Deadly Tornado strikes Oklahoma

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by soopaman2

The thing is these things pop up so fast, and even if you evacuated at every tornado watch, it would have a "boy who cried wolf" effect eventually.

Tornadoes are horrid weather phenominon, as the likelyhood can be predicted, but the location, path and size cannot.

And if you are there, you are just screwed.

Sad, but it is something people who live in "tornado alley" have to contend with, same as me with the occasional hurricane, or the more common nor'easter (which always destroys crap with storm surge, only with blizzard snow and wind, rather than rain and wind) same as people in Cali with quakes.

I have faith in the south, especially Okies

Oh, aye, this is true, and this one in particular. In comparison to the track of the 1999 F5, this one came down and intensified a LOT closer to Moore than the other so the warning time was very short.

[RickC Sniper]

Originally Posted by Oberon

I don't know how well the best tornado proof room will protect against debris from an EF5. Ideally, in an EF5, the best place to be is underground.

How difficult is the ground around Moore? Could heavy equipment be used to create large scale shelters in the school grounds?

The soil there is a red clay, and is very unfriendly to basements, or rooms underground.


http://www.theatlantic.com/technolog...lahoma/276073/

[Jimbuna]

Been following this on the news since yesterday and words almost fail me...terribly tragic

[desertstriker]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/us..._20130521&_r=0

More news...

[Jimbuna]

Latest news in the UK is stating sources in the US are 98% certain their is nobody else in need of rescue.

[August]

Looks like the Okies have got hit with round two (save the Fox news comments):

Link: Multiple tornadoes touch down near Oklahoma City.

Prayers out to those folks.

[Oberon]

Indeed, a pretty nasty tornado, multiple vortex. Shaping up to be a violent season this year.

[Jimbuna]

How tragic

[Platapus]

Just what these people need. NOT

I hope they are getting all the assistance they need. What a terrible thing to have to endure.

[Jimbuna]

Five reported dead so far:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22739637

[Oberon]

The death toll now stands at twelve.

I don't know if anyone here used to watch the Discovery Channels series 'Storm Chasers', in the later seasons the 'TWISTEX' team were featured:



This man, Tim Samaras, and his team members Paul Samaras and Carl Young. Tim was probably the most cautious chaser of the series, however the unpredictability of mother nature has resulted in his and his teams deaths. He was chasing the tornado on an easterly route when it swung north, straight into him.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...o-12-dead.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWISTEX

May he, and the other victims of this outbreak rest in peace.

[WernherVonTrapp]

Originally Posted by Oberon

The death toll now stands at twelve.

I don't know if anyone here used to watch the Discovery Channels series 'Storm Chasers', in the later seasons the 'TWISTEX' team were featured:

Whatever happened to that series? I used to watch it all the time. I think it was born out of a National Geographic documentary (I have on DVD) called (I think) "Storm Chasers" featuring the TIV. Almost all of the old episodes are on streaming video at Netflix.

[Wolferz]

My condolences to those who lost life and property. Tornadoes don't play and they definitely don't play favorites.

I was living in Louisville Kentucky back in '74 when that tornado cleared landscape. I stood on the back porch of my parents' home and watched the system coming in from the southwest. In that area, storms tended to follow the Ohio river. It quickly grew dark, rainy, windy and then the hail started to fall. I could see the tail of that twister starting to form on the back side of the wall cloud As it passed over me. It touched down on a ridge to my east. Taking the roof off of several homes on top of the ridge. Due east of that ridge lay the Louisville airport and two very busy interstate highways. It passed over the airport and touched down again just across I-264 onto the Ky state fairgrounds. Ripping pieces of roof off the complex. On the eastern border of the property was I-65 and a large billboard that stood on four I-beams that were hammered into the ground. The sign was smacked flat bending all of the I-beams in half like they were made of play-doh. The twister continued towards the northeast, carving a path of destruction through very heavily populated urban sections of the city, through two parks and exited crossing I-64.

I've seen some strange phenomena in my day but, that day took the cake. Moments after the system had passed over me, the rain, wind and hail suddenly stopped and the sky turned the oddest shade of green. It was calm as a tomb and the sun came out a short time later, turning the sky blue again.

Pictures of the destruction filtered in days afterward. In addition to the four I-beams bent in half and the sign flattened against the ground, there was a shot of a solid oak front door with a broom straw shoved all the way through it with six inches of broom straw sticking out on both sides. The two parks looked like someone had taken a lawn mower to the trees, cutting a wide swath through both of them. Louisville looked like an atom bomb had gone off in the southern and eastern sections of the city. Thank God it missed down town where all the big buildings are.

I guess our home was in just the right spot. Not too far from the river. Every storm system coming in from the southwest seemed to split along the path of the river and skirt around us to the north and south.

Mother nature is not always the mothering type and she frequently humbles us all. Louisville recovered. The Okies will too.

[Platapus]

I used to think that when people said that a tornado sounded like a freight train that they were exaggerating.... until I experienced my first tornado.

It did sound exactly like a freight train. When we got hit with a microburst in Omaha, I remember that a few seconds before it hit, the wind died down. All I could think about was that this is nature taking a deep breath before slamming us.

I hope these people can rebuild and rebuild with the proper type of basements. I know it costs more, but it might just be worth it.

And the sad thing is that the season is just starting.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by WernherVonTrapp

Whatever happened to that series? I used to watch it all the time. I think it was born out of a National Geographic documentary (I have on DVD) called (I think) "Storm Chasers" featuring the TIV. Almost all of the old episodes are on streaming video at Netflix.

Discovery Channel cancelled it sadly. Reed Timmer does his own series called Tornado Chasers (http://tvnweather.com/ondemand) and uploads a lot of videos to his youtube site (http://www.youtube.com/user/TornadoV...?feature=watch). Sean Casey is still going strong, he has done a few intercepts lately ( ), and Josh Wurman is still working with the labs behind the VORTEX projects IIRC.