Massive tornado hit near Oklahoma City, at least 1mile wide and was on the ground for 45mins 22 miles long.
Elementary school was hit, sounds like kids were still there.
Looking at images on Fox, blocks and blocks are leveled.
Prayers for all.
I've been to Moore a few times back when I lived in Lawton. It's a 'burb in OKC, and mostly pretty nice people. It's always hard to hear about a tornado flattening anything; the destruction is just outrageous.
Sorry to hear that. I hope everyone is OK. That's a helluva big tornado.
Sounds like all the kids from the elementary school and a nearby daycare have been accounted for. Having seen pics of what was left of that school, I have no idea how everyone made it...glad they did, though.
Good. Thanks for the update.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on May 20, 2013, 05:32:15 PM
Sounds like all the kids from the elementary school and a nearby daycare have been accounted for. Having seen pics of what was left of that school, I have no idea how everyone made it...glad they did, though.
they run several drills a year in the schools there. THe kids know exactly what to do.
Hope there isn't a substantial loss of life. There were several other tornado too besides this monster storm across OK and KS.
Reports now that up to 24 dead at one of two schools hit.
This was an F4 tornado, with winds up to 200+ miles an hour, and was very slow moving.
It is hard to look at some of these images. Hopefully the death toll does not get any higher.
The news just keeps getting worse.
Jesus Christ...
There are several blocks wide of rubble.
Brutal.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22601891 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22601891)
Quote from: bayonetbrant on May 20, 2013, 05:52:39 PM
Quote from: Arctic Blast on May 20, 2013, 05:32:15 PM
Sounds like all the kids from the elementary school and a nearby daycare have been accounted for. Having seen pics of what was left of that school, I have no idea how everyone made it...glad they did, though.
they run several drills a year in the schools there. THe kids know exactly what to do.
+1
I grew up with them. We probably did two a year. These days I'm sure they do more - as Brant noted.
I can remember passing through the hall in 8th grade and looking out the window to see what I thought was a tornado. Turns out it was. Ours was the only school not to have gone to shelter during a warning. I don't know why not, but fortunately it was small and passed us over without damage.
Hoo boy.
Quote"This is absolute devastation like nothing I've ever seen before," Betsy Randolph, with Oklahoma State Police, told Fox 25." This may be worse than the May 3rd, 1999 tornado."
The strongest winds on earth -- 302 mph -- were recorded near Moore that year.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2013/05/20/oklahoma-braces-for-severe-storms/
That's terrifying, I read one of the teachers was found holding two students..
Any of you guys down south have experience in tornado areas? How much of a warning can you expect?
I read somewhere that because the soil is very wet in that area, they do not build many basements. That's the only protection I can even think of, besides getting out of Dodge in a flash.
The reports I have heard is that there was up to 16 minutes of warning due to how slow the tornado was moving.
MSNBC is saying 51 dead now.
The report I heard earlier was that the dead students had drowned when they took shelter in the basement.
I think the sad part is that schools are generally considered tornado safe shelters for the neighborhoods surrounding them. It was one of the features that the school my child goes to touted when we questioned them about tornado procedures and shelters at the school.
Quote from: endfire79 on May 20, 2013, 07:56:28 PM
That's terrifying, I read one of the teachers was found holding two students..
Any of you guys down south have experience in tornado areas? How much of a warning can you expect?
I read somewhere that because the soil is very wet in that area, they do not build many basements. That's the only protection I can even think of, besides getting out of Dodge in a flash.
April 27, 2011 was the day over three hundred tornados marched through the South. The thing I have found about tornados is, that they form quickly and usually aren't seen by those it is coming after. Around here at least, they tend to be rain wrapped and look like a solid wall moving towards you. Unless you have a radio or tv on, you can miss the hubbub pretty easily. There are sirens everywhere, but they generally don't sound until one has been spotted in the vicinity. Many times, that is too late.
Quote from: endfire79 on May 20, 2013, 07:56:28 PM
Any of you guys down south have experience in tornado areas? How much of a warning can you expect?
