Midwest Weather

[SuzySunshine]

So as I said last night my friends are fine but I found out this morning that one of them just moved about two months ago and their house is fine but the one they moved out of is demolished. My hometown is only about 90 minutes away so I have several medical friends that are there now helping, so very sad.

These pictures pretty much sum it up. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43132174/ns/weather/

[Deebs]

They are supposed to be hit with severe weather again later today. Hopefully it won't come.

[SuzySunshine]

I saw that too Deb and of course that area also covers my parents - very scary tornado season. So very sad.

[Deebs]

Cheri - We're big on Red Cross donations. However, it seems that sometimes local churches do as good, or better, of a job at getting relief to people. If you know of a church down there that is organizing something, please let me know.

[SuzySunshine]

Deb, I will keep my ears open. I know at least 3 of my high school friends are there helping so I'll let you know if I hear anything.

[scarlett09]

They are supposed to be hit with severe weather again later today. Hopefully it won't come.

There's a severe t-storm warning out for the town right now - 60 mph winds and large hail. Not a tornadic storm, thankfully. But unfortunately, it could cause more damage and it is enough to stop the search & rescue efforts for a bit.

HoW and Suzy - just amazing pictures. So heartbreaking.

[HouseofWool]

I saw on the news this morning that they are classifying Joplin as a E3-E4 preliminarily.

They haven't officially declared LaCrosse a tornado, but several police officers spotted the twister and the damage appears to be indicative of a weak tornado. The trees are laying in multiple directions on the same block. On the local news last night, the reporter showed a large tree with its roots exposed, only there was no hole under it. The hole was 20 feet away, under the crown of the tree. Everyone here is feeling so lucky that we didn't get hit has hard as Joplin. So far only a few relatively minor injuries and both hospitals were spared, even though there is damage all around one of them. There is horrific damage a block from the hospital, the resident housing is in shambles. The tornado jumped the hospital and landed again, just on the other side of it, blocks away. This is the level 1 trauma hospital in the area, so I can't even imagine what would have happened had it been hit.

[Thirteen]

Is everyone in the boards in the area present and accounted for? Families and friends, too?
I have a good friend who lives in El Salvador who is from MO. Waiting to hear from her on her friends and family.

[SoonerTexan]

How sad

Yeah, outlook for today & tomorrow doesn't look so hot:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html

Kansas City, St. Louis, OKC, and to some extent DFW people should be aware today. Is there anyone on here in Arkansas?

[bokelley]

All my family is in Arkansas. I think EF3 and EF4 are too low, i imagine it will be upgraded...
Rumor is from NWS sirens were going for 20 min before tornado hit, people seemed to not care about that. But that is a rumor.

[SuzySunshine]

Brandi, I was wondering about that - when I heard the death toll I thought they must not have had any warning but I've since heard several interviews of people that said they did have warning. Very sad if people had become complacent.

[scarlett09]

Is it possible that they did take the warnings seriously and took shelter in the lowest, most-interior part of their home, which did not matter when their home was completely wiped off its foundation? I also think that maybe people couldn't see it, there is a lot about the tornado being rain-wrapped? I can imagine that people would get complacent though, especially if the sirens go off a lot.

I don't think I could ever live in an area that is prone to tornadoes - I get worked up when the rare tornado warning happens here, can't imagine what I would be like if they happened on a more regular basis. Basket case is probably the best descriptor.

[SoonerTexan]

Rumor is from NWS sirens were going for 20 min before tornado hit, people seemed to not care about that.

Yeah, I can see that. There isn't as much severe weather education outside "tornado alley" even though other places still get hit a lot. I wonder how good the news coverage was--as LadyM can attest, everybody listens to Gary England in OKC when he tells you to take cover

[SuzySunshine]

Is it possible that they did take the warnings seriously and took shelter in the lowest, most-interior part of their home, which did not matter when their home was completely wiped off its foundation? I also think that maybe people couldn't see it, there is a lot about the tornado being rain-wrapped?

Its definitely possible and if you've seen the pictures the houses are just gone but at the same time I've heard of one who survived in his bathtub and I would guess a lot of those houses did have some sort of lower level so until more stories of the dead come out we just won't know.

I'm sure some people ignored it. We had sirens Saturday night, and I know of only 1 other family aside from mine who woke their kids and took them downstairs. I think the sirens are over used, and not used consistently (reason/triggers) across the county, let alone the region. Some cities set them off when there are winds at a certain speed (straight or twisting), some when there is a chance of damaging hail. We went downstairs bc we were on the edge of the scary radar stuff, but Davita's city had sirens, too, and they were out of the "path".