EPTTornadoes across Central US - Page 3
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j0k3r
United States577 Posts
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tsmitho
United States93 Posts
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CyberPitz
United States428 Posts
Quite the eerie feeling, considering I was outside at the time it hit, not realizing the other side of the city was being destroyed. | ||
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WoodenSpider
United States85 Posts
On May 26 2011 23:37 Bleak wrote: In any case, there is a risk of death that nobody knows when it will hit them. The tornado might go over your house, or might not touch it at all. You just don't know about it. This is a big risk, I just don't understand the logic of letting people live in structures weak against tornadoes while there is that big of a risk. The numbers mean nothing, it is human life we are talking about. Any of those 50million people, assuming that their homes are weak, are in threat. At least the buildings could be strengthened, not sure what can stand against that thing besides a concrete structure though. Making a house tornado proof would likely make the house cost upwards of twice as much, and you would also probably be making the house significantly less comfortable to live in. Anything less than a major overhaul to the buildings structure(reinforcing with steel, etc.) would still leave the building vulnerable to tornado damage and human deaths. The cost isn't in the materials so much as trying to find contractors with experience in that kind of construction willing to work on that small of project. So you want to raise everyone in the area's housing costs, while also making their house less comfortable. Do you think we should raise the housing costs in California even more by making everyone earthquake proof their house? The people in the area know the risks, and accept them. Forcing 50 million people to spend massive amounts of money to lower their risk of tornado damage is stupid. If they want to tornado proof their house, they can, but don't force them. And don't even try to say that the rest of the US should pay for it. | ||
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integrity
United States1014 Posts
[QUOTE]On May 26 2011 23:37 Bleak wrote: [QUOTE]On May 26 2011 16:42 ShadowDrgn wrote: [QUOTE]On May 26 2011 02:52 Bleak wrote: .[/QUOTE] [/QUOTE And don't even try to say that the rest of the US should pay for it.[/QUOTE] you do realize most of damages are paid by taxpayers right? yea so i work at a coffee shop part time! and i was lucky enough to be at work when a tornado came threw here. i was happy to get a day off because of it!!! | ||
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matjlav
Germany2435 Posts
On May 27 2011 00:03 stoat wrote: You can easily go your entire life living in tornado alley and never even see a tornado. If Joplin is like every other town I've lived in in the midwest they sound the sirens for every little thing (straightline winds, large hail, etc) and people get used to it - certainly in my current town that is the case... if we ever got a major tornado here hundreds would die. The trouble is every time there's a super cell the TV hack meteorologists hype the hell of it. Same here. I'm from a suburb of Cincinnati, OH, and we get tornadoes rarely. There's only one time in my life that I know of when a tornado has done significant damage in the Cincinnati area. But they still sound the sirens all the time, so you just get used to them as something that accompanies bad thunderstorms or hail. It's very much a boy-who-cried-wolf scenario with the tornado sirens... | ||
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SolHeiM
Sweden1264 Posts
On May 27 2011 01:02 matjlav wrote: Same here. I'm from a suburb of Cincinnati, OH, and we get tornadoes rarely. There's only one time in my life that I know of when a tornado has done significant damage in the Cincinnati area. But they still sound the sirens all the time, so you just get used to them as something that accompanies bad thunderstorms or hail. It's very much a boy-who-cried-wolf scenario with the tornado sirens... Better safe than sorry though, innit? | ||
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jackblack2323
United States71 Posts
On May 27 2011 01:02 matjlav wrote: Same here. I'm from a suburb of Cincinnati, OH, and we get tornadoes rarely. There's only one time in my life that I know of when a tornado has done significant damage in the Cincinnati area. But they still sound the sirens all the time, so you just get used to them as something that accompanies bad thunderstorms or hail. It's very much a boy-who-cried-wolf scenario with the tornado sirens... I also live in a suburb of Cincinnati, OH. Did you lose your electricity the other day because of the wind? I lost mine for like 15 hours. it was cool though because i watched a couple episodes of man vs wild on my psp, played mario on my old gameboy, and listened to music/played games on my ipod touch lmao. | ||
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matjlav
Germany2435 Posts
On May 27 2011 01:06 jackblack2323 wrote: I also live in a suburb of Cincinnati, OH. Did you lose your electricity the other day because of the wind? I lost mine for like 15 hours. it was cool though because i watched a couple episodes of man vs wild on my psp, played mario on my old gameboy, and listened to music/played games on my ipod touch lmao. I'm at college now in New York, so no. Though I was there two years ago for the huge windstorm that resulted from Hurricane Ike blowing through... I got called into work the next day because the restaurant I waited tables at was apparently one of the few restaurants with power in the area, and my school was cancelled because of the storm. I made so much money, haha. | ||
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partisan
United States783 Posts
Sky commonly turns a greenish color when tornado activity is imminent/already happening. | ||
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partisan
United States783 Posts
On May 27 2011 01:06 jackblack2323 wrote: I also live in a suburb of Cincinnati, OH. Did you lose your electricity the other day because of the wind? I lost mine for like 15 hours. it was cool though because i watched a couple episodes of man vs wild on my psp, played mario on my old gameboy, and listened to music/played games on my ipod touch lmao. I'm in dayton, lost power for about 4 hours last night. Had about 3-4 different storms capable of producing tornadoes roll through last night so the sirens just kept going, no major damage though. | ||
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partisan
United States783 Posts
