[QUOTE=teh pirate;40723485]This storm system is headed my way now. We've had a shitload of tornados lately, it's a little unnerving watching the towns around yours get fucked up.[/QUOTE]
I always get a bit nervous this time of the year. I live on the third floor of a 130-year-old brick building, and it's not in best condition. I cross my fingers every time we have an especially windy day!
my basement oh god why
[QUOTE=demoguy08;40723564]Doesn't these storms occur pretty much every year? How can the death tolls be so large when people know what's coming? Why aren't people/the government better prepared? I'm genuinely curious because it just seems really odd.
In many asian countries for example where massive earthquakes hit regularly kids and adults receive training and buildings are required to be constructed to withstand certain magnitudes of shaking.[/QUOTE]
We can predict that they can occur a few days in advance but conditions need to be correct for one to actually form and the conditions need to be perfect for much stronger ones.
We know the signs of a forming tornado and warnings are issued out as soon as those signatures form but sometimes they dont get caught or those signatures are not there and a tornado is spotted on the ground instead and the local authorities activate sirens and notify the NWS and possibly activating the EAS via civil defense.
In schools, there are tornado drills before severe weather season hits but a tornado can form in the dead of winter if conditions are correct. The winds can get up to 300+ MPH if they get that strong and it is extremely hard to make homes to withstand that unless they are underground or made of concrete or thick metal (which will never happen unless the city calls for it in code or the homeowner who is instructing a company to build a new house to construct it out of those materials).
The safest place to be when there is a tornado is underground in a shelter/basement (as long as the basement has a concrete slab on the top) and not everyone can afford one so they ride it out in the most sturdy point in their home (most interior room that has no windows which is usually a bathroom or closet).
It isn't the best thing but most tornados do not get above EF3 which is completely survivable if you know where to go.
This made me :'(
[url]http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50147264n[/url]
[QUOTE=jordguitar;40723607]We can predict that they can occur a few days in advance but conditions need to be correct for one to actually form and the conditions need to be perfect for much stronger ones.
We know the signs of a forming tornado and warnings are issued out as soon as those signatures form but sometimes they dont get caught or those signatures are not there and a tornado is spotted on the ground instead and the local authorities activate sirens and notify the NWS and possibly activating the EAS via civil defense.
In schools, there are tornado drills before severe weather season hits but a tornado can form in the dead of winter if conditions are correct. The winds can get up to 300+ MPH if they get that strong and it is extremely hard to make homes to withstand that unless they are underground or made of concrete or thick metal (which will never happen unless the city calls for it in code or the homeowner who is instructing a company to build a new house to construct it out of those materials).
The safest place to be when there is a tornado is underground in a shelter/basement (as long as the basement has a concrete slab on the top) and not everyone can afford one so they ride it out in the most sturdy point in their home (most interior room that has no windows which is usually a bathroom or closet).
It isn't the best thing but most tornados do not get above EF3 which is completely survivable if you know where to go.[/QUOTE]
But aren't schools and other public buildings in these areas built with shelters? That ought to be a [I]very basic[/I] requirement that the local governments should be issuing and it's such a simple thing to do. Next thing would for the govenment to subsidize the construction of shelters for those who want one in their home. If I was living there I'd be fucking furious over the government's neglect.
[QUOTE=demoguy08;40723849]But aren't schools and other public buildings in these areas built with shelters? That ought to be a [I]very basic[/I] requirement that the local governments should be issuing and it's such a simple thing to do. Next thing would for the govenment to subsidize the construction of shelters for those who want one in their home. If I was living there I'd be fucking furious over the government's neglect.[/QUOTE]
No because they are built to code to withstand x wind speeds at construction and that is what protects them. Shelters for large schools to hold around 500-1000 people are extremely expensive and are not in any schoolboard budget. The schools destroyed will most likely end up with some form of shelter but all the other schools will just have to do with looking over blueprints and talking with structural engineers to figure out where the safest places are in a building.
The government is extremely unlikely to help pay for the shelters more than what they are doing now through FEMA. It is a long and paperfilled road to get help with it for a personal property.
So it's essentially a "we don't want to spend money, so people will have to fend for themselves" situation. I'm starting to understand the death tolls.
Pretty intense video of the tornado forming.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk_emRzzg_4[/media]
[QUOTE=demoguy08;40724107]So it's essentially a "we don't want to spend money, so people will have to fend for themselves" situation. I'm starting to understand the death tolls.[/QUOTE]
You only see these high death tolls when there are EF4 or EF5 tornados. The windspeeds created in those are extreme and alot of buildings can not survive them.