Depends. Most of the time you know a couple of days in advance that you're in an area (which covers several states, typically) that may have the potential for severe weather.
Then the storms arrive. If they're strong enough you get a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. That means you might have severe thunderstorms. If they really are strong enough you get a Severe Thunderstorm Warning. If the storms are worse you get a Tornado Watch, which means a tornado might occur.
Most of the time yo have some notice. Usually upwards of an hour. Right now I'm under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 1:30 AM. Looking at the future radar I can see we'll be hit with the brunt of the first line ~ 10:30 PM. More is to come. Tough to say how bad it could get, but probably nothing more than a big thunderstorm.
However, the last stage is Tornado Warning. There a tornado has been sighted, either visually or by radar. Then you have maybe seconds to minutes.
I remember hearing what I thought was a big, slow jet going over the house in Baton Rouge. I resisted the urge to go outside and look - I'm naturally paranoid and we'd had no indication of bad weather.
Turns out five minutes later my wife called. A tornado touched down in the town to the east. I had heard the funnel cloud forming over my house. In that circumstance there had been zero warning, though if it had hit me, folks further east would likely have received some notice. Hopefully.
QuoteI read somewhere that because the soil is very wet in that area, they do not build many basements. That's the only protection I can even think of, besides getting out of Dodge in a flash.
Depends. In Louisiana we didn't have a basement because the water table was about a foot under the soil. Most every other place we've lived we insisted on buying a house with a basement. First order of business is that we have too much stuff. Right behind that is the need to get underground to shelter if a storm hits.
The amount of shelter you get depends on the severity of the storm. An F1 or F2 likely won't cause much problem, although we have rugs to toss over ourselves for additional protection. An F3 gets dicey. That's a big storm.
F4 and F5 - you need a real bunker. That is an underground facility with six sides of concrete and a sturdy door that will lock.
Believe it or not, hundreds, if not thousands of people were probably in the path of this storm. Yes, some have been killed. Most survive, though having been in hit by a minor storm I can tell you it's not much fun to go through. And I've been around or near many more. You just deal with them. They should be respected, but almost always they hit somewhere that you're not.
That said, the village where I live now got hit by an F5 15 years ago. Folks around here remember it.
I have actually been through a tornado myself, out in Albuquerque, NM. It was only an F1 but I was about a block away from it in the downtown area, driving a truck. I actually saw the funnel and almost shit myself. The whole truck shook. Luckily it passed us and kept going away from us.
I've been in the vicinity of several tornados. They can be quite frightening.
Since my family lives in OKC, I've been following the story streaming from OKC all day. I know Moore well since I lived in OKC for 6 years and almost bought a home in Moore. Don't really know where to begin except to say that my family is safe. I couldn't get in touch with my oldest son for hours so that was scary. One son lives a few miles north of the affected area, in south east OKC, the other lives in Norman ( yesterdays tornado was much closer to him). This tornado cut a path between their homes. My youngest son manages the largest 7-11 in Oklahoma so he lost at least one co-worker when the 7-11 in the storms path was flattened. To be clear, it wasn't his store, but he knew the worker who died today.
Anyway.
We lived through the 2003 F-4 that took out the GM plant. It literally came within a mile of my home and chased my oldest son up I-35, where he was barely three minutes ahead of it the entire time. This tornado hit much the same area but with a more devastating effect. I'm still listening to live streaming news from OKC and the anchor just broke down crying, talking about the possible death toll at the elementary school that was in the direct path of the tornado. I know people in Moore, some who have elementary school children, and I'm hoping for the best for them.
I'm not even sure how many tornados I've been through at this point, or the number of times I've watched the sky, waiting for the tell-tale hail and black clouds. If you live in Oklahoma, you learn to do that pretty damn quick. I'm probably moving back there as soon as my wife completes her Doctorate, because we want to be with our kids and grandkids....but I would do anything if they would move to Phoenix instead. Yesterday, after what turned out to be Round One of the tornados, I posted a joke cartoon I made up on our family Facebook page, that showed a tornado I captioned "Let's head for the storm shelter, said no Arizonan ever". It was funnier yesterday.
