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Tornado strikes Oklahoma

245

Comments

  • #32
    Killer Wench
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,386 ✭✭✭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.


  • #33
    Killer Wench
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,386 ✭✭✭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.


  • #34
    Pacing Mule
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,104 ✭✭✭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.


  • #35
    TheUsual
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,288 ✭✭✭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.


  • #36
    El Guapo!
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,450 ✭✭✭✭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.


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  • #37
    ProudDUB
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,569 ✭✭✭✭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.


  • #38
    Thwip!
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,234 ✭✭✭Thwip!


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


  • #39
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 13,839 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    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.


  • #40
    El Guapo!
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,450 ✭✭✭✭El Guapo!


    6 confirmed dead now.


  • #41
    kraggy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,414 ✭✭✭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.


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  • #42
    Killer Wench
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,386 ✭✭✭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.


  • #43
    Killer Wench
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,386 ✭✭✭Killer Wench


    It usually hails before a tornado:




    Another huge tornado hit that same area back in 1999.




  • #44
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 13,839 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


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


  • #45
    Killer Wench
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,386 ✭✭✭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.


  • #46
    Harps
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,548 ✭✭✭Harps


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


  • #47
    Stereomaniac
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,167 ✭✭✭Stereomaniac


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


  • #48
    rambutman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 287 ✭✭rambutman


    Harps wrote: »
    Two dozen kids reported to have died in one of the schools.. :(

    that is very sad indeed :(


  • #49
    Killer Wench
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,386 ✭✭✭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.


  • #50
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 13,839 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    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!


  • #51
    dfx-
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 15,857 Mod ✭✭✭✭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..


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  • #52
    JupiterKid
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 14,962 ✭✭✭✭JupiterKid


    dfx- wrote: »
    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..


    More like From Trinity to Heuston Station.:( The suburbs of Oklahoma City are utterly destroyed. There sadly will be a big death toll from this disaster.


  • #53
    dfx-
    Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 15,857 Mod ✭✭✭✭dfx-


    Think of the thousands of people in that area at 3pm on a weekday in Dublin when this one struck.

    + then the debris field around its edges and hail and lightning, it's hard to gauge the scale and the damage it would do here.


  • #54
    [-0-]
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,981 ✭✭✭[-0-]


    This system that is moving through has 8 tornadoes on the ground right now.


  • #55
    WilyCoyote
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,059 ✭✭✭WilyCoyote


    My wife's alma mater (early 70s) just outside OKC was built, then covered with earth and the doors and windows landscaped into it. Air was piped in. It was a kind of experiment then. Anyone know if they continued doing this kind of thing for any length of time?

    The destruction looks awful. I feel so sorry for the residents involved.


  • #56
    IvySlayer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,194 ✭✭✭✭IvySlayer


    37 deaths confirmed with 24 children still missing :(


  • #57
    Dunny
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,985 ✭✭✭Dunny


    51 deaths now confirmed.


  • #58
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 25,909 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    I just feel sick every time I read or see anything else about it. Reminds me of the photos of the devastation in Missouri a couple of years ago, completely unthinkable.


  • #59
    Lapin
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 18,183 ✭✭✭✭Lapin


    NiallSparky wrote: »
    It's finished now.

    If only that were true. :(


  • #60
    1ZRed
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,293 ✭✭✭1ZRed


    Great drying though


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  • #61
    expectationlost
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,649 ✭✭✭✭expectationlost


    did they not get warning, or have proper shelter?


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