Other tornados (EF3 and below) do have deaths but not in the hundreds and rarely over 10.
Don't worry guys! Yorkshire is completely safe!
[QUOTE=EdAndrew;40724322]Don't worry guys! Yorkshire is completely safe![/QUOTE]
yeah but it's still yorkshire
7 of the kids took cover in the school's basement and got trapped, and found drowned. That's pretty horrible.
[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/tornado-photos-oklahoma_n_3308868.html#slide=2480165[/url]
Slideshow showing the worst of it. Hope any FP'ers out there are alright.
Holy shit. I feel really bad for all you people affected by this, really glad I'm a Swede when stuff like this happen. Stay safe.
Day 3: Looks like Northern Texas is today's target.
[QUOTE=Orkel;40724763]7 of the kids took cover in the school's basement and got trapped, and found drowned. That's pretty horrible.[/QUOTE]
They survived a monster EF4 (perhaps even EF5) tornado that completely decimated their community and killed dozens of its members only to find themselves trapped under debris in the aftermath and drowned by the shallow floodwaters of broken pipes.
That's a ridiculously terrible way to die.
So the F5 came within a mile of my highschool. While we were sitting in the reinforced portion of the school (only meant to withstand F4s max) a teacher was streaming the news on her computer when the weatherman said, "If you are in West Moore you need to get underground NOW."
The power shut off right after he said that and minutes later someone yelled at us to get on the ground. The emergency light flickered a couple of times but nothing else happened, prompting some students to start posing for self pictures. One person started playing operation and was making all these beeping noises that everyone thought was an emergency alarm.
We were dismissed at 4:30 and all we knew before then was that Southmoore Highschool was hit and the Warren was hit. Cellphones were hardly working at all.
I found out later that the tornado went east at the last possible moment. A bunch of powerlines went down as well as a water treatment plant so we don't have electricity or clean water at the moment. The F5 only took an hour to develop, leaving only a little bit of time for everyone to prepare.
Absolutely horrible...just goes to show how powerless we are against mother nature.
[QUOTE=demoguy08;40723849]But aren't schools and other public buildings in these areas built with shelters? That ought to be a [I]very basic[/I] requirement that the local governments should be issuing and it's such a simple thing to do. Next thing would for the govenment to subsidize the construction of shelters for those who want one in their home. If I was living there I'd be fucking furious over the government's neglect.[/QUOTE]
The school where every student survived had a shelter. The one where around two dozen died didn't from what I understand.
[QUOTE=jordguitar;40721656]
yes lets waste millions of dollars every time we got a supercell thunderstorm[/QUOTE]
It's all about style
[QUOTE=Super_Nova;40721336]Death toll at Moore is now at 91.[/QUOTE]
usatoday is reporting that the death toll has lowered, with 9 children dead instead of the 20 originally thought
[quote]— Rescuers dug through the debris of destroyed homes, schools and businesses Tuesday in a desperate search for survivors of the murderous tornado that blasted through this Tornado Alley town, killing at least 24 people and injuring scores more.
[url]http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/05/21/oklahoma-tornadoes/2344923/[/url][/quote]
[QUOTE=Orkel;40724763]7 of the kids took cover in the school's basement and got trapped, and found drowned. That's pretty horrible.[/QUOTE]
Just curious, where did you hear this?
[QUOTE=OvB;40725633]The school where every student survived had a shelter. The one where around two dozen died didn't from what I understand.[/QUOTE]
The kids were in a basement and pipes in the basement busted and some kids drowned
My mom came into my room and handed me a scrap of paper. It's the corner of page 152 of a children's book that she found in the driveway. The supercell that hit Moore went over where I live, so she's wondering if it isn't something from down there.
Well, out here in MA there's a shitload of thunder and tornado warnings..
EDIT: Well now its hailing.
Tornado Warning in effect in Texas. Just a tad north of me actually.
[QUOTE=OvB;40736012]Tornado Warning in effect in Texas. Just a tad north of me actually.[/QUOTE]
Same, but i doubt it will go our way.
Its more north now, Probably crossing I45 soon. No tornado yet.
[editline]21st May 2013[/editline]
Oh wait there's a new one and its coming right for me.
[editline]21st May 2013[/editline]
NWS texted me saying to take shelter immediately.
[QUOTE=OvB;40736110]Its more north now, Probably crossing I45 soon. No tornado yet.
[editline]21st May 2013[/editline]
Oh wait there's a new one and its coming right for me.
[editline]21st May 2013[/editline]
NWS texted me saying to take shelter immediately.[/QUOTE]
You better not die, you got to much cool shit to tell us.
Echo hook to my west, moving east.
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