Quote from: Steelgrave on May 20, 2013, 09:53:54 PM
Since my family lives in OKC, I've been following the story streaming from OKC all day. I know Moore well since I lived in OKC for 6 years and almost bought a home in Moore. Don't really know where to begin except to say that my family is safe. I couldn't get in touch with my oldest son for hours so that was scary. One son lives a few miles north of the affected area, in south east OKC, the other lives in Norman ( yesterdays tornado was much closer to him). This tornado cut a path between their homes. My youngest son manages the largest 7-11 in Oklahoma so he lost at least one co-worker when the 7-11 in the storms path was flattened. To be clear, it wasn't his store, but he knew the worker who died today.
Anyway.
We lived through the 2003 F-4 that took out the GM plant. It literally came within a mile of my home and chased my oldest son up I-35, where he was barely three minutes ahead of it the entire time. This tornado hit much the same area but with a more devastating effect. I'm still listening to live streaming news from OKC and the anchor just broke down crying, talking about the possible death toll at the elementary school that was in the direct path of the tornado. I know people in Moore, some who have elementary school children, and I'm hoping for the best for them.
I'm not even sure how many tornados I've been through at this point, or the number of times I've watched the sky, waiting for the tell-tale hail and black clouds. If you live in Oklahoma, you learn to do that pretty damn quick. I'm probably moving back there as soon as my wife completes her Doctorate, because we want to be with our kids and grandkids....but I would do anything if they would move to Phoenix instead. Yesterday, after what turned out to be Round One of the tornados, I posted a joke cartoon I made up on our family Facebook page, that showed a tornado I captioned "Let's head for the storm shelter, said no Arizonan ever". It was funnier yesterday.
Glad your family is ok.
God bless you, Steelie. Very glad to hear your family is safe. I pray all your friends are safe, too. But mostly I pray for it to be over. With no more death and destruction.
Thanks, guys. Of all the places I've lived, Oklahoma may not be my favorite, but it feels like home. I'm praying for the kids who were in that school, their parents and the people who were in the path of the storm. It's a terrible thing.
I don't have any family there, but I'm pretty sure I know folks from back in high school that live in/around OKC, and I played all those schools back when I was I in high school, so I know my way around OKC reasonably well. Oklahomans know what to look for, and they know it's part of living on the plains, but the kids there had no say in where they live and they're bearing the brunt of this.
Oddly, NewsOK.com is saying that this twister followed pretty close to the track of the '99 storm, too.
Just got an update from my son about the 7-11 that was hit. The three people who died (including a baby) were customers. 7-11 management was calling all the stores in Moore telling them to lock up and get the hell out, but the store that got hit didn't get the message in time. Besides the fatalities, the manager (my sons friend) is in surgery and a checker may be paralyzed. A third walked away unharmed.
Quote from: bayonetbrant on May 20, 2013, 10:40:54 PM
I don't have any family there, but I'm pretty sure I know folks from back in high school that live in/around OKC, and I played all those schools back when I was I in high school, so I know my way around OKC reasonably well. Oklahomans know what to look for, and they know it's part of living on the plains, but the kids there had no say in where they live and they're bearing the brunt of this.
Oddly, NewsOK.com is saying that this twister followed pretty close to the track of the '99 storm, too.
Something I've heard mentioned by meteorologists in OKC today was that once all this is said and done, we need to look at the tracks of the 99, 2003 and 2013 tornados and try to determine why they all took such similar paths. Norman has probably the most advanced storm tracking facility in the nation (go figure) and OU is also very involved. Seems like it would be worth understanding a little better.
this is the school that got hit
http://goo.gl/maps/3aPxd
^Just heard from my son that his asst. manager has two kids who go to that school. They were playing with my grandson on Saturday. Thankfully they are ok and survived the tornado with only bruises and a very frantic, frightened mom. That's way too close to home.