On May 26 2011 02:52 Bleak wrote: Hmm, so it is just better to make fragile homes and risk your life instead of spending some extra money? The homes look like they are made of freaking wood, how much more expensive is it to use some concrete and steel so that stuff doesn't start flying around when tornadoes appear? One doesn't have to build a skyscraper, just a two story small house similar in archithecture to the ones in the area but made of concrete and steel would be enough. Windows might be broken and stuff could fly around, but that should be easily handled by some safety measures inside the house. It is obviously better than whole thing collapsing on you. I just don't understand...I've always thought housing as cheaper in US. If people can't do anything because they can't afford it, then the State should do something about it. Either close off the area for living, or build strong enough homes to survive the tornadoes. Making every building in tornado alley tornado proof isn't really feasible. A lot of the houses in the area have basements, I know we do here in Ohio. The issue is getting people to where they need to be. People will either ignore the sirens or not have their TV/radio on for the warnings so they end up in harms way. A lot of the casualties come from people out driving on the roads, trailer parks or people inside houses but close to windows/other debris. A tornado plowing through a house won't usually kill someone in a basement, but not everyone can end up in that preferred position. | ||
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partisan
United States783 Posts
True enough. The problem is that some people tend to ignore them after the initial round of warnings and end up in harms way because they think the threat has passed. | ||
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Kinetik_Inferno
United States1431 Posts
The worst thing is that most homes in the midwest were built around 20-50 years ago, and are not very structurally sound. If they all lived in houses that were actually designed for tornadoes, then far fewer people would die. | ||
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thebigdonkey
United States354 Posts
Hi stoat! (Stoat is pro at weather, listen to him). It's a tough situation to be honest. Like the last couple days, I walked out of work to the sound of tornado sirens as there were warnings for the area. I turned on the radio and they were recommending people take shelter...even though the sun was still out. I didn't take shelter, I just drove home (and got nailed halfway there by 50-60 mph winds lol). I remember when I was a kid, they sent out warnings with much lower frequency. If you had a warning for your area, it was reasonable to be scared. Now, when I hear a warning, I think meh, nobody's spotted one on the ground, why worry. I still listen to the radio and keep an eye out, so maybe that's the kind of behavior they're trying to provoke, but as far as taking shelter...I don't think many people heed the warning. In my opinion, they need to find a happy medium in between the way things used to be and the way they are now. I don't know enough about our meteorological system in practice to know whether that's a reasonable request or not. | ||
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CyberPitz
United States428 Posts
On May 27 2011 01:40 partisan wrote: True enough. The problem is that some people tend to ignore them after the initial round of warnings and end up in harms way because they think the threat has passed. That's exactly the case. I had a couple of people I know drive INTO THE PATH OF THE TORNADO, and get hit, because the sirens sounded 20 minutes prior, and they thought since the sirens stopped, it was all clear. People don't quite understand that the siren is a warning it's coming, not a "It's here then it's not" signal. Also, after Sunday's tornado here in Joplin, come Tuesday there was another huge storm that was coming for us capable (And was producing prior) tornadoes. People were freaking out, so they went to test the sirens in the city to be safe.......two were down due to no electricity being supplied to them. Doh! They had to bring in external generators to charge them up to be sure they worked. People are a little on edge in this town nowadays, and rightly so. | ||
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partisan
United States783 Posts
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/CI4Sd.jpg) A more dramatic version of the kind of clouds we've been seeing in the midwest for the last few weeks. | ||
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Skilledblob
Germany3392 Posts
On May 27 2011 01:46 CyberPitz wrote: That's exactly the case. I had a couple of people I know drive INTO THE PATH OF THE TORNADO, and get hit, because the sirens sounded 20 minutes prior, and they thought since the sirens stopped, it was all clear. People don't quite understand that the siren is a warning it's coming, not a "It's here then it's not" signal. Also, after Sunday's tornado here in Joplin, come Tuesday there was another huge storm that was coming for us capable (And was producing prior) tornadoes. People were freaking out, so they went to test the sirens in the city to be safe.......two were down due to no electricity being supplied to them. Doh! They had to bring in external generators to charge them up to be sure they worked. People are a little on edge in this town nowadays, and rightly so. we germans have great expertise in building alarmsirens maybe you should get one from us  | ||
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CyberPitz
United States428 Posts
On May 27 2011 01:50 Skilledblob wrote: we germans have great expertise in building alarmsirens maybe you should get one from us Haha, it's not that the sirens were bad, it's that the tornado that hit he city, thus taking about a quarter of the city with it, killed power in a LOT of the city. I won't pretend to understand how they work or what they could have done to prevent it, but in the end it was all resolved before the storm that evening. | ||
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holy_war
United States3590 Posts
On May 27 2011 01:38 partisan wrote: Making every building in tornado alley tornado proof isn't really feasible. A lot of the houses in the area have basements, I know we do here in Ohio. The issue is getting people to where they need to be. People will either ignore the sirens or not have their TV/radio on for the warnings so they end up in harms way. A lot of the casualties come from people out driving on the roads, trailer parks or people inside houses but close to windows/other debris. A tornado plowing through a house won't usually kill someone in a basement, but not everyone can end up in that preferred position. What you and most other people are saying about tornado sirens are true: we simply hear them so much that we tend to totally ignore them. Hopefully the recent storms will serve as a wake-up call. But regarding basements, basements simply don't exist in Texas or Oklahoma. The water table is usually way too high for basements to be put in. If you're willing to dish out $3000, you can get a built-in storm shelter within your house, but if you don't, you just have to hope for the best. | ||
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