TopShelf TG Fiction in the BigCloset!
I see from the BBC news that 89 people are believed killed or injured in storms in Missouri and the footage they showed was horrendous.
My commiserations to any readers who live or have friends and family in that part of the world, I hope they're all safe.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13497489
Angharad
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Comments
The latest news is listing
The latest news is listing over 100 dead, total expected to rise. It was a daylight tornado, and I am surprised that there were so many casualties. In Oklahoma, it's usually the night time tornados that get folks 'cause there is less warning.
CaroL
CaroL
Interestingly enough
People in Joplin are claiming they didn't have enough warning, although the warning preceded the tornado by an average of 17 minutes, according to my information. The watch was issued several hours prior to the touchdown, which should have been a head's up to people to pay attention. Instead it seems to have lead to a bit of complacency.
This is one of my favorite hobby horses: Every household should have a NOAA Weather Radio w/ SAME alert. SAME (Specfic Area Message Encoding) allows you to set your receiver to receive only those messages for your area (at this time it's county-level) and turn off some messages you don't want or need. If the people in Joplin had these there would likely have been fewer deaths. SAME Alert radios can be had as cheap as $30. I recommend one of the handheld walkie-talkie style radios such as those made by Oregon Scientific (sold at Radio Shack).
Warning siren systems are designed to alert people who are outdoors and should not be relied on to warn you if you are indoors with the doors and windows closed. It's not practical to keep a TV or radio with you everywhere you go indoors, that's the beauty of the handheld SAME Alert receivers. Small enough to stick in a pocket or hook on your belt, they can be carried around no matter where you are.
(/rant)
* * *
"Girls are like pianos, when they're not upright they're grand!" Benny Hill
Karen J.
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
Sadly
Sadly, people become complacent... Tornado warnings have only been around since the first official forecast in '48 (I met the man who issued the forecast)... Many of us have been alive longer than that (not me though). But, even when there is a warning, MOST people will NOT be impacted by a tornado... So, people become complacent, and begin to ignore such warnings.
BTW - for those that don't know... There are Watches and Warnings. A Watch is issued when conditions are forecast to be of the type where the storm in question is possible. A warning is only issued once the conditions actually exist.
Tornadoes do NOT move UBER rapidly - yes, it IS possible to get caught by one (specially on foot). But, the vast majority of people no longer have any clue what to do in the event of a storm - or even how to recognize that one is close. Back in the '70s (when I was in High School) we had REGULAR Tornado drills in school (I lived in Nebraska at the time - and Tornadoes happened - but that's a different story). I don't hear about that happening any more. One reason being our public doesn't want to be "inconvenienced" so has pushed the politicians to eliminate such drills, so we ARE less prepared. We are also more populous, making more people at risk of being in the path of one of these storms.
Guess this is one of those things that bug me as well... Perhaps spending a few years forecasting the weather for a living may have had something to do with this... And fending off the flack from folks that complain when the forecast is not 100% accurate ALL of the time. Or worse, when the forecast IS accurate, but it's inconvenient for the person's plans. (I can't count the number of times I've heard forecasters BLAMED for rain messing up weekend plans - or people making plans DESPITE a bad forecast and blaming them when the forecast was RIGHT.)
Weather again shows how much damage it can cause. The tornado's only one LITTLE bit of the weather related damage our mid section is seeing this year. The flooding covers a MUCH wider swath. (But, that hits another annoyance I have... Voluntarily living on a flood plain.)
Anne