Its a mystery to me why people build so light in that area. Concrete is cheaper in the south than up here. It is not much more expensive than wood frame.
The schools were concrete. It didn't help much. You can pretty much earthquake-proof a building, tornado proofing is a whole different creature. Pretty much, if it's an F-4 or F-5 and it slows over your area (like this one did), anything above ground is in trouble.
It's good to hear that your family is safe, Steelie. The rest of those folks are in my prayers.
The pictures I saw of Moore showed plenty of brick and concrete buildings destroyed.
Steelie I hope you have all your family and friends there accounted for.
I can't imagine what daylight this morning is revealing to people in OK. The news coming out sounds like the death is going to rise and among those already confirmed dead are a number of children. :'(
QuoteA massive tornado at least a half mile-wide with 200 mph winds churned through Oklahoma City's suburbs Monday afternoon, killing at least 51 people, including at least 20 children, and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled inside.
Amy Elliott, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's Office, said early Tuesday that 51 people were confirmed dead, at least twenty of them children. She said officials could see as many as 40 additional fatalities.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2013/05/21/children-among-dead-after-twister-strikes-near-oklahoma-city/#ixzz2Tvk14FDK
Glad your family is safe Steelie. My thoughts & prayers for those affected by the storm, especially those who lost loved ones yesterday.
Quote from: Martok on May 21, 2013, 07:51:18 AM
Glad your family is safe Steelie. My thoughts & prayers for those affected by the storm, especially those who lost loved ones yesterday.
+1 It deeply saddened me to read the accounts and see the photos of what has happened there.
Quote from: Martok on May 21, 2013, 07:51:18 AM
Glad your family is safe Steelie. My thoughts & prayers for those affected by the storm, especially those who lost loved ones yesterday.
+1. Such terrible destruction and so many deaths. :(
Glad to hear your family is safe, Steelie.
News about the school is horrific. Unbelievable how it seemed to scour everything off the surface of the Earth there.
Quote from: Mr. Bigglesworth on May 21, 2013, 12:04:03 AM
Its a mystery to me why people build so light in that area. Concrete is cheaper in the south than up here. It is not much more expensive than wood frame.
I agree with Steelie's assessment about building with concrete. If you look up the damage from the Joplin tornado a year or so back pay attention to the hospital that got hit. Equally horrifying in loss of life, but that thing was built well and still got the crap beat out of it. The only real way to hide from a tornado is to have a shelter underground. Anything less might survive a small tornado, but when one of these monsters form (thankfully a rare occurrence) the only thing you can do is get underground.
Some good news:
QuoteThe Oklahoma City medical examiner's office says the death toll from a massive tornado that churned through Oklahoma City Monday has been downgraded from 51 to at least 24.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2013/05/21/children-among-dead-after-twister-strikes-near-oklahoma-city/
Quote from: MetalDog on May 20, 2013, 10:22:20 PM
God bless you, Steelie. Very glad to hear your family is safe. I pray all your friends are safe, too. But mostly I pray for it to be over. With no more death and destruction.
What the Dawg said.
From my backyard in north Norman, I watched the News 9 Chopper hovering less than a mile from our house as it reported on the tornado in Moore. Then the sickening feeling that the tornado was touching ground near my brothers house. My sister in law shortly arrived at the house in a panic because she couldnt contact her two kids who went to school in Moore. My brother, who was at work in OKC, started texting me asking me to please go to his house in Moore since he was blocked in traffic to try to find his stepson. As I was running out the door, the news reported that schools had been hit and then I was really scared. It took me an hour to drive the four miles to my brothers house to find my brother and his family were all okay. Their house missed the tornado by four residential blocks. I drove by the wreckage on my way to work this morning and it was overwhelming.
Trey
Two years ago it was Joplin, Missouri that was hit by a tornado. Now it's Moore, Oklahoma. It is both heartening and heartwarming to see that Joplin is sending help to Moore (http://www.kansascity.com/2013/05/20/4246474/joplin-sending-help-to-moore-okla.html), which is about 225 miles away.
