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At least 91 dead in Oklahoma City tornado

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Twisters seem to be getting worse and more frequent. Another symptom of clomate change?

2 ( +8 / -6 )

My heart goes out to those people. I'm sure the death toll will rise. I hope and pray for those people that they can get all the help they need. Tornadoes are scary things, if you have never been in one, be thankful for it. Been through one once, that was enough for me!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Twisters seem to be getting worse and more frequent. Another symptom of clomate change?

No, there are bad tornadoes every year but most of them don't hit large cities.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Tornados are nasty but more survivable than a tsunami. Still, I'm amazed about the lack of shelters and basements in OK. I was talking to a guy in OKC once and ask him what he could do without a basement if a tornado hit. He said "probably die." It's sad.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

They are still searching an elementary school for victims. There were some tornadoes not far from me but not like this killer. The storm path 50 km long by 3 km wide. This storm has cut the Oklahoma City area into 2.

http://www.newson6.com/story/22301266/massive-tornado-kills-37-in-moore-hits-elementary-school

0 ( +2 / -3 )

Stay safe Yuri. I spoke with my parents out in OK today and looks like you all are in for more rough weather through tomorrow. There were two touchdowns NE of Tulsa within the 20 minutes phone conversation, very scary.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

That area isn't known as "Twister Alley" for nothing. Loss of life is always tragic, though. My friends moved away from there after one too many close calls.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

alimel1969 Thank You for your concern! The Tornado by me was probably small but there is no information on it. All attention as it should be is on the schools and the surrounding community. Seven children have been pulled out dead and another 24 are missing. Now they are saying 2 schools were destroyed. A shopping mall has collapsed and people are trapped in the wreckage. This is the second day of storms and tomorrow can be a repeat of today.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

The houses and buildings really need basements. What does "hard ground" mean? Rock?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

More than just hard rock add water. My house is on a slab and there was a spring feed pond in the backyard before being filled in during construction. The water table is very high and a real danger is drowning in a underground shelter.

http://www.ehow.com/info_7871381_cant-basements-built-oklahoma.html<

They still have not found the 24 kids. A friend of mine says the 7 kids drowned in a basement part of the school. I do not know if this is true.

0 ( +2 / -3 )

So far 51 confirmed deaths, at least 20 children.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Don't even know what to say or think!! RIP??

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Tragedy.

Regarding relationships between tornado strength and climate change:

Tornadoes, violently rotating columns of air spawned by thunderstorms, occur when available energy — warm, moist air at low levels and cold, drier air above — meets vertical wind shear, which provides the source of the rotation. Climate change enhances the former, also known as "convective available potential energy,'' or CAPE, and diminishes the latter.

In other words, the potential for larger storms exists, with vastly larger stores of energy in respective atmospheric layers, but the vector which would drive them together to create the tornado is weaker.

Perhaps what this means is that tornadoes will not increase in number - or may even decrease - but when they do happen, will increase in intensity.

http://www.livescience.com/34488-tornado-unknowns.html

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Such a horrible thing to read about...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The images coming out from this are some of the worst I've ever seen from a tornado. Truly horrifying stuff.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Twisters seem to be getting worse and more frequent. Another symptom of clomate change?

Tornadoes are common in that area. Back in 1999 an Oklahoma tornado outbreak killed 36 people.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Wakarimasen

Twisters seem to be getting worse and more frequent. Another symptom of clomate change?

A few things you should be aware of:

The Wizard of Oz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornadoes_in_the_United_States and as it 'states' no pun intended, in the very first clause, "Tornadoes are more common in the United States than in any other country."

Tornadoes are most common in spring and least common in winter.

Durrrrrr
-2 ( +3 / -5 )

@Maitake

What part of "more frequent" don't you grasp?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

@lucabrasi

What part of clomate change don't you grasp?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

A severe thunderstorm is about to hit my location and there is rotation. The joys of living in Oklahoma! We are hiding in a interior closet.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Yuri.

Best of luck and you and yours stay safe. Tornados been predicted to increase in number and strength for some time now.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I think I would have left personally made a mad dash for New Mexico, or at least west, under the relative safety of nightfall after a half a mile wide tornado already struck outside of Oklahoma City and more were on tap in that same area for the next day.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

91!? damn, RIP.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Tis the season.

" The small town of Codell, Kansas, was hit by a tornado on the same date three consecutive years. A tornado hit on May 20, 1916, 1917, and 1918. The U.S. has about 100,000 thunderstorms a year; less than 1% produce a tornado. The odds of this coincidence occurring again is extremely small."

0 ( +1 / -1 )

You couldn't pay me to live in that area. A huge live-in death trap. Happens every year. Kids had no choice in where they would live and now so many gone. That place should just be left a desolate desert. Rest in Peace.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I'm from Kansas and I would never buy a house without a basement. But I was unaware that the water table was that high in Oklahoma.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Shocking and such sad news. My thoughts are with the families affected and everyone else who have lost their homes.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

14 years ago this town suffered what was until then the worst tornado ever, and now this monster...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Stay safe Yuri. Any more updates? I hope to hear ...

3 ( +3 / -0 )

It's so tragic about all those people, especially the children.

Stay safe Yuri; coming from Texas, I know what you're going through.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Sad news they very young why God take them soon from their family me very unhappy to heared this news my heart very weak

0 ( +0 / -0 )

We have a tornado drill every year at the schools where I work. We're definitely NOT in tornado alley, but lately we seem to get at least one pass through the region every year. I think about what our "drill" encompasses and I realize our kids would be just as much at risk as those poor kids were at Plaza Towers Elementary School. There's nothing we could do because there is no below-ground rooms where we could have the kids move to. If this recent trend of 1 a year continues or increases in frequency, then it's only a matter of time.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Where is God through all these disasters?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

At this time the official news there are only 24 confirmed deaths, much fewer than was feared earier.

