First of all, thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Joplin, MO where 122+ people died from a EF5 tornado. This has been one of the deadliest tornado years in history.
The central US states of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas is widely known to lie on the famous 'tornado alley', where over 90% of tornadoes form in the United States. According to meteorologists this morning, a large tornado outbreak was expected in Oklahoma. Living in Oklahoma for the past 10 years, we are no strangers when it comes to tornadoes, so most people have taken it for granted since “the tornado probably won’t hit us.” So today really wasn’t any different. Fast forward to 3:30 PM, while watching the news, a large tornado hit the town of El Reno, OK, approximately 30 miles away from my residence. It is always heartbreaking to see live video of house after house get demolished by a tornado. Another hour and a half passed and another 2-3 tornadoes were spotted within a 25 mile radius of my house. A bit later, a circulation (radar spotted rotation in the clouds, with the possibility of forming a tornado) was spotted in a storm 45 miles SW of where I am living. Meteorologists projected that storm cluster to travel straight through my town of Norman, OK with my house in its path. Things started to get a little scary. A bit later, the tornado did form and every TV station nearby were showing it on air. The thought of watching THE tornado that could destroy my house was bit scary. In the next 30 minutes or so, the tornado sirens around town all went off and I was ready to hop into our tornado shelter at a moment’s notice. With that storm 10 minutes away from hitting us, the radar spotted two more circulations within a 10 mile radius of my house, both capable of forming tornadoes, and one projected to hit 1-2 miles south. The next 15 or so minutes were really tense, just watching and hoping the tornado would miss my house. Luckily, the first tornado took a path 5 miles north of us and dissipated. One of the circulations didn’t form into a tornado and the other one briefly touched down as a tornado 4 miles southeast of us. It only caused minor damages to a basketball arena.
Most of the storms have passed central Oklahoma and is on path to wreck more havoc across Missouri, Arkansas, etc. So for all of you guys in Central US, stay safe out there and take proper precautions when necessary,
Various pictures of tornadoes and resulting damage from the Oklahoma City area: + Show Spoiler +
I can vouch for this, the tornado sirens were just going off not 10 minutes ago here in the Dallas area. Seems to have calmed down a bit, but the light outside is still very weird
On May 25 2011 10:00 Kon-Tiki wrote: I can vouch for this, the tornado sirens were just going off not 10 minutes ago here in the Dallas area. Seems to have calmed down a bit, but the light outside is still very weird
A tornado rolled through my Minneapolis neighborhood yesterday. Two blocks away people lost their roofs, but my block was spared and I got internet back within 48 hours. Lucky, lucky...
When its tornadic outside, the natural light outside becomes greenish and strange. I think its nature's way of telling us that a tornado is inbound. My point is, that even though the sirens have stopped, it still looks like there might be a tornado in store.
As someone who lives in Kansas, it can be pretty scary.. But somehow the city I live in (Wichita) has managed to avoid tornadoes pretty well for the past 20 years. Hopefully it keeps up!
Wow... major places in Texas are sporting up sirens.
Over five-thousand people in Dallas' local news chat room. Seems pretty scary for people who don't have as adequate areas to shelter themselves from a tornado than those of their neighboring states.
On May 25 2011 10:16 Kon-Tiki wrote: When its tornadic outside, the natural light outside becomes greenish and strange. I think its nature's way of telling us that a tornado is inbound. My point is, that even though the sirens have stopped, it still looks like there might be a tornado in store.
So when there's about to be a tornado a siren goes off? like a fire alarm?
On May 25 2011 10:16 Kon-Tiki wrote: When its tornadic outside, the natural light outside becomes greenish and strange. I think its nature's way of telling us that a tornado is inbound. My point is, that even though the sirens have stopped, it still looks like there might be a tornado in store.
So when there's about to be a tornado a siren goes off? like a fire alarm?
this is all new to me, I live in CA
Actually, maybe more like those tsunami warnings, or the ones they have on the gulf coast for hurricanes and stuff. Really loud, and designed to be heard over the elements.
Also, just wanna say that things in my area at least have calmed down, for the moment.
On May 25 2011 10:16 Kon-Tiki wrote: When its tornadic outside, the natural light outside becomes greenish and strange. I think its nature's way of telling us that a tornado is inbound. My point is, that even though the sirens have stopped, it still looks like there might be a tornado in store.
So when there's about to be a tornado a siren goes off? like a fire alarm?
this is all new to me, I live in CA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKkpaAHeLHc
I've only heard them once in Oklahoma on a trip with my dad. I don't remember them sounding quite like the video. We could see three tornadoes off at the distance with the sirens blazing... really felt surreal and I don't think I've ever felt that scared before or since.
Regardless. Looks like a tornado touched down by Dallas and it might be heading into the city. This could be quite bad. ...differing sources saying different things.
On May 25 2011 10:16 Kon-Tiki wrote: When its tornadic outside, the natural light outside becomes greenish and strange. I think its nature's way of telling us that a tornado is inbound. My point is, that even though the sirens have stopped, it still looks like there might be a tornado in store.
So when there's about to be a tornado a siren goes off? like a fire alarm?
this is all new to me, I live in CA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKkpaAHeLHc
I've only heard them once in Oklahoma on a trip with my dad. I don't remember them sounding quite like the video. We could see three tornadoes off at the distance with the sirens blazing... really felt surreal and I don't think I've ever felt that scared before or since.
Regardless. Looks like a tornado touched down by Dallas and it might be heading into the city. This could be quite bad.
They're different city to city. The sirens in the city I live in are the different than the sirens in the city my old high school was in. Its certainly an eerie feeling
So many tornadoes this year, freaking nuts. I had a friend in Alabama when the really bad ones went through a while back, her shudders got torn off at 4am and a tornado touched down like right around the corner from her. Scary shit - I used to live down in AL as well as stayed in Lawton OK for a period of time...we even had a tornado touch down while I was in Lawton about 10 miles northwest of us.
Stay safe everyone... Hopefully they have some mercy on the east coast. It's been thunderstorming here in Virginia almost every night for like a straight week now. Getting worse and worse too.
