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 whembly wrote:
via my trittah feed:

#Breaking: Medical examiner has revised #MooreTornado death toll—now say 24 dead, including 7 children

— ABC News (@ABC) May 21, 2013

Not as bad as originally reported. But, they're still in search & rescue mode, so that number can still rise.

...Never mind, reading comprehension fail moment!
(happens when I go without any sleep because its thundering & pounding rain into my bedroom window all night...)

Man as a lifelong resident ( more or less, minus 2 years in the city) of Moore (and a survivor of may 3 1999) this is nuts...

I was stuck in N okc at work so I was safe, but my gal was asleep and un-reachable at home in moore in the 2nd floor of our 2 story home so it was a very stressful day. Luckily my father was leaving a jobsite close by and was headed to his storm shelter and we live close enough that he could bang on the door and drag her with him.

Our house was luckily spared, as was his. Even as I type luckily I cringe because by missing us it had to hit loved ones on either side of us... ones whom lost their whole homes and everything.. worse yet I fear the worst for my friends' families who lives just west of the warren as no one can reach them. I'm hoping with the death toll lowering to 20's (if kfor is correct) that there is a very minimal chance they were casualties..

It's just crazy to see the amount of this damage...

My old house is gone.. Old donut shop gone.. friends parents home gone, other friends parents home gone, 3 other friends homes gone.. just.. nuts.

I can't believe the kids were in that school... I can't believe a lot of this and I'm a lifelong resident.. who was hit may 3rd and dealt with all that...


I'm ready to move guys.





Automatically Appended Next Post:

 SilverMK2 wrote:
I still don't understand why you guys build houses out of wood in areas well known for these kinds of storms...

However, I hope everyone gets sorted out quickly and gets everything they need in the meantime.

Good news confirmed: fataility count reduced to 24 per ABC. Hopefully this is accurate. SOunds like they are still digging at the school though.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/oklahoma-tornado-deaths-revised-24-including-children/story?id=19222656

 Frazzled wrote:
Good news confirmed: fataility count reduced to 24 per ABC. Hopefully this is accurate. SOunds like they are still digging at the school though.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/oklahoma-tornado-deaths-revised-24-including-children/story?id=19222656

I hope thats true... but it doesn't make any sense.

<script height="365px" width="650px" src="http://player.ooyala.com/iframe.js#pbid=df513009265e4427aaf5f0342a75c90e&ec=JraXVyYjo_XmCeUeQGkISOHWou0RHYYc"></script>


aerial video of the path..


http://kfor.com/2013/05/20/tornado-wipes-out-homes-schools-businesses-in-moore/ edit


Automatically Appended Next Post:

some closer footage from apparently 1 block away?

That was more then a block away. His car would have gotten thrown, if he'd just been a block away.

 djones520 wrote:
That was more then a block away. His car would have gotten thrown, if he'd just been a block away.

Well... I suppose you didn't see the 7-11 at 4th and telephone that was leveled... but the cars outside at the pumps were unharmed.. as was the pump canopy... but the 7-11 itself, gone. thats why I put a ? but was repeating the man's claim. 1 block is probably incorrect, it is the closest footage I have seen though. Just pointing out that something can get demolished and 25 feet away stuff is relatively fine... look at the streets where there are relatively unharmed houses, then across street nothing but slabs..

skyfi wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
That was more then a block away. His car would have gotten thrown, if he'd just been a block away.

Well... I suppose you didn't see the 7-11 at 4th and telephone that was leveled... but the cars outside at the pumps were unharmed.. as was the pump canopy... but the 7-11 itself, gone. thats why I put a ? but was repeating the man's claim. 1 block is probably incorrect, it is the closest footage I have seen though. Just pointing out that something can get demolished and 25 feet away stuff is relatively fine... look at the streets where there are relatively unharmed houses, then across street nothing but slabs..

Tornados are funky beast.

I've seen a house obliterated, and the next door neighbors only had roof damage...

I'd believe it!

 whembly wrote:

skyfi wrote:

 djones520 wrote:
That was more then a block away. His car would have gotten thrown, if he'd just been a block away.