I had friends in both Joplin and Moore when the tornadoes hit. My prayers go out to them and everyone else who has experienced the effects of a tornado.
Quote from: Great Ajax on May 21, 2013, 11:40:07 AM
From my backyard in north Norman, I watched the News 9 Chopper hovering less than a mile from our house as it reported on the tornado in Moore. Then the sickening feeling that the tornado was touching ground near my brothers house. My sister in law shortly arrived at the house in a panic because she couldnt contact her two kids who went to school in Moore. My brother, who was at work in OKC, started texting me asking me to please go to his house in Moore since he was blocked in traffic to try to find his stepson. As I was running out the door, the news reported that schools had been hit and then I was really scared. It took me an hour to drive the four miles to my brothers house to find my brother and his family were all okay. Their house missed the tornado by four residential blocks. I drove by the wreckage on my way to work this morning and it was overwhelming.
Trey
I'm glad your family is well. Let us know if there's anything we can do.
That's very gut-wrenching stuff. The devastation is one thing, but the loss of life is terrible.
Quote from: Great Ajax on May 21, 2013, 11:40:07 AM
From my backyard in north Norman, I watched the News 9 Chopper hovering less than a mile from our house as it reported on the tornado in Moore. Then the sickening feeling that the tornado was touching ground near my brothers house. My sister in law shortly arrived at the house in a panic because she couldnt contact her two kids who went to school in Moore. My brother, who was at work in OKC, started texting me asking me to please go to his house in Moore since he was blocked in traffic to try to find his stepson. As I was running out the door, the news reported that schools had been hit and then I was really scared. It took me an hour to drive the four miles to my brothers house to find my brother and his family were all okay. Their house missed the tornado by four residential blocks. I drove by the wreckage on my way to work this morning and it was overwhelming.
Trey
That's scary stuff, Trey. I'm glad your family is safe.
That same storm system is about to arrive here in West Tennessee, btw, in the next few hours. Not as strong as it was in OKC, but then again it's puffing back up again, too.
(West Tennessee sits at a juncture between two tornado alleys, although Arkansas tends to get it worse for some reason. I've heard the Amerindians who refused to live in the region called it "The Land of Shaking Earth And Sky".)
Several years ago a number of half-mile to mile-wide F4s marched through the area (including one that was on the ground almost continuously from the other side of the Missouri bootheel); one of them butchered two neighborhoods but leapt over our house, just doing some cosmetic damage, yanking a nearby swimming pool half an inch out of the ground, throwing down a lot of trees. Absolutely crushed those other two neighborhoods, though, before churning down the road to Bradford (and merging with another half-miler nearby that had wiped a farm from its foundation and chopped a house literally in half) to kill the daughter and family of one of my mother's best friends. The town has a Harley ride sponsored by a our church every year in memorial to them; we just had it last weekend.
Fortunately we weren't in the house at the time, having moved a bit south to a basement when we knew the storm was coming. But it moved fast. Thirty seconds of a lot of wind and it was over. We literally had no idea there was even damage until we tried to get back home. Looked like a flight of Superfortresses going after a city in Japan. Plenty of people here have stories of it. I'm just as glad we weren't there. ;) I've been right in the core of a little F0 when it encompassed a diner I was in here in Dyer (whichever way we looked out the windows we could only see horizontal rain blowing in different directions), and that was more than enough for me!
I have an acquaintance who lives in OKC (and several customers); I was reading his blog today and he was talking about the devastation. Seeing a woman impaled by debris. I'm amazed that that doesn't happen more often, especially with the wedge monsters like this one. (Debris cloud was two miles wide, no doubt with satellite vortices, too around the occasionally mile-wide funnel.)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm6.staticflickr.com%2F5462%2F7394756396_7930d274a5_z.jpg&hash=e0254af72aba740c248b3ff597ba00245ee35970)
Here's the webpage for it: http://uxblog.idvsolutions.com/2012/05/tornado-tracks.html
If possible, find a version that allows a very extensive zoom-in, and then start in the Pacific Midwest near the Canadian border; scan south along the Pacific coast to Mexico, then go east a bit to the Rockies and go north again, then east again to the edge of the Plains and south again, then east again to the northeastern border of Texas and north from there.
