248 dead from twisters!!!

Tornadoes devastate South, 248 dead!!!!! in my memory there has been nothing like this
news.yahoo.com... well i am 45 so that explains that search.yahoo.com...
, but still is this just a warm up to what is to come? Could this be the start of earths self cleansing? Have we become to populated and the earth is finely taking a flee bath?

actually, i was just thinking that. the balance needs to be restored.

apparently it has been a very long time since there has been a "tornado outbreak" like this one.

Funny how so many people do not take tornados seriously. In my area we get a lot of severe weather and you rarely hear of deaths. I wonder why so many deaths in this case. Is this because those people didn't have basements or were out taking video instead of staying indoors. In 1974 the superoutbreak had about 300 deaths but they did not have the technology like we do today. Is there any articles they explained why so many died when even in the worst case scenerio most of the times there are only 20 deaths. I know in an F4 tornado we had that covered Missouri and Kansas there was only a few deaths repored. Did this span a very large area.
This just goes to show that everyone needs a safe shelter or basements. Why do apartment complexes and mobile home parks not take this seriously? A lot of apartment complexes have NO where for residents to go. They need to watch the videos of this tornado and then talk to the management to change that. Mobile home parks are supposed to have storm shelters but many don't! I hate the fact that I can't afford to buy or rent a house or townhouse with a basement. I am always going to make sure I am in a basement or bottom level apartment. This made up my mind now about where I am going to live in the future. I won't live in a mobile home, a poorly built apartment or one without some type of basement. I am taking this as a warning now.!

Originally posted by dreamseeker
Funny how so many people do not take tornados seriously. In my area we get a lot of severe weather and you rarely hear of deaths. I wonder why so many deaths in this case. Is this because those people didn't have basements or were out taking video instead of staying indoors.

Hey, all. I thought you guys would like to look at this for a comparison.

US Annual Tornado Death Tolls, 1875-present
www.norman.noaa.gov...


I think some of the above posters are right about people either being caught off guard or just dont take the threat seriously. I know some of those 9 states rarely see tornadoes and I think the people there just havent seen weather like that. This just goes to show that everyone needs to be prepared for anything, no matter how slim the chances are of something happening. At least have a plan in mind and discuss this with family, friends, and neighbors. Especially the elderly.

Personally, I think the weird weather is due to the suns solar cycle revving up. I see a pattern in the death toll per year list in the link above. Thoughts?

reply to post by dreamseeker
there are dozens of link here search.yahoo.com... that tell you why and how the deaths happened. this is from one of them, they all say the same thing,

PLEASANT GROVE, Ala. (AP) -- Dozens of tornadoes ripped through the South, flattening homes and businesses and killing at least 248 people in six states in the deadliest outbreak in nearly 40 years.

As day broke Thursday, people in hard-hit Alabama surveyed flattened, debris-strewn neighborhoods and told of pulling bodies from rubble after the storms passed Wednesday afternoon and evening.

"It happened so fast it was unbelievable," said Jerry Stewart, a 63-year-old retired firefighter who was picking through the remains of his son's wrecked home in Pleasant Grove, a suburb of Birmingham. "They said the storm was in Tuscaloosa and it would be here in 15 minutes. And before I knew it, it was here."

He and his wife, along with their daughter and two grandchildren, survived by hiding under their front porch. Friends down the street who did the same weren't so lucky - Stewart said he pulled out the bodies of two neighbors whose home was ripped off its foundation.

Alabama's state emergency management agency said it had confirmed 162 deaths, while there were 32 in Mississippi, 32 in Tennessee, 13 in Georgia, eight in Virginia and one in Kentucky.

when it comes it comes there is no out running it, only by ??? call it what you will, been there seen it and survived.

reply to post by dreamseeker

Funny how so many people do not take tornados seriously. In my area we get a lot of severe weather and you rarely hear of deaths. I wonder why so many deaths in this case. Is this because those people didn't have basements or were out taking video instead of staying indoors. In 1974 the superoutbreak had about 300 deaths but they did not have the technology like we do today. Is there any articles they explained why so many died when even in the worst case scenerio most of the times there are only 20 deaths. I know in an F4 tornado we had that covered Missouri and Kansas there was only a few deaths repored. Did this span a very large area.

Population density is a major role in fatalities. Alabama got hit in a pretty populated area. It is impossible to get thousands of people out into safe places. More structures equals more debris and debris is the major hazard in tornadoes.I read one report where a hospital got hit and that was responsible for about 100 fatalities. I just saw a report on the weather channel about a woman who hid in the closet north of Birmingham. She made it while some of her neighbors did not. The early warning is not all that early. They did have about ten to fifteen minutes, but still not everybody watches the weather. By the time you see it on radar on TV, it is already upon you.