Well... I suppose you didn't see the 7-11 at 4th and telephone that was leveled... but the cars outside at the pumps were unharmed.. as was the pump canopy... but the 7-11 itself, gone. thats why I put a ? but was repeating the man's claim. 1 block is probably incorrect, it is the closest footage I have seen though. Just pointing out that something can get demolished and 25 feet away stuff is relatively fine... look at the streets where there are relatively unharmed houses, then across street nothing but slabs..

Tornados are funky beast.

I've seen a house obliterated, and the next door neighbors only had roof damage...

I'd believe it!

Same here.
When Barrie got fustigated in the early 80's by an F4, my mum saw one house that from the front looked perfectly untouched... except for the back half that was completely ripped away once you walked around the side of the property. The tornado literally just cut the whole house clean in half!

I mean, the school that just got completely flattened there in Moore is now nothing more than a 10-foot high mountain of shrapnel & rubble in places, and yet, the freaking playground equipment is still standing...


Tornadoes, they're just Mother Nature rolling a bunch of cover saves to see what makes it and what doesn't!

Yes indeed.

Yeah when may 3 99' happened I was standing in my bedroom looking out of the window at the end of my street at my buddies house and all of a sudden it just exploded. not like the normal tearing stuff upward and apart like a tornado does, but the house literally exploded every direction then started drifting upward as debris finally.. then the next house.. then it was like "oh gak run to the bathroom, we are doomed" where we hid and luckily were unscathed... Literally what other people are describing.. 5 houses gone. 2 look like they ready to be sold... 3 with lots of damage.. 1 with minor damage... then another 5 completely missing... they are strange... may 3rd literally hit 3 houses from mine, jumped the 2 in front of us, ours, and the one behind us, re landed on the next house and took it and the next 2... It was terrible.. It does make you realize that these things are strange as can be....

there was a guy who's house was leveled except a hallway he was standing in, holding his dog inside of...

all sorts of craziness...

the 711 im talking about that was destroyed has buildings across the street that are repairable while the 7-11 is a slab literally... but their pumps still there, as are the cars at the pumps.. sad part is a family of 4 including an infant who were caught in their vehicle left the vehicle and apparently were found deceased hiding in the freezer of the 7-11 :(

the whole thing is so eerie and unreal.

Perspective is a funny thing, though. People think they're a block away because that's where it kind of looks like the debris cloud starts, but the wind could be further in or further out from that. It only looks like there's a clear "in the tornado/not in the tornado" line when you are far away. Up close, it is a lot fuzzier and hard to judge.

One thing is for sure, that video was taken from an absurdly unsafe distance.

 Rented Tritium wrote:
Perspective is a funny thing, though. People think they're a block away because that's where it kind of looks like the debris cloud starts, but the wind could be further in or further out from that. It only looks like there's a clear "in the tornado/not in the tornado" line when you are far away. Up close, it is a lot fuzzier and hard to judge.

One thing is for sure, that video was taken from an absurdly unsafe distance.

the buzz i'm hearing is the guy was braving it because his kids were in one of the schools that were directly hit, not just because he's gakking insane

skyfi wrote:

 Rented Tritium wrote:
Perspective is a funny thing, though. People think they're a block away because that's where it kind of looks like the debris cloud starts, but the wind could be further in or further out from that. It only looks like there's a clear "in the tornado/not in the tornado" line when you are far away. Up close, it is a lot fuzzier and hard to judge.

One thing is for sure, that video was taken from an absurdly unsafe distance.

the buzz i'm hearing is the guy was braving it because his kids were in one of the schools that were directly hit, not just because he's gakking insane

Can't blame him...

If my kidz were in that school... no tornado is sucking my ass.

skyfi wrote:

 Rented Tritium wrote:
Perspective is a funny thing, though. People think they're a block away because that's where it kind of looks like the debris cloud starts, but the wind could be further in or further out from that. It only looks like there's a clear "in the tornado/not in the tornado" line when you are far away. Up close, it is a lot fuzzier and hard to judge.