That little picture above DOES NOT EVEN get across the scope. My Mom and I were amazed (when we saw it last summer) how many tornadoes even Washington and Oregon have had in the pas 61 years (up to 2011). (Yep, Arizona, too. :o ) They're practically invisible on that little map. It charts a few in Canada and Mexico where NOAA had the data for them. There are links to YouTube versions which chart month by month and year by year over the 61 years (it looks less impressive that way. ;) )
We were also surprised to see that we live under one of the two largest blobs there in the south central of the map: as bad as Oklahoma and the other mid-western states have it, those areas somehow have it worse.
But zooming way in is by far the most mindblowing. Areas you would have never thought had a tornado touch down, lightly sprinkled after all.
I wonder if the team will do a new update at the end of this year. One more terrible scar across OKC... :(
Yesterday's storm has officially been upgraded to an F-5. Considering how populated the area is, it's a miracle that more lives weren't lost, damage aside. It's horrific and a miracle at the same time. And the teachers who covered their students with their own bodies....man, what can you say to that? My youngest daughter in law teaches kindergarten and was in school just a couple miles north, where my 5 year old grandson was also in class. It just blows my mind to think it could have been their school. Or my son's workplace.
Can't say I'm surprised it went to F5, looking at some of those damage tracks. Phew.
The wave of the front just passed over us, no big problems. I'm watching a sporadic tornado on radar that passed into TN from MS about half an hour ago; it's more likely to head toward my brother's house (with his kids and wife) than toward us, but it doesn't seem very strong as these things go, and has been somewhat weakening. I'm going to ring him up in a minute just to be sure they know, although tracking speed looks like 2 hours till arrival.
Stay safe.
Good to hear that both Great Ajax's and Pratt's families are ok.
Quote from: Steelgrave on May 21, 2013, 12:33:52 AM
The schools were concrete. It didn't help much. You can pretty much earthquake-proof a building, tornado proofing is a whole different creature. Pretty much, if it's an F-4 or F-5 and it slows over your area (like this one did), anything above ground is in trouble.
The walls were concrete, they are undamaged. It was the roof that came off. Probably steel deck bolted to steel joists. The uplift is tremendous so any area not welded would peel up like a tin can. Its the same design as the big box retail shops that have also had problems with tornadoes. They go with flat roofs for one reason, its the cheapest way to cover an area. The residentals are all nailed together which gives no protection from the vacuum of high wind. Screws might have a chance.
It is not difficult to build something hurricane proof. I could do it easily. It is not cheap relative to regular designs.
Any Architect or Civil Engineer would give the same basic recipe. Unlike the rest of the world the design has to be aerodynamic. For a big building that means a dome of some type. The exterior shell would be a spaceframe of rebar. Take your pick on the spaceframe type, I would probably go hexagonal face. If it is 2ft across each outer face with #4 rebar that is probably enough in a curved shape to resist the upforce. If you want more you can put an additional layer of #3 1ft across. You need a deep foundation for the increasing weight of more stories toward the center.
Nothing is new, it is all well known stuff. The issue is the price for a large dome. A series of medium size domes is probably cheaper to build. A more standard alternative would be a typical highrise. A rounded shape like the London "Gherkin" would also be very resistant.
(https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTCoqOP4BOLR5JrmrgBbdmPT1cXe5V2jbWLpDGuXyJdHhRUCkfV)
Again, it is all about cost.
Just saw a different report that a school collapsed. No details on what happened.
Quote from: Steelgrave on May 21, 2013, 04:05:06 PM
Yesterday's storm has officially been upgraded to an F-5. Considering how populated the area is, it's a miracle that more lives weren't lost, damage aside. It's horrific and a miracle at the same time. And the teachers who covered their students with their own bodies....man, what can you say to that? My youngest daughter in law teaches kindergarten and was in school just a couple miles north, where my 5 year old grandson was also in class. It just blows my mind to think it could have been their school. Or my son's workplace.