I feel for everyone affected. I was literally crying when I was watching last night. Our town got hit with an EF1 a week and a half ago. I have PTSD from when my mothers trailer was destroyed with my sister in it about nine years ago. Two of my mothers neighbors died. They were only a few trailers down from her.

I have taken shelter in the bathroom with the kids three or four times already these past two weeks. I have no basement and the sight of these tornadoes scare the hell out of me. There is no way that any house can withstand 200 miles an hour winds. Alot of these people died while taking refuge. A total disaster in a populated area.

Hang in there down south. I feel your pain brothers and sisters. Things will get better, but you will be affected for life.

reply to post by dreamseeker

Funny how so many people do not take tornados seriously. In my area we get a lot of severe weather and you rarely hear of deaths. I wonder why so many deaths in this case. Is this because those people didn't have basements or were out taking video instead of staying indoors. In 1974 the superoutbreak had about 300 deaths but they did not have the technology like we do today. Is there any articles they explained why so many died when even in the worst case scenerio most of the times there are only 20 deaths. I know in an F4 tornado we had that covered Missouri and Kansas there was only a few deaths repored. Did this span a very large area.

I don't know where you are from, I assume KS or MO area. When was the last time an F5 tornado directly hit a city population of 100,000 or greater in KS or MO?
The tornadoes in Alabama struck highly populated areas in Tuscaloosa & Birmingham suburbs....I don't think you need an article to explain why there were many casualties given the direct hit by a massive, long-tracking tornado in populated areas.

My dad and my brother are among those that just dont realize a tornado's potential. When they hear the sirens go off, they say "it's just a tornado", and DONT even look out the window!

Funny how HAARP has been active and going crazy during all these hurricanes...

Actual its not funny at all its the most aggravating thing in the world..... someone needs to fly over Alaska with a bomb

"This could be one of the most devastating tornado outbreaks in the nation's history by the time it's over," CNN Meteorologist Sean Morris said.

CNN

Death toll is 273 according to that source also.

I put that specific quote from the article because I am also rather surprised by the intensity of this outbreak. Interesting times indeed.

Originally posted by bekod
Tornadoes devastate South, 248 dead!!!!! in my memory there has been nothing like this
news.yahoo.com... well i am 45 so that explains that search.yahoo.com...
, but still is this just a warm up to what is to come? Could this be the start of earths self cleansing? Have we become to populated and the earth is finely taking a flee bath?

edit on 28-4-2011 by bekod because: (no reason given)

I really don't know but I saw a video on the other tornado thread that showed a streak of orange(like fire) at the top left of the tornado and i'd really like to know what that was.

I think since its in a few areas its not that bad and I don't think this is as bad as Katrina but it does seem like we are having one disaster after another. Month after month since the start of the new year we've seen mass animal die offs, fissures, cracks, abnormal soil movement, EQs, and now massive tornadoes.

Tornadoes devastate South, killing at least 280

news.yahoo.com...

It just keeps rising. This is an absolute tragedy. This has to be the weirdest weather I have witnessed in my lifetime. Something about this just isn't right.

These storms have been crazy this year. No one can tell me this is normal. I'm a huge weather buff & don't remember storm cells being this bad in my 25+ years on this earth.

My heart goes out to everyone in the SE that has lost someone or was affected by this unnatural event.

The following video is the most amazing footage I've ever seen. Guy actually follows the tornado around and gets footage from multiple angles. Watch the entirety of the video. The most terrifyingly amazing footage is nearer the middle/end.

Check it out...

More..

Just...wow...

this is the latest up date on the twisters

PLEASANT GROVE, Ala. – Firefighters searched one splintered pile after another for survivors Thursday, combing the remains of houses and neighborhoods pulverized by the nation's deadliest tornado outbreak in almost four decades. At least 297 people were killed across six states — more than two-thirds of them in Alabama, where large cities bore the half-mile-wide scars the twisters left behind.

The death toll from Wednesday's storms seems out of a bygone era, before Doppler radar and pinpoint satellite forecasts were around to warn communities of severe weather. Residents were told the tornadoes were coming up to 24 minutes ahead of time, but they were just too wide, too powerful and too locked onto populated areas to avoid a horrifying body count.

from yahoo news link news.yahoo.com...

It is sad to see such tragedy ,we in Australia send our best wishes to those affected.
Its on our TV at the moment on SBS , the pictures are unbelievable almost , they are saying a Nuclear reactor has shut down also.