I have a question, I hope noone gets offended because I don't know anything about housing in US, just asking out of curiosity.
As far as I can see, those homes are really fragile, and not really build of strong concrete. So I am curious, why not build stronger homes which won't be demolished by tornadoes in an area where there are a lot of tornadoes happening every season?
On May 26 2011 02:23 Bleak wrote: I have a question, I hope noone gets offended because I don't know anything about housing in US, just asking out of curiosity.
As far as I can see, those homes are really fragile, and not really build of strong concrete. So I am curious, why not build stronger homes which won't be demolished by tornadoes in an area where there are a lot of tornadoes happening every season?
The biggest problem with 'stronger' homes is that the construction costs would be significantly higher, thus not attractive to potential homeowners.
On May 26 2011 02:23 Bleak wrote: I have a question, I hope noone gets offended because I don't know anything about housing in US, just asking out of curiosity.
As far as I can see, those homes are really fragile, and not really build of strong concrete. So I am curious, why not build stronger homes which won't be demolished by tornadoes in an area where there are a lot of tornadoes happening every season?
The biggest problem with 'stronger' homes is that the construction costs would be significantly higher, thus not attractive to potential homeowners.
It's one of those things that people don't want to shell out the money for less risk, I guess. It's not made a whole lot of sense to me, either.
On May 26 2011 02:23 Bleak wrote: I have a question, I hope noone gets offended because I don't know anything about housing in US, just asking out of curiosity.
As far as I can see, those homes are really fragile, and not really build of strong concrete. So I am curious, why not build stronger homes which won't be demolished by tornadoes in an area where there are a lot of tornadoes happening every season?
The biggest problem with 'stronger' homes is that the construction costs would be significantly higher, thus not attractive to potential homeowners.
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.
Thanks for this. My wife is actually in Dallas now and she told me she was experiencing golf ball sized hail storms and the sirens were going off. We were really scared.
I've had three close encounters with tornadoes in my life. (Live in Kansas City, Kansas side) Weirdly enough it was always the telephone poles flying through the air and cars flipping that I was worried about, not my home being ripped asunder.
Then again maybe that is just dumb luck that one never touched down in my back yard.
Tornado sirens went off here today 2 times but never saw much weather. It all passed north of me. I live in Arkansas and we've had some pretty bad stuff this year. Definitely a bad year for severe weather. I had a few friends get some wind damage and my college had tons of down trees, even had to cancel our finals for the spring semester due to power outage/down power lines and trees.
Flooding has been a bad problem here in Arkansas this year. We've had several deaths from that alone. I had a friend that lost pretty much everything in a flood. Everything was floating.. Really sucks to see it.
Apparently today the guys from "Stormchasers" from the discovery channel were here with the Dominator. They were about 45 minutes away but far as i know we never saw much in the way of Tornadoes. Definitely prayers to Joplin and Missouri as well as Alabama and everyone else effected.
I was born and raised in Oklahoma and even though I'm in Korea now, my whole family is still there and they were telling me about all this. Even though I've seen dozens of tornadoes, it's still unnerving because all you can do wait and hope it misses you. I've talked to some people whose house didn't get touched but the next door neighbors' house was demolished. I'm always so grateful when it misses my family but I feel so bad for the people who weren't so lucky.
The only thing that happened besides some heavy rain late in the storm when it was almost past us when it was starting to cross the river into Memphis where I live. The image is splashed all over the news and internet:
I live in TN and we get tornado warning feels like at least twice a months a lot of the times. Worst part is in Tennessee it is mostly rocky ground so most homes do not have a basement.
On May 26 2011 02:52 Bleak wrote: 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.
About 50 people die a year in the US from tornadoes. At least 50 million live in areas where tornadoes occur. One in a million odds of dying are not dangerous enough to warrant not living there or paying significantly higher prices to build houses.
On May 26 2011 02:52 Bleak wrote: 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.
About 50 people die a year in the US from tornadoes. At least 50 million live in areas where tornadoes occur. One in a million odds of dying are not dangerous enough to warrant not living there or paying significantly higher prices to build houses.
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.
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.
In a situation like the Tuscaloosa EF4 tornado there had already been tornadoes in the area most of the morning with the sirens sounding frequently... people just got fatigued and started to ignore them.
That being said, most people here have no idea what to do if a tornado is bearing down on them... and most don't have storm shelters or basements.
Ya, it sucks for me. I work for an insurance company in I/S and they are sending 2 people from our group to work with the catastrophie trailer so I will have to do moar work
Yeah, I live in Joplin, Missouri....the tornado that ripped through here was huge. It's insane looking out my window at work and actually seeing a leveled path of where homes and businesses were. Driving down one of the most busy streets in the city...where restaurants used to be...nothing remains.
Quite the eerie feeling, considering I was outside at the time it hit, not realizing the other side of the city was being destroyed.
On May 26 2011 02:52 Bleak wrote: 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.
About 50 people die a year in the US from tornadoes. At least 50 million live in areas where tornadoes occur. One in a million odds of dying are not dangerous enough to warrant not living there or paying significantly higher prices to build houses.
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.
[QUOTE]On May 27 2011 00:51 WoodenSpider wrote: [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!!!
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...
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...
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...
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.
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...
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.
On May 25 2011 10:00 Kon-Tiki wrote: I can vouch for this, the tornado sirens were just going off not 10 minutes ago here in the Dallas area. Seems to have calmed down a bit, but the light outside is still very weird
what do you mean by the lights outside?
Sky commonly turns a greenish color when tornado activity is imminent/already happening.
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...
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.
On May 26 2011 02:23 Bleak wrote: I have a question, I hope noone gets offended because I don't know anything about housing in US, just asking out of curiosity.
As far as I can see, those homes are really fragile, and not really build of strong concrete. So I am curious, why not build stronger homes which won't be demolished by tornadoes in an area where there are a lot of tornadoes happening every season?
The biggest problem with 'stronger' homes is that the construction costs would be significantly higher, thus not attractive to potential homeowners.