One thing is for sure, that video was taken from an absurdly unsafe distance.

the buzz i'm hearing is the guy was braving it because his kids were in one of the schools that were directly hit, not just because he's gakking insane

The complete lack of commentary pretty much tells us he's no storm chaser... because those dudes are just a bunch of crazy-ass loons!

Bless 'em though, it's only thanks to their tireless efforts and the insane risks they take to record these storms with their pretty much mobile weather labs that have helped advanced doplar radar & newer prediction technologies. The Severe Storm Center down there could actually see the "debris ball" of the tornado which allowed them to pretty much perfectly track the path it was taking and thus give warnings of upto 16 minutes to people in the storm's path...
10-15 years ago, we'd be lucky to have what, 5-10 minutes at the absolute most? (and on a good day to boot...)

whembly wrote:

skyfi wrote:

 Rented Tritium wrote:
Perspective is a funny thing, though. People think they're a block away because that's where it kind of looks like the debris cloud starts, but the wind could be further in or further out from that. It only looks like there's a clear "in the tornado/not in the tornado" line when you are far away. Up close, it is a lot fuzzier and hard to judge.

One thing is for sure, that video was taken from an absurdly unsafe distance.

the buzz i'm hearing is the guy was braving it because his kids were in one of the schools that were directly hit, not just because he's gakking insane

Can't blame him...

If my kidz were in that school... no tornado is sucking my ass.

I don't have kids but I can only imagine how the guy felt, and I think that captures it well...

Experiment 626 wrote:

skyfi wrote:

 Rented Tritium wrote:
Perspective is a funny thing, though. People think they're a block away because that's where it kind of looks like the debris cloud starts, but the wind could be further in or further out from that. It only looks like there's a clear "in the tornado/not in the tornado" line when you are far away. Up close, it is a lot fuzzier and hard to judge.

One thing is for sure, that video was taken from an absurdly unsafe distance.

the buzz i'm hearing is the guy was braving it because his kids were in one of the schools that were directly hit, not just because he's gakking insane

The complete lack of commentary pretty much tells us he's no storm chaser... because those dudes are just a bunch of crazy-ass loons!

Bless 'em though, it's only thanks to their tireless efforts and the insane risks they take to record these storms with their pretty much mobile weather labs that have helped advanced doplar radar & newer prediction technologies. The Severe Storm Center down there could actually see the "debris ball" of the tornado which allowed them to pretty much perfectly track the path it was taking and thus give warnings of upto 16 minutes to people in the storm's path...
10-15 years ago, we'd be lucky to have what, 5-10 minutes at the absolute most? (and on a good day to boot...)

Yeah they are very deserving of praise for what they do and the risks they take. It takes a tremendous amount of bravery, that's for sure.

if anyone is interested here is a time lapse..

http://www.wmctv.com/category/240217/video-landing-page?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8899079

Might need a tissue...

 d-usa wrote:
Might need a tissue...

As a pet owner, (I've got me two absolutely adorable little kittens ), I can't even begin to imagine how I'd feel if a tornado blew my house into kindling and left me realising my little girls are likely gone...
So glade to hear & see these stories of people finding and being reunited with their extended furry family members!



And the National Weather Service has recently just confirmed that EF5 scale damage has been seen at the Briarwood Elementary school.

That's 2 F5 tornadoes hitting roughly the same area within a span of just 14 years!
(I don't even want to pretend there are actual, calculable odds of that happening - it's just so completely mind-blowing!)

Early estimates are saying likely $1billion in insurance claims/damages...

why build a city on land that's known for tornadoes to roll through? don't get me wrong what happened was bad, but I find it hard to wrap my head around the location of this city, just like I cannot sympathize really for California when an earthquake strikes, its bound to happen when you live on a fault line.

