OT: Oklahoma tornado(es)

[vav]

Hope everyone here is safe. Looks ugly from what I have seen so far on the news.

[Louis]

Yeah - let's hope the kids are OK.

[shovelhd]

Doesn't look good.

Thoughts to all involved.

[Climb01742]

yes, sending hope to those in moore, ok. hard to fathom a storm a mile wide, 200+ mph winds, battering a town for 20-30 minutes.

[akelman]

That's about five miles north of where we used to live. We were lucky enough to have a basement, but I'll still never forget the way those storms looked (the weirdest yellowish green color) and smelled (overripe or something).

[FlashUNC]

Latest report is 37 dead, 7 kids from the elementary school.

Damn shame.

[akelman]

Oh hell, I thought the kids were all safe. Dammit, dammit, dammit.

[Louis]

That's about five miles north of where we used to live. We were lucky enough to have a basement, but I'll still never forget the way those storms looked (the weirdest yellowish green color) and smelled (overripe or something).

I don't know if I would be able to handle living in Tornado Alley like that - too stressful at this time of year.

[FlashUNC]

CNN reporting that state is saying 24 kids are still missing.

[akelman]

A friend in Norman says this is the best spot (http://kfor.com/2013/05/19/weather-tornadoes-on-ground-watches-warnings-across-state/) to look for news.

[branflakes]

man, i love and miss okc. moore is definitely the epicenter of tornadic activity. ok is a proud and resilient place, so i'm sure they'll recover yet again. however, my heart go out to those who lost loved ones in this latest disaster.

[akelman]

I don't know if I would be able to handle living in Tornado Alley like that - too stressful at this time of year.

Norman is supposedly protected for some reason (Native American something or other?). Honestly, I don't remember the mythology. I do, though, remember when hail the size of oranges nearly destroyed both of my cars.

[Louis]

That same area was hit earlier this month...

http://localtvkfor.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tracks.jpg?w=660

[branflakes]

if meteorology is of interest to anyone's kids, there isn't a better place to study than OU. oklahoma is a complete and utter weather phenomena.

[akelman]

if meteorology is of interest to anyone's kids, there isn't a better place to study than OU. oklahoma is a complete and utter weather phenomena.

Yeah, I was there when they were building the new weather center (and the new natural history museum, which is also fantastic, and the new art museum, which again is pretty spectacular). It turns out that having a former governor and senator, a man to whom every politician in the state owes favors, serve as president of the university has some benefits.

[dd74]

if meteorology is of interest to anyone's kids, there isn't a better place to study than OU. oklahoma is a complete and utter weather phenomena.
True. Weather reporters in L.A. have said that for a long time. SoCal is boring until the fire and rain seasons begin.

[Louis]

In this case, boring is very good.

[Chris]

That same area was hit earlier this month...

http://localtvkfor.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tracks.jpg?w=660

Actually that was the May 3, 1999 track which was the previous most devastating tornado in history (or so I am told). I saw that one. It was horrific. This one was worse. I live 20 miles north. It's just devastating. The loss of those children is an unmentionable loss.

[akelman]

Actually that was the May 3, 1999 track which was the previous most devastating tornado in history (or so I am told). I saw that one. It was horrific. This one was worse. I live 20 miles north. It's just devastating. The loss of those children is an unmentionable loss.

Yup, we were there in 1999. It looked genuinely shocking in Moore, very much like the parts of New Orleans most devastated by Katrina. But as you say, the death of these children is the thing that's impossible to fathom.

[texbike]

We just talked to my wife's relatives that live in the area and everyone is good fortunately.

God bless those that weren't as lucky. And the kids - it's hard to believe that schools in the area wouldn't have a tornado shelter. :(

Texbike

[FlashUNC]

We just talked to my wife's relatives that live in the area and everyone is good fortunately.

God bless those that weren't as lucky. And the kids - it's hard to believe that schools in the area wouldn't have a tornado shelter. :(

Texbike

Tough to build a shelter to defend against what appears to be the storm from hell, and it sounds like it went from nothing to an F4-F5 in less than a hour.

Seems like nobody had much time.

[rounder]

I worked on a job in Oklahoma City in 2000 and folks were still talking about the tornado that came through in 1999. This tornado was claimed to be twice as big as that. Yikes. Best wishes to all who live there.

[branflakes]

they're pretty good at breaking in and announcing when the conditions are right for tornadic activity. of course, the ferocity of said activity remains elusive to forecast. i imagine the sirens were wailing, and drills followed. it definitely is unfathomable, and horribly tragic. it serves as a sobering reminder of what we all have to be grateful for.

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . and worked as a news photographer there for 8 years in the 80's and covered my share of twisters. I will never forget the several times I arrived in small towns right behind the funnel--not more than 10 minutes later--and people were still walking around in a daze and all was so eerily quiet. Not a breath of wind, not a sound.

There would be total destruction, golf clubs driven through tree trunks, houses with the entire exterior walls blown away, and yet dining room sets and hutches full of fine crystal and china still standing in the middle, none of the glasses or stemware even tipped over inside them. When you're in a scene like that you arrive and figure everybody was killed. But it nearly always turned out there were only minor injuries.

But it's very sobering seeing hundred foot tall, hundred year old oak trees just ripped out of the ground the same way you or I would grab a weed in the garden and jerk it out of the ground . . . metal bars wrapped around light poles . . . cars or boats just dropped in the middle of a farm field after being carried God knows how far--or whole houses or parts of them like that and you can see the foundation half a mile away.

But the worst was one time in a small town I forget the name of . . . where the storm had come through there was nothing--and I mean NOTHING left but stripped bare concrete slabs where the houses used to be. Every pipe and stud had been torn off at the slab level and every tree and shrub has been ripped out of the ground and blown away, and I mean totally gone out of sight. Not just torn up like in the news reports the last few days.

BBD

[Chris]

But the worst was one time in a small town I forget the name of . . . where the storm had come through there was nothing--and I mean NOTHING left but stripped bare concrete slabs where the houses used to be. Every pipe and stud had been torn off at the slab level and every tree and shrub has been ripped out of the ground and blown away, and I mean totally gone out of sight. Not just torn up like in the news reports the last few days.

BBD

Stroud

[KidWok]

Just awful. I can't imagine what it'd be like to lose my kids so unexpectedly.

Tai