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.
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...
Better safe than sorry though, innit?
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.
My relative's are in NorthWood Iowa, and I was there two days ago. I get the uneasy feeling that they will narrowly escape with their lives. My sympathy goes out to everyone who has been subjected to this horror. I booked it to San Francisco, where I live, just in time.
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.
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...
Better safe than sorry though, innit?
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.
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...
Better safe than sorry though, innit?
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.
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...
Better safe than sorry though, innit?
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.
we germans have great expertise in building alarmsirens maybe you should get one from us
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...
Better safe than sorry though, innit?
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.
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.
On May 26 2011 02:23 Bleak wrote: I have a question, I hope noone gets offended because I don't know anything about housing in US, just asking out of curiosity.
As far as I can see, those homes are really fragile, and not really build of strong concrete. So I am curious, why not build stronger homes which won't be demolished by tornadoes in an area where there are a lot of tornadoes happening every season?
The biggest problem with 'stronger' homes is that the construction costs would be significantly higher, thus not attractive to potential homeowners.
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.
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.
On May 26 2011 02:23 Bleak wrote: I have a question, I hope noone gets offended because I don't know anything about housing in US, just asking out of curiosity.
As far as I can see, those homes are really fragile, and not really build of strong concrete. So I am curious, why not build stronger homes which won't be demolished by tornadoes in an area where there are a lot of tornadoes happening every season?
The biggest problem with 'stronger' homes is that the construction costs would be significantly higher, thus not attractive to potential homeowners.
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.
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.
I didn't know that, I guess I always took it for granted since most houses in Ohio have basements.
I live/work (I'm a meteorologist) in tornado alley and have the power to initiate the sirens here if needed (due to a cooperative agreement between the city and the installation I work on). Since I've been here (a total of 3 years) I've sounded them 0 times (note, number of tornadoes that occurred within 10 miles during that time... also 0). The local emergency operations coordinator also has the power to sound the sirens, usually he bases his decision off what the yahoo breeder-station TV meteorologist says. In the last year they have gone off at least 10 times... in none of those situations was a tornado especially likely. People here don't even bother turning the news on to see what's up anymore.
When I first got here the siren policy was impending tornado ONLY... then there was some property damage due to normal winds and they changed it. Before when the sirens went off my phones would light up with a Christmas tree. With the last sounding I got 2.
Would requiring tornado resistant construction save lives? Yes. Is it practical? No.
The best investment you can make if you live in an area prone to violent weather is a weather alert radio - in most places the sirens aren't going to wake you up at night anyway but the blaring of the radio certainly will. The newer models allow you to tailor the alerts down to a pretty small area and limit to tornado warnings only so it isn't going off all the time for surrounding counties or just severe thunderstorm warnings.
On May 26 2011 16:15 iDrone wrote: From Oklahoma, tornadoes are no joke... still weeks left in tornado season ;(
What gets me is how frequent we've been getting them this year. It is much higher than the average this year, by a lot, and the tornado that hit Joplin is considered the most damaging tornado around. Usually there are just maybe a few F5 tornadoes around each spring/summer. We've already gone past that record, and aren't even in the summer months yet. I'm worried how hectic and messy things will be by the end. With all the flooding down below, tornadoes here, insane mudslides in other parts of the world, natural disasters seem to be peaking at an all-time high, too frequent for my taste.
Here's hoping things aren't too bad by late summer.
To address the Turkish man's questions about housing, many old homes in Europe are made of stone, and new ones are made of concrete. I lived in Italy for a month in a concrete house, and every house around me was a combination of concrete, brick, and stone. A tornado could rip through that town and besides making a huge mess everything would pretty much still be standing. I assume other parts of Europe are like this too, and he's used to seeing it which is why he's so confused.
On May 27 2011 02:51 stoat wrote: The best investment you can make if you live in an area prone to violent weather is a weather alert radio - in most places the sirens aren't going to wake you up at night anyway but the blaring of the radio certainly will. The newer models allow you to tailor the alerts down to a pretty small area and limit to tornado warnings only so it isn't going off all the time for surrounding counties or just severe thunderstorm warnings.
It's not just Central US. A tornado touched down onto a mechanic's shop near my work (northeast Philadelphia)...which had some of our cars there. The roof was ripped off, a bunch of cars were totaled, and the rear shop was leveled.
It's pretty unreal what happened there... like 30% of the town or something is gone... a town of 50000+ people I think
I have many friends who's houses are completely gone with horror stories of the whole thing.
I'll spoiler a blog written by a doctor at St. Johns a hospital that got destroyed by the tornado (my mom actually works at the freeman hospital she talks about and worked that night)
My name is Dr. Kevin Kikta, and I was one of two emergency room doctors who were on duty at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, MO on Sunday, May 22, 2011.
You never know that it will be the most important day of your life until the day is over. The day started like any other day for me: waking up, eating, going to the gym, showering, and going to my 4:00 pm ER shift. As I drove to the hospital I mentally prepared for my shift as I always do, but nothing could ever have prepared me for what was going to happen on this shift. Things were normal for the first hour and half. At approximately 5:30 pm we received a warning that a tornado had been spotted. Although I work in Joplin and went to medical school in Oklahoma, I live in New Jersey, and I have never seen or been in a tornado. I learned that a “code gray” was being called. We were to start bringing patients to safer spots within the ED and hospital.
At 5:42 pm a security guard yelled to everyone, “Take cover! We are about to get hit by a tornado!” I ran with a pregnant RN, Shilo Cook, while others scattered to various places, to the only place that I was familiar with in the hospital without windows, a small doctor’s office in the ED. Together, Shilo and I tremored and huddled under a desk. We heard a loud horrifying sound like a large locomotive ripping through the hospital. The whole hospital shook and vibrated as we heard glass shattering, light bulbs popping, walls collapsing, people screaming, the ceiling caving in above us, and water pipes breaking, showering water down on everything. We suffered this in complete darkness, unaware of anyone else’s status, worried, scared. We could feel a tight pressure in our heads as the tornado annihilated the hospital and the surrounding area. The whole process took about 45 seconds, but seemed like eternity. The hospital had just taken a direct hit from a category EF-4 tornado.
