Posted on 04/02/2006 9:22:12 PM PDT by HAL9000
Excerpt -
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency reports that eight people were killed when a tornado hit Newbern, Tenn., in Dyer Co., on Sunday night. No further details were available. Earlier, an amateur radio operator reported that one person was killed at the Jimmy Dean plant in Newbern, but it's unclear whether the additional deaths happened there.~ snip ~
(Excerpt) Read more at wmcstations.com ...
Thanks for the warning. Good to know.
I actually took out of there as soon as I saw them coming. A bunch of people stayed behind.
Yeah, it started up right after they'd successfully convinced people that opening windows in tornadoes was a horrible idea (in that case, that was partially the fault of the NWS, as old materials from the 50s from them suggested that to "relieve the pressure"...in reality, houses appear to explode in tornadoes BECAUSE wind gets in through windows and blows the roof off...
So then they were faced with another myth to stamp out.
The temptation is understandable as people want to save their cars from hail by getting under underpasses, too.
There's actually a lot of debate in the NWS over exactly what to tell people about being in cars and tornadoes. A great many people saved their lives in the OKC F-5 by simply getting in their cars and driving away from it...the tornado was moving very slowly and there was massive TV coverage of it..however, that was in direct opposition to what the NWS always says.
Still, in most cases you're likely better off in an interior room or bathroom than getting in your car and driving away.
Probably the best move in a car is simply to keep driving and attempt to evade the tornado at right angles.
Very few tornadoes move faster than typical driving speeds. Problem is people being able to accurately discern the motion and also know the local road net.
Huh. I thought they were safe places.
Good report! Glad you got out of there safely!
I was kept up all night by the lightning (in WNC) and noticed that it seemed to be a huge system because while it was hitting all around here I could could also see it lighting up way off in the distance looking like what we used to call "heat lightning". We got some hail.
My cousin was in the direct path of the OKC tornado. The family got in their car and drove to Norman. Their house was leveled. Your advice is generally good but not in an F5.
Eight people are dead and yet you just had to post the most outdated overused annoying nonsense that has nothing to do with this thread. To say most of us are disgusted is an understatement.
Lord we was up all night too over here close to Weaverville. Got hit by a ton of hail about 5 this morning. I jumped up and put the kids in my closet, pretty scary.
According to news 3 here in Memphis it's now up to 12, and more may be found with day light. 17 in all for the tri-state area. The Early Show just said 19. May our Lord comfort the grieving and heal the injured.
How about...oh, I don't know...simply bypass it, if it bothers you so much? You know the Left will do the same, blame someone who had nothing to do with the incident...at least here, we can find a certain humor to the idiocy of the Left...when we don't tie ourselves into knots about it. It's called Nature...it doesn't care how we feel, it will continue to do its thing. Our job is to pick ourselves up and move on. Y'all should try it.
How did NASHVILLE make out? I have a friend up here looking around for a house....
Maybe you can find some humor in people being killed but some of us have family in the areas hit. Phones are down so while we wait and look for news we have to weed out the assholes like you trying to be cute on serious threads.
http://spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/
I've seen a video of people running under a bridge to ride out a tornado. Is that safe? Absolutely not! Stopping under a bridge to take shelter from a tornado is a very dangerous idea, for several reasons:
Deadly flying debris can still be blasted into the spaces between bridge and grade -- and impaled in any people hiding there.
Even when strongly gripping the girders (if they exist), people may be blown loose, out from under the bridge and into the open -- possibly well up into the tornado itself. Chances for survival are not good if that happens.
The bridge itself may fail, peeling apart and creating large flying objects, or even collapsing down onto people underneath. The structural integity of many bridges in tornado winds is unknown -- even for those which may look sturdy.
Whether or not the tornado hits, parking on traffic lanes is illegal and dangerous to yourself and others. It creates a potentially deadly hazard for others, who may plow into your vehicle at full highway speeds in the rain, hail, and/or dust. Also, it can trap people in the storm's path against their will, or block emergency vehicles from saving lives.
The people in that infamous video were extremely fortunate not to have been hurt or killed. They were actually not inside the tornado vortex itself, but instead in a surface inflow jet -- a small belt of intense wind flowing into the base of the tornado a few dozen yards to their south. Even then, flying debris could have caused serious injury or death. More recently, on 3 May 1999, two people were killed and several others injured outdoors in Newcastle and Moore OK, when a violent tornado blew them out from under bridges on I-44 and I-35. Another person was killed that night in his truck, which was parked under a bridge. For more information, meteorologist Dan Miller of NWS Norman has assembled 25-slide online presentation about this problem.
So if I'm in a car, which is supposed to be very unsafe, and shouldn't get under a bridge, what can I do?
Vehicles are notorious as death traps in tornadoes, because they are easily tossed and destroyed. Either leave the vehicle for sturdy shelter or drive out of the tornado's path. When the traffic is jammed or the tornado is bearing down on you at close range, your only option may be to park safely off the traffic lanes, get out and find a sturdy building for shelter, if possible. If not, lie flat in a low spot, as far from the road as possible (to avoid flying vehicles). However, in open country, the best option is to escape if the tornado is far away. If the traffic allows, and the tornado is distant, you probably have time to drive out of its path. Watch the tornado closely for a few seconds compared to a fixed object in the foreground (such as a tree, pole, or other landmark). If it appears to be moving to your right or left, it is not moving toward you. Still, you should escape at right angles to its track: to your right if it is moving to your left, and vice versa -- just to put more distance between you and its path. If the tornado appears to stay in the same place, growing larger or getting closer -- but not moving either right or left -- it is headed right at you. You must take shelter away from the car or get out of its way fast!
Highway Overpasses as Tornado Shelters:
Fallout From the 3 May 1999 Oklahoma/Kansas
Violent Tornado Outbreak
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/papers/overpass.html
Take a look at this - Monthly Tornado Statistics
http://spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/monthlytornstats.html
It shows how hard the US is getting hit by tornadoes already this year compared to previous years.
Real funny. I still have family unaccounted for in Caruthersville.
Prayers for the safety of your family.
I shall ignore your less than educated language, and hope your family made it well.
By the way, do realize some on the Left will ascribe responsibility, and they WILL mean it, therefore dancing on the graves of those who died. Remember life is too short to spend it like you, looking for reasons to be offended.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.