Steelie, I can't imagine going through that kind of punch-in-the-gut worry for the safety of your family. I'm glad that your family came through it ok.
Quote from: Great Ajax on May 21, 2013, 11:40:07 AM
From my backyard in north Norman, I watched the News 9 Chopper hovering less than a mile from our house as it reported on the tornado in Moore. Then the sickening feeling that the tornado was touching ground near my brothers house. My sister in law shortly arrived at the house in a panic because she couldnt contact her two kids who went to school in Moore. My brother, who was at work in OKC, started texting me asking me to please go to his house in Moore since he was blocked in traffic to try to find his stepson. As I was running out the door, the news reported that schools had been hit and then I was really scared. It took me an hour to drive the four miles to my brothers house to find my brother and his family were all okay. Their house missed the tornado by four residential blocks. I drove by the wreckage on my way to work this morning and it was overwhelming.
Trey
Again, I can't imagine the horror. Glad you all made it through unharmed.
75 eye watering images.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/photo-galleries/tornadoes-ravage-parts-of-kansas-oklahoma-1.1289652 (http://www.ctvnews.ca/photo-galleries/tornadoes-ravage-parts-of-kansas-oklahoma-1.1289652)
I have been shocked at the level of devastation. For me, it's the trees that really drive it home. They look like they've been mauled in some kind of grinder.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ctvnews.ca%2Fpolopoly_fs%2F1.1291291%21%2FhttpImage%2Fimage.jpg_gen%2Fderivatives%2Flandscape_1020%2Fimage.jpg&hash=eab7751da0c10d324450e11c77f4b8ae641e584c)
Quote from: Centurion40 on May 23, 2013, 07:25:17 AM
I have been shocked at the level of devastation. For me, it's the trees that really drive it home. They look like they've been mauled in some kind of grinder.
Tornadoes do weird stuff. You'll hear stories about a piece of straw driven into a telephone pole. Or a baby picked up by one and settled unharmed a quarter mile from its house.
I came here specifically to mention that photo, too: that's classic F5 damage right there.
Yeah, that family of my Mom's friend from several years ago, their house was absolutely leveled (killing all of them), literally wiped off the foundation -- and yet the SUV parked next to the house was practically unharmed. A little dirty.
Had they rushed out to take shelter in their SUV, which would normally have been suicide, they would have been perfectly safe. Who knew.
Anyway, I heard this tornado was so strong it ripped tornado shelters out of the ground which people hadn't yet found (when I heard about it). Urban legend? Actually true? Who knows--with a tornado, practically anything could happen. I had family down in Flordia during a category 4 hurricane whose garage must have had a tornado go over it; they went in afterward and the paint in all the cans was utterly splattered all over the walls yet the paint cans were still sealed! They had to pry the cans open with a screwdriver just like normal, but only residual pain was left inside. If I hadn't heard it from them, I wouldn't have believed it. Tornadoes are practically magical.
(Maybe literally magical: there are zero point energy theories about their formation and operation.)
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ctvnews.ca%2Fpolopoly_fs%2F1.1291283%21%2FhttpImage%2Fimage.jpg_gen%2Fderivatives%2Flandscape_1020%2Fimage.jpg&hash=e76d614de9c465aa79976ae1b9c8e5227210c79c)
No matter what, the tornado is not going to win. :)
WTF??!! :o
I was proud to hear that my sons were out in Moore yesterday helping with the relief effort. However my oldest forgot that pasty white Irish skin and sun don't mix well.
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/945191_10151627452347279_502092642_n.jpg)
That's probably one of the worst sunburns I've seen in a long while.
OMG. He's purple.
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 23, 2013, 11:55:36 AM
Anyway, I heard this tornado was so strong it ripped tornado shelters out of the ground which people hadn't yet found (when I heard about it). Urban legend? Actually true?