Then it was over. Just 45 seconds. 45 long seconds. We looked at each other, terrified, and thanked God that we were alive. We didn’t know, but hoped that it was safe enough to go back out to the ED, find the rest of the staff and patients, and assess our losses.
“Like a bomb went off. ” That’s the only way that I can describe what we saw next. Patients were coming into the ED in droves. It was absolute, utter chaos. They were limping, bleeding, crying, terrified, with debris and glass sticking out of them, just thankful to be alive. The floor was covered with about 3 inches of water, there was no power, not even backup generators, rendering it completely dark and eerie in the ED. The frightening aroma of methane gas leaking from the broken gas lines permeated the air; we knew, but did not dare mention aloud, what that meant. I redoubled my pace.
We had to use flashlights to direct ourselves to the crying and wounded. Where did all the flashlights come from? I’ll never know, but immediately, and thankfully, my years of training in emergency procedures kicked in. There was no power, but our mental generators were up and running, and on high test adrenaline. We had no cell phone service in the first hour, so we were not even able to call for help and backup in the ED.
I remember a patient in his early 20’s gasping for breath, telling me that he was going to die. After a quick exam, I removed the large shard of glass from his back, made the clinical diagnosis of a pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and gathered supplies from wherever I could locate them to insert a thoracostomy tube in him. He was a trooper; I’ll never forget his courage. He allowed me to do this without any local anesthetic since none could be found. With his life threatening injuries I knew he was running out of time, and it had to be done. Quickly. Imagine my relief when I heard a big rush of air, and breath sounds again; fortunately, I was able to get him transported out. I immediately moved on to the next patient, an asthmatic in status asthmaticus. We didn’t even have the option of trying a nebulizer treatment or steroids, but I was able to get him intubated using a flashlight that I held in my mouth. A small child of approximately 3-4 years of age was crying; he had a large avulsion of skin to his neck and spine. The gaping wound revealed his cervical spine and upper thoracic spine bones. I could actually count his vertebrae with my fingers. This was a child, his whole life ahead of him, suffering life threatening wounds in front of me, his eyes pleading me to help him.. We could not find any pediatric C collars in the darkness, and water from the shattered main pipes was once again showering down upon all of us. Fortunately, we were able to get him immobilized with towels, and start an IV with fluids and pain meds before shipping him out. We felt paralyzed and helpless ourselves. I didn’t even know a lot of the RN’s I was working with. They were from departments scattered all over the hospital. It didn’t matter. We worked as a team, determined to save lives. There were no specialists available -- my orthopedist was trapped in the OR. We were it, and we knew we had to get patients out of the hospital as quickly as possible. As we were shuffling them out, the fire department showed up and helped us to evacuate. Together we worked furiously, motivated by the knowledge and fear that the methane leaks could cause the hospital could blow up at any minute.
Things were no better outside of the ED. I saw a man crushed under a large SUV, still alive, begging for help; another one was dead, impaled by a street sign through his chest. Wounded people were walking, staggering, all over, dazed and shocked. All around us was chaos, reminding me of scenes in a war movie, or newsreels from bombings in Bagdad. Except this was right in front of me and it had happened in just 45 seconds. My own car was blown away. Gone. Seemingly evaporated. We searched within a half mile radius later that night, but never found the car, only the littered, crumpled remains of former cars. And a John Deere tractor that had blown in from miles away.
Tragedy has a way of revealing human goodness. As I worked, surrounded by devastation and suffering, I realized I was not alone. The people of the community of Joplin were absolutely incredible. Within minutes of the horrific event, local residents showed up in pickups and sport utility vehicles, all offering to help transport the wounded to other facilities, including Freeman, the trauma center literally across the street. Ironically, it had sustained only minimal damage and was functioning (although I’m sure overwhelmed). I carried on, grateful for the help of the community.
Within hours I estimated that over 100 EMS units showed up from various towns, counties and four different states. Considering the circumstances, their response time was miraculous. Roads were blocked with downed utility lines, smashed up cars in piles, and they still made it through.
We continued to carry patients out of the hospital on anything that we could find: sheets, stretchers, broken doors, mattresses, wheelchairs—anything that could be used as a transport mechanism.
As I finished up what I could do at St John’s, I walked with two RN’s, Shilo Cook and Julie Vandorn, to a makeshift MASH center that was being set up miles away at Memorial Hall. We walked where flourishing neighborhoods once stood, astonished to see only the disastrous remains of flattened homes, body parts, and dead people everywhere. I saw a small dog just wimpering in circles over his master who was dead, unaware that his master would not ever play with him again. At one point we tended to a young woman who just stood crying over her dead mother who was crushed by her own home. The young woman covered her mother up with a blanket and then asked all of us, “What should I do?” We had no answer for her, but silence and tears.
By this time news crews and photographers were starting to swarm around, and we were able to get a ride to Memorial Hall from another RN. The chaos was slightly more controlled at Memorial Hall. I was relieved to see many of my colleagues, doctors from every specialty, helping out. It was amazing to be able to see life again. It was also amazing to see how fast workers mobilized to set up this MASH unit under the circumstances. Supplies, food, drink, generators, exam tables, all were there—except pharmaceutical pain meds. I sutured multiple lacerations, and splinted many fractures, including some open with bone exposed, and then intubated another patient with severe COPD, slightly better controlled conditions this time, but still less than optimal.
But we really needed pain meds. I managed to go back to the St John’s with another physician, pharmacist, and a sheriff’s officer. Luckily, security let us in to a highly guarded pharmacy to bring back a garbage bucket sized supply of pain meds.
