On April 12th, prior to the Alabama outbreak and about 6 weeks before a tornado tore through the middle of mostly basement-less Joplin, MO, Colleen Bogener wrote a
short editorial on the need for public storm shelters in Joplin. There was a short bit of discussion in response.
posted by spock
on May 25, 2011 -
71 comments
A wave of powerful storm cells swept the southeastern United States this week, spawning
hundreds of tornadoes that wreaked havoc from Texas to Virginia. While damage was widespread throughout the region, the most terrible toll was seen in Alabama, which has accounted for two-thirds of
the more than 300 reported deaths -- the deadliest since the Great Depression -- and where
many small towns were simply wiped from the map. Especially hard-hit was the university town of Tuscaloosa, the state's fifth-largest, where a monstrous F5 tornado (seen in
this terrifying firsthand video) tore a
vicious track through entire neighborhoods and business districts -- narrowly missing the region's primary hospital -- and continuing a path that rained debris as far as Birmingham, over sixty miles away. The disaster
prompted a visit from President Obama today, who declared
"I've never seen devastation like this" after surveying the area with Governor Robert Bentley, Senator Richard Shelby, and
Mayor Walter Maddox. More: photos from
In Focus and
The Big Picture,
aerial footage of the aftermath,
"before and after" sliders, the path of the Tuscaloosa twister
on Google Maps,
People Locator,
local aid information,
MetaTalk check-in thread
posted by Rhaomi
on Apr 29, 2011 -
102 comments
John Park Finley, American meteorologist, wrote the
first known book on tornadoes (
Tornadoes, 1887). Though some of his "safety" guidelines for surviving a tornado have since been refuted as dangerous (seek shelter on the side of a house facing an oncoming tornado!), the book remains a seminal work in tornado research.
[more inside]
posted by Wossname
on Jan 25, 2011 -
9 comments
