Thursday, February 7, 2008

At Least 55 Dead From Tornado Outbreak in the South

At least 55 people are dead from tornadoes that were forecast well in advance in the South on February 5th. It's just sad. This was the deadliest tornado outbreak in more than 20 years. The last time tornadoes killed this many was in May of 1985 when 88 people died in an outbreak that hit Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania according to the Weather Underground.

CNN said "Most communities had ample warning that the storms were coming. Forecasters had warned for days severe weather was possible. The National Weather Service issued more than 1,000 tornado warnings from 3 p.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Wednesday in the 11-state area where the weather was heading. The conditions for bad weather had lined up so perfectly that the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., put out an alert six days in advance."

Wow! 1,000 warnings issues. That's just insane. It's sad that so many had to perish with such advance notice.

Out of all the information I read, I found this one interesting story that I had to share. The man to the right is one lucky man. According to CNN, James Kruger was watching election results Tuesday night in Lafayette, Tennessee, when a warning appeared on his TV screen: A tornado was headed straight toward his town. Then the lights went out. He put on sweat pants, grabbed a flashlight, drank a shot of whiskey, "and then I heard this noise," Kruger said Thursday.
Seconds later he was being battered by debris, and found himself laying in the dirt. "I think God was holding my leg, beating my ass, teaching me that I hadn't been doing everything he wanted me to do," he said.

Video showing pictures of the tornadoes, and damage that resulted. Very sad indeed.

1 comment:

The Lorax said...

Yes... that's the interview I saw this morning. Very emotional stuff.

I fear for "Tornado Season" if this keeps up.