At about midnight I walked around the parking lot of St. John’s with local law enforcement officers looking for anyone who might be alive or trapped in crushed cars. They spray-painted “X”s on the fortunate vehicles that had been searched without finding anyone inside. The unfortunate vehicles wore “X’s” and sprayed-on numerals, indicating the number of dead inside, crushed in their cars, cars which now resembled flattened recycled aluminum cans the tornado had crumpled in her iron hands, an EF4 tornado, one of the worst in history, whipping through this quiet town with demonic strength. I continued back to Memorial hall into the early morning hours until my ER colleagues told me it was time for me to go home. I was completely exhausted. I had seen enough of my first tornado.
How can one describe these indescribable scenes of destruction? The next day I saw news coverage of this horrible, deadly tornado. It was excellent coverage, and Mike Bettes from the Weather Channel did a great job, but there is nothing that pictures and video can depict compared to seeing it in person. That video will play forever in my mind.
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to everyone involved in helping during this nightmarish disaster. My fellow doctors, RN’s, techs, and all of the staff from St. John’s. I have worked at St John’s for approximately 2 years, and I have always been proud to say that I was a physician at St John’s in Joplin, MO. The smart, selfless and immediate response of the professionals and the community during this catastrophe proves to me that St John’s and the surrounding community are special. I am beyond proud.
To the members of this community, the health care workers from states away, and especially Freeman Medical Center, I commend everyone on unselfishly coming together and giving 110% the way that you all did, even in your own time of need. St John’s Regional Medical Center is gone, but her spirit and goodness lives on in each of you.
EMS, you should be proud of yourselves. You were all excellent, and did a great job despite incredible difficulties and against all odds
For all of the injured who I treated, although I do not remember your names (nor would I expect you to remember mine) I will never forget your faces. I’m glad that I was able to make a difference and help in the best way that I knew how, and hopefully give some of you a chance at rebuilding your lives again. For those whom I was not able to get to or treat, I apologize whole heartedly.
Last, but not least, thank you, and God bless you, Mercy/St John’s for providing incredible care in good times and even more so, in times of the unthinkable, and for all the training that enabled us to be a team and treat the people and save lives.
Sincerely,
Kevin J. Kikta, DO Department of Emergency Medicine Mercy/St John’s Regional Medical Center, Joplin, MO
On May 26 2011 16:15 iDrone wrote: From Oklahoma, tornadoes are no joke... still weeks left in tornado season ;(
What gets me is how frequent we've been getting them this year. It is much higher than the average this year, by a lot, and the tornado that hit Joplin is considered the most damaging tornado around. Usually there are just maybe a few F5 tornadoes around each spring/summer. We've already gone past that record, and aren't even in the summer months yet. I'm worried how hectic and messy things will be by the end. With all the flooding down below, tornadoes here, insane mudslides in other parts of the world, natural disasters seem to be peaking at an all-time high, too frequent for my taste.
Here's hoping things aren't too bad by late summer.
The explanation I've heard for the strong storm season this year is a mix of some unseasonably warm temperatures in canada that feed our weather and La Nina. I've lived in Ohio all my life, and have never seen this degree of activity here...granted we have been spared from most of the major damage.
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...
Better safe than sorry though, innit?
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.
I really feel for you guys, so glad I moved out of Joplin. Did Galena or any of the other neighboring communities get hit?
On May 27 2011 03:27 TheGiz wrote: To address the Turkish man's questions about housing, many old homes in Europe are made of stone, and new ones are made of concrete. I lived in Italy for a month in a concrete house, and every house around me was a combination of concrete, brick, and stone. A tornado could rip through that town and besides making a huge mess everything would pretty much still be standing. I assume other parts of Europe are like this too, and he's used to seeing it which is why he's so confused.
Noone in Europe builds wooden houses anymore. In the last few years there has been a little movement to build woodhouses but those are often inhabitated by hippies.
So I really dont understand why americans say that it would be too expensive to build normal stone or concrete houses when it seems to work all over europe
On May 27 2011 03:27 TheGiz wrote: To address the Turkish man's questions about housing, many old homes in Europe are made of stone, and new ones are made of concrete. I lived in Italy for a month in a concrete house, and every house around me was a combination of concrete, brick, and stone. A tornado could rip through that town and besides making a huge mess everything would pretty much still be standing. I assume other parts of Europe are like this too, and he's used to seeing it which is why he's so confused.
Noone in Europe builds wooden houses anymore. In the last few years there has been a little movement to build woodhouses but those are often inhabitated by hippies.
So I really dont understand why americans say that it would be too expensive to build normal stone or concrete houses when it seems to work all over europe
We have very very few stone or concrete houses. Maybe its because Europe has been around much longer that these type of buildings are the norm but frankly in the US you just don't see them or at least in the more rural areas where tornado damage is an issue.
That was one of the things that I enjoyed the most when I traveled abroad, it was not hard to find a building that was over 500 years old (reconditioned or not). Within reasonable driving distance from my house I might be able to find a building from 1850 if I'm lucky.
It still makes absolutely no sense to me why people bother having wooden houses in these areas. Either get a stone house or don't have a house. Its clearly not a worthwhile investment to get a wooden house in these areas...
If someone wants a house, but doesn't want a stone house, they should live elsewhere, like Oregon! ^___^
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...
Better safe than sorry though, innit?
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.
I really feel for you guys, so glad I moved out of Joplin. Did Galena or any of the other neighboring communities get hit?
I don't think so. Haven't heard anything on the news about it.
I'm lucky to not know of anyone personally that has lost their life. I know one that had his house completely removed off the face of the planet, though. Thankfully, him and his family are OK.
It's amazing how much of a problem looting is now, too! It's kind if sick to think that this could happen, and still the lowlifes of society are trying to get some free shit from peoples rubble....
On May 25 2011 10:00 Kon-Tiki wrote: I can vouch for this, the tornado sirens were just going off not 10 minutes ago here in the Dallas area. Seems to have calmed down a bit, but the light outside is still very weird
what do you mean by the lights outside?
Sky commonly turns a greenish color when tornado activity is imminent/already happening.
