiram morar juntos, cada um com seu cachorro. Mas, antes, eles fizeram um pacto.

Chelsea: Preston had his dog, Theo, and I had a dog named Olive. They were like our children — they meant everything to us. Before our relationship became serious, we made a pact. We agreed to break up if our dogs didn’t like each other. But we were lucky because our dogs fell in love — just like we did. Our dogs basically started dating too.

Helena: Depois de pouco tempo morando juntos, Chelsea e Preston ficaram noivos. Eles queriam fazer uma pequena cerimônia no estado do Colorado, onde a família de Chelsea tava planejando esquiar nas férias. Eles marcaram a data do casamento pra 14 de março de 2020.

Chelsea: We already had the big things that we needed for our wedding, like my dress, Preston’s suit, and our rings. There were still a lot of small things to do before the wedding, but I planned to do them all during the first week in March — when I was on a break from my university.

Helena: Chelsea tava estudando pra um mestrado em patologia da fala. Ela também era chef de cozinha e dirigia uma pequena empresa de eventos e buffet pra pequenos grupos. Dar conta de todos esses compromissos e ainda planejar um casamento foi difícil!

Chelsea: It was March 2nd, just after my university break started. There were only 12 days until my wedding. So, I started packing for the trip to Colorado, and I fell asleep pretty early. Then at 12:40 am, Preston woke me up. He said that our dog, Theo, was acting strange. Preston doesn’t usually wake me up when Theo is upset, but he felt like this time was different.

Helena: Theo tava deitado no chão do porão e não queria nem se mexer.

Chelsea: Theo seemed really scared, like how he acts during thunderstorms. But it was clear and calm outside, so we didn’t understand why he was acting so strange. Then, we turned on the TV.

Apresentador do noticiário: Attention: A tornado has touched down in Davidson County. Seek shelter immediately.

Chelsea: That’s when we realized that a tornado was going to hit Nashville.

Apresentador do noticiário: You are safest in a basement or a closet on the lowest floor of your building.

Helena: Tornados acontecem no mundo todo, mas são mais comuns nos Estados Unidos, por causa da geografia do país. Todo ano, o país enfrenta cerca de 1.200 tornados. Em Nashville, o fenômeno não é muito comum, mas Chelsea entendia o suficiente sobre tornados pra saber que ela e Preston tinham que se abrigar no subsolo, num lugar sem janelas.

Chelsea: Preston immediately ran upstairs to grab our hedgehog, Pepper, and I stayed with our dogs, Olive and Theo. I couldn’t stop looking at the TV.

Helena: Até que o apresentador do jornal anunciou que o tornado tinha tocado o solo… a dois quarteirões da casa deles.

Chelsea: I started to panic, and I shouted for Preston to come downstairs. Without saying anything, we got down on the floor and held each other.

Helena: Assim que os dois se jogaram no chão do porão… o tornado atingiu a casa.

Chelsea: I was so scared. I said, over and over again, “I don’t want to die right now.” And I told Preston to hold me. The tornado was incredibly loud. At first, it sounded like someone put a big jar of coins inside a clothes dryer. And then, when the tornado was directly over our house, it was so loud that I felt it in my body. It was almost like the sound was coming from inside my head.

Helena: Chelsea e Preston ficaram quietos no chão, abraçando seus bichinhos e rezando pra aquilo tudo passar logo.

Chelsea: We could hear a lot of things crashing and breaking outside. I even think I heard our house move off the ground. I closed my eyes and kept holding Preston’s hands.

Helena: Mas, como acontece muitas vezes, o tornado não durou muito. Depois de só 30 segundos, ele desapareceu.

Chelsea: It was instantly silent. It was so strange. After the tornado was gone, we were covered in water and dirt, and there was a strong smell of gas in the air. Preston tried to get out of the basement, but the door wouldn’t open at first. After a few hard pushes, it finally opened. And immediately, we could see the sky. The walls and the ceiling of our house were gone.

Helena: A lavanderia, no porão onde Chelsea e Preston se abrigaram, foi o único cômodo da casa que resistiu à tempestade.

Chelsea: The first couple of minutes after we left the basement were crazy. Our house was destroyed and all of our stuff was broken. We started looking for our car keys. I thought they might be near the front door. But as I lifted the door, I found something else: my wedding dress!

Helena: O vestido de Chelsea estava a dois cômodos de distância de onde ela tinha deixado, dentro do pacote, totalmente intacto!

Chelsea: I was in shock. The wedding dress blew across the house in the tornado, but it was still in perfect condition! Almost everything else was destroyed. There were pieces of wall, broken windows, and furniture in our yard. Some of our stuff was even hanging in nearby trees. But somehow, the dress was fine.

Helena: O tornado destruiu centenas de casas em Nashville e matou 5 pessoas. Foram registrados ventos de até 250 quilômetros por hora. Por toda a cidade tinha árvores e postes de luz caídos, inclusive no bairro de Chelsea.