I can't imagine shelters being pulled from the ground. That seems far fetched.
Your story about the paint cans? Wild.
THAT is a nasty burn!
Quote from: Centurion40 on May 23, 2013, 12:29:36 PM
THAT is a nasty burn!
Except for the fact that the doctors must be overwhelmed, I'd say that burn needs medical attention pronto. He's going to be seriously sick, I'd expect, over the next few days. Wow.
I'm sitting here trying to think of anything that would allow him to go back out tomorrow and keep helping without making it worse; but anything I could think of would require something touching it... There's probably an old grandmother somewhere who knows of something like, I dunno, peanut butter or unexpected like that, which can be put on the skin to insulate it and keep it from being hurt by cloth further touching it.
I'll ask Mom. ;D
Quote from: LongBlade on May 23, 2013, 12:28:35 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 23, 2013, 11:55:36 AM
Anyway, I heard this tornado was so strong it ripped tornado shelters out of the ground which people hadn't yet found (when I heard about it). Urban legend? Actually true?
I can't imagine shelters being pulled from the ground. That seems far fetched.
I know; I kept asking the guy who said he heard it on the radio news if they meant something else. I can imagine a tornado pulling a shelter a few inches out of the ground (the F4 that went over our house yanked up concrete and a whole pool filled with water several inches and it wasn't even touching the ground or our house wouldn't be here now).
I was sort of hoping someone else here had heard about it and would confirm it.
Notwithstanding this, Mom and Dad just put in an order for a tornado shelter this afternoon at the manufacturer. (Above-ground. Dad can't get down in a hole anymore. 3/16" steel though.)
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 23, 2013, 05:43:25 PM
Quote from: LongBlade on May 23, 2013, 12:28:35 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 23, 2013, 11:55:36 AM
Anyway, I heard this tornado was so strong it ripped tornado shelters out of the ground which people hadn't yet found (when I heard about it). Urban legend? Actually true?
I can't imagine shelters being pulled from the ground. That seems far fetched.
I know; I kept asking the guy who said he heard it on the radio news if they meant something else. I can imagine a tornado pulling a shelter a few inches out of the ground (the F4 that went over our house yanked up concrete and a whole pool filled with water several inches and it wasn't even touching the ground or our house wouldn't be here now).
I was sort of hoping someone else here had heard about it and would confirm it.
Notwithstanding this, Mom and Dad just put in an order for a tornado shelter this afternoon at the manufacturer. (Above-ground. Dad can't get down in a hole anymore. 3/16" steel though.)
He had a friend who is a nurse take a look at it. She put an ointment of some sort on it and sent him to the drugstore for more. He says it is already better today. He's pretty resilient. I did make him promise that they would buy storm shelters asap. It wasn't hard to convince him at this point.
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 23, 2013, 05:43:25 PM
Quote from: LongBlade on May 23, 2013, 12:28:35 PM
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 23, 2013, 11:55:36 AM
Anyway, I heard this tornado was so strong it ripped tornado shelters out of the ground which people hadn't yet found (when I heard about it). Urban legend? Actually true?
I can't imagine shelters being pulled from the ground. That seems far fetched.
I know; I kept asking the guy who said he heard it on the radio news if they meant something else. I can imagine a tornado pulling a shelter a few inches out of the ground (the F4 that went over our house yanked up concrete and a whole pool filled with water several inches and it wasn't even touching the ground or our house wouldn't be here now).
I was sort of hoping someone else here had heard about it and would confirm it.
Notwithstanding this, Mom and Dad just put in an order for a tornado shelter this afternoon at the manufacturer. (Above-ground. Dad can't get down in a hole anymore. 3/16" steel though.)
Well let's hope that the installer anchors it to the bedrock!!
I truly feel for the people of Moore. What a horrible thing to happen. It must be devastating to go through what they did and still cope. I applaud and salute their courage to pick up the pieces and get on with thier lives. I hope they get proper help as you see with other disasters around the world.