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Tornados across the SE US

The official death toll across the southeast is now 213 according to breakingnews.com.

Did people just not get enough warning? I don't understand this horrific death toll. The property and physical damage from that monster tornado in OKC in '99 was comparable, but the death toll was "only" 43. Across the plains, we're taught to run and take cover from the time we're babies. Did sirens not sound in time? Are there not enough of them in the southeast? I'm beginning to think I should thank the local weather people for panicking whenver the wind blows too hard.
 
Hilbilly Rage said:
Lindley said:
SPOCKED said:
What..? :wtf:
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One of the going theories is that climate change is responsible for the apparent increase in severe weather we've been seeing lately.
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Not to mention the blizzards and severe heat waves, drought ect.. Every time I see or hear about things like this, I think about all the jackasses who go around saying global climate change isn't real. Then you see this, it just irritates me.
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Well, I'm only too happy to number among the many, many millions of those you consider jackasses, Hilbilly Rage.
 
One of the tornadoes was 1.5 miles wide, that is huge. A few seem to hit trailer parks and if you live there you are pretty screwed.
 
Well, of course global climate change is real. The historical record proves that well enough. The only question is whether there's anything we, as a race, can do to affect the climate to any significant degree. If you're going to bring up the debate you should frame the question properly.

Let's not derail this thread with that whole mess, though, please.
 
Just wanted everyone to know that myself and my family are okay. We're staying with my father in law near Birmingham for now since pretty much all of north Alabama is without power, and we don't expect to have power for nearly a week.

As for the warnings, yes we had plenty (the sirens were going off nearly constantly until the power went out), but if an EF5 hits you, there's pretty much nothing you can do to prepare. Also, the tornados took out the National Weather Service's monitoring stations and the local radar, so after that all we had were radios. And apparently after the power goes out, there are no sirens (they need to fix that!).

We got off pretty lucky. No real wind damage to our house. But as we drove down US231 towards Arab, we could see where one huge tornado went across the road. Not only were trees uprooted and blown over, but the ones still standing had been stipped down to only their trunks. There were also some huge metal power/telephone poles that were bent, broken and twisted.

There were several other areas that we drove through that were hit pretty hard. Normally with a tornado-producing storm, you see one small area that gets damage, but there were trees down and buildings destroyed the entire 2 hour trip.

Our biggest problem right now will be getting gas (long lines at all stations), and restocking our fridge when we get power again. But I'm just grateful we came out okay.
 
B.J. said:
Just wanted everyone to know that myself and my family are okay. We're staying with my father in law near Birmingham for now since pretty much all of north Alabama is without power, and we don't expect to have power for nearly a week.

As for the warnings, yes we had plenty (the sirens were going off nearly constantly until the power went out), but if an EF5 hits you, there's pretty much nothing you can do to prepare. Also, the tornados took out the National Weather Service's monitoring stations and the local radar, so after that all we had were radios. And apparently after the power goes out, there are no sirens (they need to fix that!).

We got off pretty lucky. No real wind damage to our house. But as we drove down US231 towards Arab, we could see where one huge tornado went across the road. Not only were trees uprooted and blown over, but the ones still standing had been stipped down to only their trunks. There were also some huge metal power/telephone poles that were bent, broken and twisted.

There were several other areas that we drove through that were hit pretty hard. Normally with a tornado-producing storm, you see one small area that gets damage, but there were trees down and buildings destroyed the entire 2 hour trip.

Our biggest problem right now will be getting gas (long lines at all stations), and restocking our fridge when we get power again. But I'm just grateful we came out okay.
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Glad to hear you're okay! Be safe!
I agree with you on civil planning. Back some years ago, a tornado ripped through our town. The sirens were going right up until the power failed.
 
It's crazy how selective it was in its destruction here in SE TN. I went to check on my grandmother who lives on the southern part of the county. Driving down the road everything looks fine, and then BOOM! Destruction. The neighborhood right before hers was devastated, but hers just had a tree down here and there. Imagine the sigh of relief that escaped me upon seeing that.
 
This is horrible. It is so, so rare to have this number of deaths as a result of a tornado outbreak. :( Supposedly one came through my town but it must not have touched down because there was no damage that I'm aware of. Our area was freakishly protected...we don't know why. Even the weather people were talking about it, saying they couldn't understand why, with so many warnings, our area had been spared. Honestly...it's a miracle. I'm really sad for all the people who did get hit. :(

One of my co-workers in another state is still waiting to hear from family members.

I also found out that a school I went to before I moved took severe damage. Thank God that one hit after hours and no one was in there.
 
Tornado warnings and watches in my area tonight. At least with hurricanes, there is a longer preparation period. In the end, though, there is only so much you can do to evade Mother Nature.
 
It's the nature of tornadoes, Nerys Ghemor. It will destroy one home, leave the home next to it completely untouched, then destroy the next one after that. Two perfect examples--

1.) There were four huge trees all side by side in a park two blocks from my home in Moore, OK back on May 3, 1999. Two of the trees were torn out of the ground roots and all. Two were left untouched....but they alternated. First tree uprooted, second untouched. Third tree uprooted, fourth untouched.

2.)Back in 1974 there was an outbreak of multiple tornadoes in several states. Tulsa, OK was also hit. A tornado tore up Peoria Avenue, bending restaurant signs, throwing cars, what not. My late grandmother lived in a small wooden house on a side street about five houses down from the main thoroughfare. She had a screened in front porch--shaped like a perfect rectangle. She had wooden shelves on all three sides with little figurines all over them. The tornado tore the front screen that paralled the house away and threw the shelves, her deck chairs and a chair from her living room all the way over to the next street. The figurines on the shelves on the two sides perpendicular to the house didn't move. They were sitting on the shelves....all of them untouched.
 
Glad everyone is ok, I have family in the Chattanooga/Ringold/Rossville GA area. Apparently the tornado came within 100 yards of my aunt and uncle and grandma, it was headed right for their house when it turned about 100 yards from their house, they are all very lucky. My uncles brother saw this tornado headed right for them and called them that it was headed for their house. No one was hurt, but man that was close. Apparently Ringold, close to where they live, is messed up bad, and in fact the steeple on my grandmas church was blown off. Bad stuff :(
 
Went back to check on our house today, and to empty out the fridge. :( That's going to sting having to replace all that food, but at least that's our only problem.

Heading north from Birmingham back to Huntsville, there was a lot more damage that we didn't notice on the way down. There were areas where several miles of trees were pushed over when the wind was blowing from south to north. It's just all too surreal.

At least when we got to our house, we discovered that the power had just been restored to our area. I think that's because we're in the same grid as a water treatment plant, and those were getting top priority for power restoration. Other residential areas aren't expected to have power until Tuesday at the earliest.
 
Dorian Thompson said:
The jet stream has shifted a little. That's why the south east is getting all these wonderful treats lately that used to bedevil Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and the upper plains pretty much exclusively. Now the misery is expanding.
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Yes they have been pushed further south.

I think this is also why there have been more deaths this year. The tornadoes are going through more populated areas. Oklahoma etc. have some pretty open spaces.

About 20 years ago, there was a severe tornado in Edmonton, Alberta. People were surprised that Alberta would have tornadoes but in fact, Alberta has about 30 of them per year. It's just that the population is so sparse, especially in southeastern AB that very few people see them and they do so little damage.

raf
 
Exactly. Save for Tulsa and the Oklahoma City metro area, there are only two other towns of any size, Lawton and Stillwater, both with about 30,000. Oklahoma only has a population of 3 million and change. It's extremely sparse. 99 percent of its population is in those four cities.
 
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