Tornado strikes Oklahoma

Pacing Mule

Massive tornado has just touched ground in Oklahoma. Turn on sky news if you can. Live coverage of the scene. Scary stuff altogether. I'm glad we don't have that kind of weather here. :eek:

OP Edit:

It's quickly becoming clear that this is a major incident with kids amongst the dead and injured. Please be aware of that before posting your funnies.

Kylo Ren

Thinly veiled 'I have Sky News' thread.

Amirani

It's finished now.

Amirani

Good thread all things considered.

IM0

Keno 92 wrote: »

Thinly veiled 'I have Sky News' thread.

he's welcome to it too :rolleyes:

Kylo Ren

NiallSparky wrote: »

Good thread all things considered.

I enjoyed it. It got the kids out for the day like.

Cantona's Collars

Fox News reporting that a school has been flattened.

Early warnings seems to have saved many lives.

Pilotdude5

We do ge tornados here, just not on that scale of destruction. I believe a building was knocked onto a car in Donegal once.

Edit: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Tornado-hits-Ireland---Derry-farmers-escape-freak-weather-phenomenon---VIDEO-123609314.html

IM0

this stuff happens all the time in the US

Specialun

After guinness or murphys i leave tornados behind me

Cantona's Collars

http://kfor.com/on-air/live-streaming/

Massive devastation.

My name is URL

CNN reporting that it was wearing a hat at the time.

Pilotdude5

The weatherman just estimated its the most destructive Tornado cost-wise in recorded history.

Duckworth_Luas

My name is URL wrote: »

CNN reporting that it was wearing a hat at the time.

Fox news reporting it is was some kind of turban!

castletownman

A tornado strikes in a state in Tornado Valley that ranks in the top three for tornado strikes per year and it makes Sky News.

Sure they might as well report on the next rainfall in the midlands so.

Pacing Mule

castletownman wrote: »

A tornado strikes in a state in Tornado Valley that ranks in the top three for tornado strikes per year and it makes Sky News.

Sure they might as well report on the next rainfall in the midlands so.

In context - if the next rainfall in the midlands was a torrential downpour that caused flooding and damage on an unprecedented scale I would imagine they would report it.

Killer Wench

What makes this story unique is that there are reports that suburban towns have been wiped out. It spanned a mile and a half. This was huge.

kingcobra

I hate the Sky News is broadcasting this 'Press Preview' shite

El Guapo!

It's live on CNN now. Apparently there was about 75 kids in a school when the tornado hit. The school is now flattened and they're searching for the kids.
Awful stuff, I hope everyone gets out ok.

The size of the damaged area is huge!

El Guapo!

kingcobra wrote: »

I hate the Sky News is broadcasting this 'Press Preview' shite

If you have UPC, turn on CNN. It's channel 205.

Clandestine

https://twitter.com/Johnfvickers/status/336595535626649601

El Guapo!

It was 2 miles wide at one point. That's incredible.

Clandestine

http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/1epqxx/tornado_touches_down_south_of_oklahoma_city/

crazy stuff guys

Pacing Mule

I fear we will wake up to reports of massive casualties. There's a flattened school that they are currently pulling kids out of. Hope to God they were all underground for it. This is quite distressing.

El Guapo!

Someone reported seeing a badly injured teacher lying across three schoolkids to protect them during the storm. They said the teacher looked in a bad way and didn't look as though he was gonna make it, but he was still trying to protect the kids.
I'd say it was terrifying. Poor kids.

ProudDUB

Wow. Two whole pages of posts, and yet no one has hijacked it yet to question why we care more about what happens in a school in Oklahoma, than we do insert your own bog standard, US instigated Middle East atrocity here

---

> . Amazing !

Cantona's Collars

El Guapo! wrote: »

Someone reported seeing a badly injured teacher lying across three schoolkids to protect them during the storm. They said the teacher looked in a bad way and didn't look as though he was gonna make it, but he was still trying to protect the kids.
I'd say it was terrifying. Poor kids.

Glad we've seen the end of the jokes from the first page of this thread.

A hospital has also been wrecked.

The kids in the school are reported to be kindergarten to 6 or 7 years old:(

Pacing Mule

ProudDUB wrote: »

Wow. Two whole pages of posts, and yet no one has hijacked it yet to question why we care more about what happens in a school in Oklahoma, than we do insert your own bog standard, US instigated Middle East atrocity here

---

> . Amazing !

I think that's because most posters so far haven't cared at all.

(In fairness I don't think people realise how bad this actually is)

The Backwards Man

ProudDUB wrote: »

Wow. Two whole pages of posts, and yet no one has hijacked it yet to question why we care more about what happens in a school in Oklahoma, than we do insert your own bog standard, US instigated Middle East atrocity here

---

> . Amazing !

That's not really fair. Some of us care about tragedies, no matter where they happen, no matter who they affect.

I read on one of the local news sites that the warning only sounded a minute before the tornado hit ground, not sure if that's normally the way they work but seems awfully short notice.

El Guapo!