Not just tornadoes. It can look greenish outdoors when there is any super-intense thunderstorm activity with heavy rain. Apparently, sunlight gets refracted so heavily by the thick clouds and water droplets themselves that by the time it reaches the surface of the planet it has that greenish-tint instead of just being a dimmer version of normal sunlight that usually accompanies heavy clouds. I live in NYC, and a couple years ago we had a random, intense macroburst it's called and even though it lasted all of 15 minutes at my house, the green tint was very visible while it poured buckets. So yeah, since tornadoes are basically macrobursts x 1000, the storms that produce them can create the greenish hue.
The stone house talk sounds a bit weird to me. Would a tornado not destroy a house like that as well, and only let the walls remain, while the roof and the windows will be ripped off? Walls out of brick and mortar would perhaps crumble? I am imagining you would have to hide in the basement, just like with a wooden house.
On May 27 2011 06:25 Ropid wrote: The stone house talk sounds a bit weird to me. Would a tornado not destroy a house like that as well, and only let the walls remain, while the roof and the windows will be ripped off? Walls out of brick and mortar would perhaps crumble? I am imagining you would have to hide in the basement, just like with a wooden house.
I think that the tornado would have to come much much closer or actually pass through the house to completely destroy such a home. Even if the roof and windows are destroyed, that's a lot better than losing the entire house.
On May 26 2011 16:15 iDrone wrote: From Oklahoma, tornadoes are no joke... still weeks left in tornado season ;(
What gets me is how frequent we've been getting them this year. It is much higher than the average this year, by a lot, and the tornado that hit Joplin is considered the most damaging tornado around. Usually there are just maybe a few F5 tornadoes around each spring/summer. We've already gone past that record, and aren't even in the summer months yet. I'm worried how hectic and messy things will be by the end. With all the flooding down below, tornadoes here, insane mudslides in other parts of the world, natural disasters seem to be peaking at an all-time high, too frequent for my taste.
Here's hoping things aren't too bad by late summer.
You guys having been sucking away all our heat to make your tornados. Up here in southern oregon, we've had pretty much the coldest year so far on average I can ever remember. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the coldest year so far in recorded history, actually.
A more dramatic version of the kind of clouds we've been seeing in the midwest for the last few weeks.
What... is that? I'm not sure I even understand what I'm seeing. That's the kind of cloud formation that precedes an alien invasion or something.
My knowledge is limited at best but I think you're seeing the mixing of hot air and cold air in that picture. Anything more than that I would have to defer to someone who knows far more about the subject
T-T I'm so sad to hear this. I wish the best for all the people who experienced losses. Damn, I'm about to go to Purdue this fall. What happens if I die from a tornado? T-T
A more dramatic version of the kind of clouds we've been seeing in the midwest for the last few weeks.
What... is that? I'm not sure I even understand what I'm seeing. That's the kind of cloud formation that precedes an alien invasion or something.
My knowledge is limited at best but I think you're seeing the mixing of hot air and cold air in that picture. Anything more than that I would have to defer to someone who knows far more about the subject
LOL, not to be condescending, but any thunderstorm is a mix of hot and cold air, but you're also kinda right since the bottom part is the leading edge of the thunderstorm near the surface where hot air begins to rise and 'mix' to create clouds/rain/hail/lightning. The top part is the 'anvil' of the cloud that forms from the rising hot air spreading out once it hits the stratosphere where it can't rise anymore.
On May 27 2011 03:37 CrownRoyal wrote: I live about 40 minutes from Joplin, MO
It's pretty unreal what happened there... like 30% of the town or something is gone... a town of 50000+ people I think
I have many friends who's houses are completely gone with horror stories of the whole thing.
I'll spoiler a blog written by a doctor at St. Johns a hospital that got destroyed by the tornado (my mom actually works at the freeman hospital she talks about and worked that night)
My name is Dr. Kevin Kikta, and I was one of two emergency room doctors who were on duty at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, MO on Sunday, May 22, 2011.
You never know that it will be the most important day of your life until the day is over. The day started like any other day for me: waking up, eating, going to the gym, showering, and going to my 4:00 pm ER shift. As I drove to the hospital I mentally prepared for my shift as I always do, but nothing could ever have prepared me for what was going to happen on this shift. Things were normal for the first hour and half. At approximately 5:30 pm we received a warning that a tornado had been spotted. Although I work in Joplin and went to medical school in Oklahoma, I live in New Jersey, and I have never seen or been in a tornado. I learned that a “code gray” was being called. We were to start bringing patients to safer spots within the ED and hospital.
At 5:42 pm a security guard yelled to everyone, “Take cover! We are about to get hit by a tornado!” I ran with a pregnant RN, Shilo Cook, while others scattered to various places, to the only place that I was familiar with in the hospital without windows, a small doctor’s office in the ED. Together, Shilo and I tremored and huddled under a desk. We heard a loud horrifying sound like a large locomotive ripping through the hospital. The whole hospital shook and vibrated as we heard glass shattering, light bulbs popping, walls collapsing, people screaming, the ceiling caving in above us, and water pipes breaking, showering water down on everything. We suffered this in complete darkness, unaware of anyone else’s status, worried, scared. We could feel a tight pressure in our heads as the tornado annihilated the hospital and the surrounding area. The whole process took about 45 seconds, but seemed like eternity. The hospital had just taken a direct hit from a category EF-4 tornado.
Then it was over. Just 45 seconds. 45 long seconds. We looked at each other, terrified, and thanked God that we were alive. We didn’t know, but hoped that it was safe enough to go back out to the ED, find the rest of the staff and patients, and assess our losses.
“Like a bomb went off. ” That’s the only way that I can describe what we saw next. Patients were coming into the ED in droves. It was absolute, utter chaos. They were limping, bleeding, crying, terrified, with debris and glass sticking out of them, just thankful to be alive. The floor was covered with about 3 inches of water, there was no power, not even backup generators, rendering it completely dark and eerie in the ED. The frightening aroma of methane gas leaking from the broken gas lines permeated the air; we knew, but did not dare mention aloud, what that meant. I redoubled my pace.
