Posted on 01/17/2012 8:17:01 AM PST by WKUHilltopper
The "meat horns" (air raid sirens) just went off.
I lived at Fort Knox at the time, next to Ireland Army Hospital. I remember lots of medevac choppers coming in and out making runs to Brandenberg.
A green metal tennis building (indoor building) on the Gene Snyder freeway is toast! It was on the Brownsboro exit on I-65.
Storm is just starting to reach us.
That was a bad day for Brandenburg. As I recall, about forty people were killed there.
ping
Hi Stonewall, keep us updated on Etown please.
...out of the basement. His parents canceled checks were found in Ohio!
Some reports from John Belski down in Louisville on his blog:
http://blogs.wave3.com/johnbelski_weatherblog/
“11:17 Air conditioning unit blown off the roof of the Brown Hotel downtown. Landed on Broadway. No reports of injuries”
“11:23 Power Plant workers at Clifty Creek, Madison, IN say they saw a tornado hit Madison”
“11:29 Report from Indiana State Police. Tornado crossed I-65 earlier at EXIT 4 with vehicles damaged. No reports of injuries. This is the Lewis and Clark Parkway exit.”
“11:35 12 inch diameter tree down Snyder Freeway at Westport Rd.”
Thats just some of the highlights….
Sadly, it’s hard to find coverage of that caliber these days. Most radio stations have eliminated their news departments, and their “programming” comes from a satellite feed, complete with voice-tracked DJs who pre-record their comments days or even weeks in advance.
When I lived in northern Mississippi (no stranger to severe weather), I walked out of Wal-Mart one stormy night, just as the tornado sirens blared. As I drove home, I turned the radio to a local station that I knew was voice tracked. Sure enough, the DJ said we could look forward to a “warm evening, with just a chance of isolated thunderstorms.”
Residents of northern Kentucky and southern Indiana are lucky to have a station like WHAS that has the staff (and inclination) to cover breaking news. But in much of the country, relying on local radio to warn you of severe weather can be a dicey proposition.
And what’s worse, much of the public pays little attention to weather warnings when they’re issued. That was one of the major findings from the Joplin disaster last year. Many residents continued with their usual routine, even as local broadcasters warned of the approaching storm, and the sirens wailed. In one case, a couple out for Sunday dinner became miffed when they were turned away from a restaurant which closed because of the tornado warning. They kept driving around until they found a restaurant that was still open. Never occurred to them to return home or seek shelter.
What was G.B. Shaw’s famous line about fools and Americans?
All stations should have EAS warnings that automatically trigger to notify the warned areas...of course that only plays through once per warning.
840 WHAS actually does not have its own weather staff - they tap into WAVE 3 and simulcast their TV severe weather coverage.
Yes, it was that kind of a number.
Here, Wikipedia says 31:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Outbreak#Brandenburg.2C_Kentucky_tornado
It’s still the biggest tornado outbreak on record.
Thanks. Also a semi-truck blown off Synder Freeway. Apparently they are now saying we may had some brief touchdowns. About 17k without power.
Here in Lyndon, it was much ado about nothing. The wind last night was a lot worse than this afternoon.
We got almost an inch of rain since midnight, but not much wind. The weather alert radio blared about 6:10 this morning: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM alert.
It is calm here now, just a lot of dark grey skies to the south.
The ducks have an 80 gallon tub for a pond that is kept full by a downspout. (8’ X 40’ roof area) I guess it got flushed good!
I was out last night breaking the 3’ thick ice out of it before the rains came.
Please hang on! This sucker moves fast!
Warnings can save lives.
Warnings can save lives.
PT Barnum said that you’d never go broke underestimating the intelligence of Americans.
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