Chelsea: Everything in our house was destroyed, including all of our furniture, our artwork, and special things from our childhoods and our time as a couple. It was so hard to lose those things because they were impossible to replace. But we were just so happy that we didn’t die. We still had each other — and our pets.

Helena: O casal fez uma lista de todas as coisas importantes da casa e onde eles lembravam de ter visto cada uma pela última vez, pra assim tentar encontrar cada objeto. Preston é trompetista profissional, então seus trompetes foram os primeiros itens da lista. Depois, estavam as alianças do casamento.

Chelsea: I remembered putting the rings on a dresser in the bedroom, but after the tornado, I thought they might be lost forever. My parents came to help us clean the parts of our house that weren’t destroyed, and my mom was determined to find the rings. After searching for 12 hours, we finally found them! One ring was in the yard, and another was under a piece of furniture. After we found the rings, our friends and family all agreed: we still needed to have our wedding later that month.

Helena: Mas Chelsea tinha suas dúvidas. Eles tinham acabado de perder a casa. Tinham coisas mais importantes pra se preocupar do que os detalhes do casamento.

Chelsea: I still needed to get flowers for the wedding and find someone to do my hair and makeup. There was too much to do. But on the second day of cleaning up the house, I turned to Preston and asked, “Are we really going to do this?” And he said, “Absolutely! I am not going to let a tornado stop our wedding day!”

Helena: Chelsea passou os próximos dias no telefone com as seguradoras, tentando entender o que fazer com a casa e com tudo que tinha nela. Nesse período, os dois foram viver na casa dos pais de Chelsea.

Chelsea: Planning the wedding was difficult because I had so many other important things to do. But my friends and family insisted that my wedding was important too. So, I stopped cleaning up the house for one day, and I went to the hair salon. But I couldn’t stop crying. It felt terrible to get ready for my wedding when I really needed to concentrate on our lost house.

Helena: Então, menos de duas semanas depois do tornado ter atingido a casa deles, Chelsea e Preston pegaram um avião até o Colorado pra celebrar seu casamento.

Chelsea: The first night in Colorado was wonderful. It was the first time that I could relax and stop thinking about the tornado. It was so nice to escape from that difficult situation. It was the first time our families were all together after the terrible storm. It was great to be with each other and to talk about our future together as husband and wife.

Helena: E em 14 de março de 2020 eles se casaram.

Chelsea: The wedding was outside in the woods near the Rocky Mountains. There was still snow on the ground so we had to wear hiking boots to walk to the ceremony. It was so private and intimate. Just our families were there. After we said, “I do,” we had a big picnic. I lost my house — and almost my life — but at the wedding, I was just so happy to be with everyone I cared about, starting my new life with the person I loved the most. It was perfect! I’m so glad the tornado didn’t stop our wedding.

Helena: Chelsea e Preston ainda têm pesadelos com o tornado que quase tirou a vida deles. Mas nem todas as pessoas têm medo de tornados; algumas são fascinadas por eles. É o caso de Hank Schyma. Ele é um caçador de tempestades, ou storm chaser, ou seja… ele viaja pelo país em busca de tornados. Ele já viu mais de 200!

Hank: I have been interested in weather since I was a kid growing up in the state of Texas. We had a lot of storms in our area. And of course there was the movie The Wizard of Oz. I watched it with my family every year around Christmas. During the scene when the tornado hits Dorothy’s house, I couldn’t look away from the TV. The tornado looked alive as it moved and turned.

Helena: Na história do Mágico de Oz, uma jovem do estado do Kansas chamada Dorothy vai pra uma terra fantástica chamada Oz graças… a um tornado!

Hank: I can’t even explain why I’m so obsessed with tornadoes. A tornado is just dust, water, and air moving very quickly. I think some people are just born with this attraction.

Helena: Hank cresceu na parte central dos Estados Unidos, onde os tornados são mais frequentes… mas ainda assim são considerados eventos raros. Um tornado dura, em média, apenas 5 minutos, então é fácil perdê-lo de vista.

Hank: As a kid, I saw a lot of storms but never a tornado. I really wanted to see one in real life. So, when I got my driver’s license at the age of 16, I started to drive around and look for tornadoes. I always brought my family’s video camera and I tried to follow every storm in my area. I got a lot of videos of lightning and dark clouds, but never a tornado. I was so fascinated by weather. I never saw the same thing twice.

Helena: Ao mesmo tempo em que Hank era fascinado por tornados, ele também queria ser um roqueiro famoso. Ele era guitarrista de uma banda, e essa era a sua prioridade.

Hank: We traveled a lot for concerts, and that meant that I missed a lot of storms. I tried to look for tornadoes when I could, but I was often traveling from April to July — which is the time of the year when tornadoes usually occur.