We had to use flashlights to direct ourselves to the crying and wounded. Where did all the flashlights come from? I’ll never know, but immediately, and thankfully, my years of training in emergency procedures kicked in. There was no power, but our mental generators were up and running, and on high test adrenaline. We had no cell phone service in the first hour, so we were not even able to call for help and backup in the ED.
I remember a patient in his early 20’s gasping for breath, telling me that he was going to die. After a quick exam, I removed the large shard of glass from his back, made the clinical diagnosis of a pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and gathered supplies from wherever I could locate them to insert a thoracostomy tube in him. He was a trooper; I’ll never forget his courage. He allowed me to do this without any local anesthetic since none could be found. With his life threatening injuries I knew he was running out of time, and it had to be done. Quickly. Imagine my relief when I heard a big rush of air, and breath sounds again; fortunately, I was able to get him transported out. I immediately moved on to the next patient, an asthmatic in status asthmaticus. We didn’t even have the option of trying a nebulizer treatment or steroids, but I was able to get him intubated using a flashlight that I held in my mouth. A small child of approximately 3-4 years of age was crying; he had a large avulsion of skin to his neck and spine. The gaping wound revealed his cervical spine and upper thoracic spine bones. I could actually count his vertebrae with my fingers. This was a child, his whole life ahead of him, suffering life threatening wounds in front of me, his eyes pleading me to help him.. We could not find any pediatric C collars in the darkness, and water from the shattered main pipes was once again showering down upon all of us. Fortunately, we were able to get him immobilized with towels, and start an IV with fluids and pain meds before shipping him out. We felt paralyzed and helpless ourselves. I didn’t even know a lot of the RN’s I was working with. They were from departments scattered all over the hospital. It didn’t matter. We worked as a team, determined to save lives. There were no specialists available -- my orthopedist was trapped in the OR. We were it, and we knew we had to get patients out of the hospital as quickly as possible. As we were shuffling them out, the fire department showed up and helped us to evacuate. Together we worked furiously, motivated by the knowledge and fear that the methane leaks could cause the hospital could blow up at any minute.
Things were no better outside of the ED. I saw a man crushed under a large SUV, still alive, begging for help; another one was dead, impaled by a street sign through his chest. Wounded people were walking, staggering, all over, dazed and shocked. All around us was chaos, reminding me of scenes in a war movie, or newsreels from bombings in Bagdad. Except this was right in front of me and it had happened in just 45 seconds. My own car was blown away. Gone. Seemingly evaporated. We searched within a half mile radius later that night, but never found the car, only the littered, crumpled remains of former cars. And a John Deere tractor that had blown in from miles away.
Tragedy has a way of revealing human goodness. As I worked, surrounded by devastation and suffering, I realized I was not alone. The people of the community of Joplin were absolutely incredible. Within minutes of the horrific event, local residents showed up in pickups and sport utility vehicles, all offering to help transport the wounded to other facilities, including Freeman, the trauma center literally across the street. Ironically, it had sustained only minimal damage and was functioning (although I’m sure overwhelmed). I carried on, grateful for the help of the community.
Within hours I estimated that over 100 EMS units showed up from various towns, counties and four different states. Considering the circumstances, their response time was miraculous. Roads were blocked with downed utility lines, smashed up cars in piles, and they still made it through.
We continued to carry patients out of the hospital on anything that we could find: sheets, stretchers, broken doors, mattresses, wheelchairs—anything that could be used as a transport mechanism.
As I finished up what I could do at St John’s, I walked with two RN’s, Shilo Cook and Julie Vandorn, to a makeshift MASH center that was being set up miles away at Memorial Hall. We walked where flourishing neighborhoods once stood, astonished to see only the disastrous remains of flattened homes, body parts, and dead people everywhere. I saw a small dog just wimpering in circles over his master who was dead, unaware that his master would not ever play with him again. At one point we tended to a young woman who just stood crying over her dead mother who was crushed by her own home. The young woman covered her mother up with a blanket and then asked all of us, “What should I do?” We had no answer for her, but silence and tears.
By this time news crews and photographers were starting to swarm around, and we were able to get a ride to Memorial Hall from another RN. The chaos was slightly more controlled at Memorial Hall. I was relieved to see many of my colleagues, doctors from every specialty, helping out. It was amazing to be able to see life again. It was also amazing to see how fast workers mobilized to set up this MASH unit under the circumstances. Supplies, food, drink, generators, exam tables, all were there—except pharmaceutical pain meds. I sutured multiple lacerations, and splinted many fractures, including some open with bone exposed, and then intubated another patient with severe COPD, slightly better controlled conditions this time, but still less than optimal.
But we really needed pain meds. I managed to go back to the St John’s with another physician, pharmacist, and a sheriff’s officer. Luckily, security let us in to a highly guarded pharmacy to bring back a garbage bucket sized supply of pain meds.
At about midnight I walked around the parking lot of St. John’s with local law enforcement officers looking for anyone who might be alive or trapped in crushed cars. They spray-painted “X”s on the fortunate vehicles that had been searched without finding anyone inside. The unfortunate vehicles wore “X’s” and sprayed-on numerals, indicating the number of dead inside, crushed in their cars, cars which now resembled flattened recycled aluminum cans the tornado had crumpled in her iron hands, an EF4 tornado, one of the worst in history, whipping through this quiet town with demonic strength. I continued back to Memorial hall into the early morning hours until my ER colleagues told me it was time for me to go home. I was completely exhausted. I had seen enough of my first tornado.
How can one describe these indescribable scenes of destruction? The next day I saw news coverage of this horrible, deadly tornado. It was excellent coverage, and Mike Bettes from the Weather Channel did a great job, but there is nothing that pictures and video can depict compared to seeing it in person. That video will play forever in my mind.
I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to everyone involved in helping during this nightmarish disaster. My fellow doctors, RN’s, techs, and all of the staff from St. John’s. I have worked at St John’s for approximately 2 years, and I have always been proud to say that I was a physician at St John’s in Joplin, MO. The smart, selfless and immediate response of the professionals and the community during this catastrophe proves to me that St John’s and the surrounding community are special. I am beyond proud.