TeejK wrote:
why build a city on land that's known for tornadoes to roll through? don't get me wrong what happened was bad, but I find it hard to wrap my head around the location of this city, just like I cannot sympathize really for California when an earthquake strikes, its bound to happen when you live on a fault line.

a) All of North fething America is a hazard zone of some kind... Floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, massive forest fires...
You know what, it's almost like they're naturally occurring disasters we can't stop!

b) Please tell me you realise that BC is apparently just as 'dumb' for living a major quake hazard zone... As well as the entire Great Lakes region come to think of it...



Otherwise, welcome to planet Earth, where the sky is blue, the water's sometimes fresh and where disastrous gak happens on a yearly basis!

Here is a picture from Plaza Towers elementary where my friends sister was protecting the kids she was teaching. She was laying on top of them just next to the door on the left side and almost got crushed by the car flying through the wall.

 d-usa wrote:
Here is a picture from Plaza Towers elementary where my friends sister was protecting the kids she was teaching. She was laying on top of them just next to the door on the left side and almost got crushed by the car flying through the wall.

That's insane!

TeejK wrote:
why build a city on land that's known for tornadoes to roll through? don't get me wrong what happened was bad, but I find it hard to wrap my head around the location of this city, just like I cannot sympathize really for California when an earthquake strikes, its bound to happen when you live on a fault line.

Don't be daft. The whole Great PLains is subject to tornadoes like that. Further, tornadoes are recorded most locations East of the Rockies and South of New England.

I think every part of the continent gets them. We just get a lot fewer of them, and smaller. To the best of my knowledge Oklahoma doesn't get regular blizzards like we do, or regular earthquakes like Cali, or hurricanes every year like Florida. Most of the US (and Canada, and probably Mexico, but I'm more ignorant about them) has at least one form of extreme and damaging weather periodically.

Not to say that they're all equal. This kind of thing is truly horrible, and I'll happily accept a couple of blizzards a year instead.

 Mannahnin wrote:
I think every part of the continent gets them. We just get a lot fewer of them, and smaller. To the best of my knowledge Oklahoma doesn't get regular blizzards like we do, or regular earthquakes like Cali, or hurricanes every year like Florida. Most of the US (and Canada, and probably Mexico, but I'm more ignorant about them) has at least one form of extreme and damaging weather periodically.

Not to say that they're all equal. This kind of thing is truly horrible, and I'll happily accept a couple of blizzards a year instead.

Yeah... I'd rather take blizzards than tornados anytime... but, I gotta tell ya, a blizzard in the great plains ain't nuthing to sneeze at.

Oh, no doubt. Blizzards aren't super fun either, especially in a place that's not used to (and equipped for) dealing with them regularly.

 Mannahnin wrote:
Oh, no doubt. Blizzards aren't super fun either, especially in a place that's not used to (and equipped for) dealing with them regularly.

Have you driven across Hwy 70 in Kansas? I did about 12 years ago...

It comes up quick...

They have these gates to actually shut down the highway during blizzards because there's simply not enough equipment (and need really) to keep it open.

I swear, they "shut the gates" like minutes after I passed it and BLAMO! Got stuck in a blizzard.

Luckily, it was during daylight... but, I.COULD.NOT.SEE.THE.fething.ROAD. IT was a whiteout... scary as feth.

Fortunately, me and another car followed a semi all the way out of the storm. I'm sure we both were praying that the truck knew where the road begin and end. That's why I have *stuff* in my car now to hold me over for a day or two, cuz I swore I'd never do that again. I'd rather just park somewhere and wait for the road to open up again.

Had to pick up the wife from work during a blizzard about 5 years ago. You could not see the road 6 feet in front of you. I was just hoping that the car in front of me knew wherer they were going because if they were driving into a ditch I was going to follow their tail lights.

 d-usa wrote:
Had to pick up the wife from work during a blizzard about 5 years ago. You could not see the road 6 feet in front of you. I was just hoping that the car in front of me knew wherer they were going because if they were driving into a ditch I was going to follow their tail lights.

Yup... exactly.

How are things there?

Calming down.

Lots of people coming in to help in Moore, but there are other towns that were hit by tornadoes the day before that are getting somewhat ignored. So everybody is trying to coordinate effords there.