One thing I don't understand is, Oklahoma is slap bang in tornado alley. Stuff like this is a yearly occurrence, albeit not of this magnitude, So Why isn't there building regulations that make sure schools, hospitals etc have storm shelters built underneath the building?

El Guapo!

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I read on one of the local news sites that the warning only sounded a minute before the tornado hit ground, not sure if that's normally the way they work but seems awfully short notice.

Tornados can be extremely unpredictable and can pop up at very short notice. They're not something that can be predicted at any sort of long period of time.

Killer Wench

The Backwards Man wrote: »

That's not really fair. Some of us care about tragedies, no matter where they happen, no matter who they affect.

I read on one of the local news sites that the warning only sounded a minute before the tornado hit ground, not sure if that's normally the way they work but seems awfully short notice.

It sounds like it was short notice.

Usually, the system begins with a tornado watch. If a funnel cloud is spotted, it turns into a warning and then the sirens go off.

Killer Wench

El Guapo! wrote: »

One thing I don't understand is, Oklahoma is slap bang in tornado alley. Stuff like this is a yearly occurrence, albeit not of this magnitude, So Why isn't there building regulations that make sure schools, hospitals etc have storm shelters built underneath the building?

There are shelters, but not all schools have basements. At my schools, if a basement was available, that was where we go. In other schools, we were instructed to go under staircases. This was a massive tornado, though.

Pacing Mule

FFS - CNN just mentioned 4 fatalities (witnessed by their reporter being recovered) including a 7 month old baby. CBS confirmed multiple casualties, including a three month baby and a four-year-old child. :(:( I can only hope it's the same incident and the numbers are being confused.

TheUsual

Killer Wench wrote: »

There are shelters, but not all schools have basements. At my schools, if a basement was available, that was where we go. In other schools, we were instructed to go under staircases. This was a massive tornado, though.

Yeah, it seems to be the case here.

They were saying on CNN that parts of Oklahoma City are built right on bedrock and you would need to basically dynamite out a shelter so most people (including a Senator on the phone to CNN) said he had no underground shelter, but that strong brick and steel "strong rooms" are common inside houses to shelter in.

El Guapo!

Killer Wench wrote: »

There are shelters, but not all schools have basements. At my schools, if a basement was available, that was where we go. In other schools, we were instructed to go under staircases. This was a massive tornado, though.

It should be legislated though that all schools in vulnerable area must have suitable storm shelters. It could save countless kids lives.
I do understand though this was an incredibly large tornado. I wouldn't be surprised to see the death toll continue to rise right into tomorrow.
I just hope the tornados hold off while the rescue operation is going on.

ProudDUB

The Backwards Man wrote: »

That's not really fair. Some of us care about tragedies, no matter where they happen, no matter who they affect.

My apologies. My comments were not intended as a dig on posters here. It was directed at those people who hijack any US themed thread with irrelevant posts about what is going on in the Middle East. It happened to a very annoying degree after the Boston Marathon bombings.

Thwip!

Reports that it was a mile and a half in diameter.....that's astonishing. Those poor people

Just saw the news. That was a seriously powerful tornado. I just hope that this is more of a rescue than a recovery mission.

I shouldn't really complain as much as I do about the weather. We do ok, in the grander scale of things.

El Guapo!

6 confirmed dead now.

kraggy

ProudDUB wrote: »

My apologies. My comments were not intended as a dig on posters here. It was directed at those people who hijack any US themed thread with irrelevant posts about what is going on in the Middle East. It happened to a very annoying degree after the Boston Marathon bombings.

That's because there was a similar occurrence in Iraq that day. Quite understandable why people were miffed that it was all about Boston. Multiples more people died in the bombing in Iraq.

This is completely different. A tornado is a natural disaster. As far as I know, there were no similar natural disasters in the MIddle East today.

Killer Wench

My great-aunt and great-uncle live about 80 miles southwest of OKC. The tornado hit in Moore, OK. Sounds familiar to me. I wonder if I have cousins out that way.

Killer Wench

It usually hails before a tornado:

Another huge tornado hit that same area back in 1999.

Have you been in contact with your relatives KW? Hope they are ok

Killer Wench

Strawberry Milkshake wrote: »

Have you been in contact with your relatives KW? Hope they are ok

Thank you a lot for that. I am waiting to hear back from my dad.

Harps

Two dozen kids reported to have died in one of the schools..

Stereomaniac

Oh God. This is terrible. Jim Ross tweeted that his home had a very near miss with the tornado.

rambutman

Harps wrote: »

Two dozen kids reported to have died in one of the schools..

that is very sad indeed

Killer Wench

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/oklahoma-city-tornado-2013_n_3308384.html#slide=2477315

I just hope that these families don't experience the same cock up as the Hurricane Sandy families did.

Poor woman just on CNN. Looking for her niece who was in the school, another niece is in the hospital (injuries unknown) then, she says that her own sister is missing too!

dfx-

Thwip! wrote: »

Reports that it was a mile and a half in diameter.....that's astonishing. Those poor people

It's exceptionally difficult to put that into perspective, even when you see images of it.

In terms of Dublin City..what is it in width - Trinity College to Christchurch..