Helena: Por isso, durante mais de uma década, Hank perseguiu tempestades, mas nunca viu um tornado. Num dia de 2002, enquanto Hank descansava na sua casa no Texas depois de uma turnê, ele viu o repórter da previsão do tempo dizendo que uma grande tempestade, com chance de tornados, estava chegando ao Kansas, um estado que ficava a 11 horas de carro pro norte.

Hank: I got in my car with a friend and drove directly to Kansas. When we got close to the area where the tornado was going to land, I turned on my camera. And there it was. It was so big. There was dust everywhere. I kept asking, “Is that a tornado? Is that a tornado?” I couldn’t believe it! I felt like I was dreaming. I finally got my Wizard of Oz tornado!

Helena: Hank finalmente viu seu primeiro tornado e registrou o momento na sua câmera. Ele tava superemocionado. Quando ele e o amigo voltavam pra casa, eles encontraram uma equipe de jornalistas locais.

Hank: The news team wanted to buy my video of the tornado. I thought that was amazing! We got enough money to pay for the gas we used to drive to Kansas. I never thought I could make money from storm chasing, but in that moment, I realized that I could at least make enough money to continue doing it.

Helena: Hank seguiu caçando tempestades sempre que podia. Mas a música continuou sendo a sua prioridade, e fazer turnês significava perder um tornado atrás do outro.

Hank: It was difficult. I saw videos of the storms that I missed, and I felt bad that I wasn’t there. Then I realized that if I really wanted to do it, I had to put all my energy into it. So finally, in 2013, I decided to make storm chasing my full-time job and play music only during the time of year when there aren’t many tornadoes.

Helena: Existem vários tipos de caçadores de tornados: tem aqueles que querem noticiar o fenômeno e outros fazem pela aventura ou pela ciência.

Hank: When I first started chasing storms, I just made videos to put online and sell to local news stations. But as I got more experience, I learned more about the science of tornadoes. And I started working with researchers to try to understand storms better.

Helena: Hoje em dia, a previsão de tornados ficou muito mais precisa, mas ainda é difícil saber quando exatamente eles vão aparecer, e quão rápido ou devagar vão se movimentar. As imagens que os caçadores de tempestades como Hank registram ajudam pesquisadores a compreender melhor os tornados… pra melhor alertar sobre a distância dessas tempestades e seu poder de destruição. Mas gravar esses vídeos pode ser bem perigoso.

Hank: Sometimes, I accidentally get too close to a tornado or I get stuck in heavy rain and I can’t see anything. Usually, once a year, I almost die while chasing a storm. I try to be safe, but it’s hard to predict the weather. It’s just part of the job.

Helena: É muito raro encontrar um tornado que seja bom pra gravar em vídeo. Em 2014, Hank tava tendo um ano especialmente ruim pra caça de tornados.

Hank: It wasn’t a good year for storm chasing. In June, when tornado season was almost over, most of the other storm chasers quit. But I wasn’t ready to stop trying. And on June 16th, I heard that there might be a tornado in the state of Nebraska. So, I jumped into my car and started driving there. When I got there, I met a friend.

Helena: Hank tinha todo equipamento de vídeo pronto quando dirigia pra zona onde achava que o tornado fosse aparecer. Quanto mais ele se aproximava, mais forte o vento soprava e mais escuras as nuvens ficavam.

Hank: When we arrived, we couldn’t believe what we saw. There were two huge tornadoes on each side of a big field. One was wide. The other one was very thin. And the two tornadoes were moving toward each other! When they got close to each other, there was a flash of lightning. Then, the thin tornado started moving towards the wide one very quickly. It moved faster than any tornado I have ever seen.

Helena: Hank gravou o encontro de dois tornados!

Hank: It was incredible! When we finally got home and watched the video, my friend calculated that the tornado traveled forward at 150 kilometers per hour. It was a new world record!

Helena: Só de ter visto esse tornado, a viagem de carro já tinha valido a pena… mas nos próximos dias, nos estados vizinhos, Hank e seu amigo viram muitos outros tornados.

Hank: 2014 went from the quietest year for storm chasing to one of the most exciting years ever — in only three days! It made me remember that it’s important to be there for every storm. You have to try to see all of them or you might miss something really amazing. So that’s what I do. From April to July every year, I jump into my car when a storm is coming. I’m always looking for that perfect Wizard of Oz tornado.

Helena: Você pode encontrar os vídeos de Hank caçando tornados no canal dele no Youtube: “Pecos Hank”. Nossa primeira protagonista, Chelsea Ardisson, está construindo uma nova casa com o marido, Preston. Eles pediram pra um amigo fazer o projeto e disseram que não pode faltar um porão.

Esse episódio foi produzido por Paige Sutherland, jornalista que vive em Boston, Massachusetts.

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Eu sou Helena Fruet. Thank you for listening!

Créditos

Esse episódio foi produzido por Duolingo e Adonde Media.