To the members of this community, the health care workers from states away, and especially Freeman Medical Center, I commend everyone on unselfishly coming together and giving 110% the way that you all did, even in your own time of need. St John’s Regional Medical Center is gone, but her spirit and goodness lives on in each of you.
EMS, you should be proud of yourselves. You were all excellent, and did a great job despite incredible difficulties and against all odds
For all of the injured who I treated, although I do not remember your names (nor would I expect you to remember mine) I will never forget your faces. I’m glad that I was able to make a difference and help in the best way that I knew how, and hopefully give some of you a chance at rebuilding your lives again. For those whom I was not able to get to or treat, I apologize whole heartedly.
Last, but not least, thank you, and God bless you, Mercy/St John’s for providing incredible care in good times and even more so, in times of the unthinkable, and for all the training that enabled us to be a team and treat the people and save lives.
Sincerely,
Kevin J. Kikta, DO Department of Emergency Medicine Mercy/St John’s Regional Medical Center, Joplin, MO
God reading that description is heart wrenching. Just heart wrenching.
Picture of a Lowe's that was hit about a month or so back. No matter what you construct a home out of, it's never going to be tornado proof.
But really sad to hear about all the folks in Joplin. I work at a Lowe's in Kansas City, we sent a few trucks full of supplies their way, and supposedly shortly after they begin allowing volunteers for clean up/rebuilding they plan on sending a handful of us that way.
I live in St. Louis, where a few weeks ago a tornado wrecked tons of homes, but miraculously killed no one. It seems that Joplin got it much worse though It's such a tragedy, I'd really encourage anyone out there to donate some money, as they really need it.
My school raised over 1000 dollars for it in one day of fundraising. Pretty cool.
Cement dome houses are the way to go, if only people were more willing to adapt then this wouldn't happen because safer homes would be built. Would take more cement, but cost-wise, it's about equal to a traditional home.
we've been getting slammed all week in Missouri by intermittent thunderstorms, and the tornadic threat has been high during this. Here (North side of columbia, Mo), on the day of the Joplin twister, we got a pretty bad thunderstorm, you know, torrential rain, gusting high speed winds, and some light hail. When I came into work the next day and heard about Joplin my jaw dropped. One of my managers is from there and all his buddies were sending pictures of crushed cars, demolished neighborhoods, and places where buildings *used* to be. I heard (no credibility) that an area containing a walmart, an apartment complex and a Lowes/Home depot (again, second hand facts here) was just....gone. that's insane; those are big, sturdy structures. If you've seen pictures of the hospital, it's crazy that anybody was left alive in the shell of what was that building.
Yesterday, just before going into work the tornado sirens went off as I was stepping out the door. I looked out the window and didn't see anything too threatening looking out to the northwest, but I wouldn't be able to see the sky in other directions until I drove a few minutes from my house. The radio was blaring the emergency signal; storm spotters were on the roads in *three* places on my way to work (for emphasis, I live literally like a 2 minute drive from where I work). I talked to a pair of spotters and they said they didn't see anything yet, but word was it was going to get bad in a few minutes. Upon arrival I stopped and got out of my truck and now clearly able to see sky for a fair distance in all directions, I saw angry black clouds both directly south and to the south east. Looking directly up the clouds looked as if they were boiling down to the surface from their lofty position in the sky and the wind was crazy already, shifting direction constantly and at high speed. I walked inside and everybody in the store was already sitting under the mezzanine in the center of the building (by far the sturdiest area of the building) and were chilling to wait out the storm. I had literally just unwittingly walked in minutes ahead of the storm, which picked up with intense winds, hail and so much rain you wouldn't believe it. Afterwards, we heard that two funnels had touched down not that far, one one Grindstone (south) and another near B road (literally just a handful of miles north). After hearing that the city of California had a supercell producing tornadoes on track to come our way, a threat that never materialized ( it tracked south of us) nothing else happened the rest of the day except some gnarly cloud formations all across the southern and eastern skies.
I've never personally experienced firsthand the effects of a tornado, but I can attest to their power and of the storms that create them. On the day of the tornado outbreak that hit and destroyed a good portion of Stockton in 2003, tar paper rained down in our yard, carried about 90-100 miles as the crow flies from my parent's home. The storms that day were powerful...the one that hit us at home dropped an accumulation of somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-8 inches of dime-sized hail. I will never forget that sight for the rest of my life...trees stripped of leaves and small branches, grass laid flat, flowers smashed to the ground...from mass hail it was piled up everywhere like a shit-ton of snow, and it all fell in minutes, and melted away just as quickly.
On May 27 2011 10:57 P3T3R wrote: stupid question but are tornadoes able to lift cars? cuz in movies and shows they do but on youtube, never seen it o,o
On May 27 2011 10:57 P3T3R wrote: stupid question but are tornadoes able to lift cars? cuz in movies and shows they do but on youtube, never seen it o,o
It just depends what you mean by 'lift'
I think there is a common misconception that all tornadoes have a large amount of 'sucking' power. It's more like watching a racing car get backwards going 200mph and go flying. Despite the lack of aerodynamics on most vehicles the horizontal component of the wind can easily provide enough lift to get substantial vehicles airborne. Once they are already flying the weaker vertical component can help to lift them a bit, but generally it's more of a tossing along or a few feet above the ground in all but the strongest (like Joplin) tornadoes. There are (rare) cases of vehicles (mostly things like empty tractor trailer-trailers that have a high lift/weight ratio) being lifted substantially (100s of feet) but it's pretty rare.
stoat makes a good point. You really have to think that often times tornadoes have wind speeds of greater than 65 mph (EF0 the lowest on the scale). For comparison, hurricane-force winds are greater than 73 mph. The EF4's and EF5 people have mentioned have winds starting at near 166 mph. The tornadoe that passed through Oklahoma for a 75 mile stretch had wind speeds of near 220 mph and roughly a mile away wind speeds of 75 mph.
This is a pickup truck from a tornado back in '99. This particular tonado was an EF5
note: wind speeds are taken from the Enhanced Fujita scale and Beaufort Scale.