The figure of 91 was way way premature, and like the early news in the Boston bombing, the news media in this case can't be trusted.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I've seen massive tornadoes first-hand when I lived in Edmonton long ago, and they are scary stuff. Fascinating, but scary. RIP to all the victims -- there are times when there is just nothing you can do. I hope they find some survivors in the rubble, and hope that it never hits again.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I know this is going to come off as a callous thing to say, but why isn't every structure built in what is statistically defined as Tornado Alley required by law to be tornado proof and/or required to have a hardened basement/shelter? If buildings aren't able to withstand a hurricane how can one consider the area habitable? This begs the question how much sympathy can you have for people who insist on living there despite the certain and high risk and no way to mitigate it?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Where is God through all these disasters? Everywhere. In your heart and soul. And busy preparing beds for little children in heaven.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Where is God through all these disasters? Everywhere. In your heart and soul. And busy preparing beds for little children in heaven.

Oh, God. I'm a Christian, but this kind of comment makes me cringe....

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I can recall the first mile wide tornados and thought they were huge, but this one was two miles wide in some reports. So I begin to wonder just how big a tornado can get. I begin to wonder when we will see our first three mile wide tornado, then five mile wider and perhaps even a ten mile wide one.

Meanwhile while people argue about if climate change is happening, or who to blame, no one seems to be asking how are we to adapt to this new situation. We literally have millions f people at risk for various change s taking place and we are not yet discussion were should we move those people out of harms way, nor are we discussing how will we finance the move and new towns where needed.

Evolution and survival of any species is based on how great and how fast can they adapt to changing considerations. That requires thinking and planning going beyond the present disaster and considering what we may face in the future and beginning to prepare ourselves to change whatever we have to change in our way of living. I just don't see that anyone is planning for the long term, so many milions of people may pay the cost with their lives.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The scenes from OKC have been heart-breaking. Thoughts and prayers for all those affected. Yuri, please do take care.

We have our own tornado alley here in the South, and over the years it has steadily moved north. It used to just be across the Montgomery-Birmingham stretch of Alabama, but now middle Tennessee gets threatened often. I've had several close calls just in the last ten years, once while in a car. I hate tornadoes.

As good as weather prediction technology has become, getting the warnings out can still be difficult. Especially in rural areas. Hopefully, one day tornado-related deaths and injuries will be a rarity.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sorry to offend your christian sensibilities luca. The question always irks me, and I thought this was an apt retort on about the same level. Couldnt be bothered coming up with a proper response, but I shouldnt have taken the bait. Perhaps you can provide a better answer.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

And btw I dont speak for Christians, I speak for myself.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Twisters seem to be getting worse and more frequent. Another symptom of clomate change?

The number of tornadoes in the last 12 months is actually at a 60 year low, probably in part because Springs have been getting cooler for something like 100 years.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This has been awful. Heartbreaking scenes of S&R offices picking through the rubble of the school and how those parents can stay calm and behind the lines I do not know - I think I would be screaming and tearing at the debris with my bare hands. Many lucky escapes and sadly many devastated families tonight. We live a long way from Tornado Alley (forest fires are our big issue) but Mother nature can be a bitch when she decides to vent her fury and sadly this time the people of Oklahoma have copped it. :(

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@jamurai

Aaagh! Sorry, I thought your first comment was for real. How embarrassing... : )

2 ( +2 / -0 )

We made it through the storms but my flower beds have been flattened. My house would be alright for small tornadoes. The safe room closet would do for up to the largest. It might withstand a f5 but not sure. The good news is no body from my community was hurt but we did lose some trailers and have roof damage. The TV says we will go through it again in 48 hours.

Please pray for the people of Moore.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Yuri,

Glad to hear you are safe.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Sorry, I'm late to this. Wasn't paying attention to this. I should have known that the climate quacks would have been out in force though. And reading over the posts, sure enough, its all because of global warming. Sadly, there have been worse tornados, many, many worse. The Peshtigo fire tornado, St. Louis, Tri-state.

Tornados that hit towns are very rare. And its unusual now in the midwest to have a tornado shelter. I remember when my family lived in Kansas, we had one, but no one, ever went down there. If a tornado came through, even then we wouldn't have gone down there. Tornados are simply a fact of life in the midwest, the way earthquakes are in California, Typhoons in Japan, and hurricanes in coastal regions. There is always a chance they will come through, but they are exceedingly rare. Unlike a Typhoon, you have a very good chance of never seeing one your entire life living in the midwest. This was unquestionably a disaster. A tragedy, but its not because of global warming. Its simply a result of the normal weather they get in the midwest, that occasionally spawns tornados.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

A tragedy, but its not because of global warming.

While there is no basis for connecting an individual tornado to global climate change, it is also monumentally stupid to dismiss the science behind the rapidly increasing CO2 in the atmosphere due to human activity.

While initial lines were drawn up nearly two decades ago, the momentum now is seeing increasing numbers of former climate-change deniers finally accepting the findings of the vast majority of climate scientists. One of them was former Republican Congressman from South Carolina, Bob Inglis. The guy had an A or A+ rating from every conservative group in the country until he forthrightly came out in express his agreement with the scientists.

His profound concerns about how his party works to destroy anyone who won't toe the party's line on this critical issue is documented in a recent edition of This American Life, and can be listened to at the following link:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/495/hot-in-my-backyard

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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