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Five tornadoes hit Roberts, Gray counties

Storm spawns tornadic activity, knocks out power

At least five tornadoes touched down Friday in Roberts and Gray counties, the National Weather Service in Amarillo said.

One motorist was injured and scores of people in Pampa and Lefors had their power knocked out.

“Based on what we saw on radar, we were not surprised we had five tornadoes,” said meteorologist John Cockrell.

One tractor-trailer driver caught in a E2 tornado – winds between 111 and 135 mph – southeast of Pampa – suffered a broken shoulder and damage to his truck. Cockrell said the trucker may have been traveling on Highway 60 when the tornado passed right over him. The tornado was estimated to have been a half-mile wide.

The NWS found one tornado was on the ground for up to 20 minutes, officials said. The tornado was a quarter-mile wide with winds ranging from 86 to 110 mph. It carved a path of about six miles stretching from two miles northwest of Lefors to about four miles southeast of the city, officials said.

Robert Hines of Lefors said he was driving toward Lefors on Spur 398 near the path of the tornado Friday when he watched wind push a pickup traveling ahead of him around the roadway. The wind was fierce.

“It was freaky,” he said. “Just sucking everything off the ground. All I hear was bang, bang.”

Something cracked his windshield, but he said otherwise he was unharmed.

Three other tornadoes touched down nearby. The first hit about 4:45 p.m. 13 miles west of Miami in Roberts County and was on the ground for about a minute.

The second landed about a minute after the first about 14 miles west-southwest of the city. It was on the ground for more than 10 minutes.

The third landed about four or five miles northeast of Pampa, stayed on the ground about eight minutes and covered about three miles.

Xcel Energy spokesman Wes Reeves said crews spent most of Saturday working to restore power to residents. By midday Saturday, about 500 customers were without power and Xcel reported about 50 poles east and south of Pampa were lost during the storm.

He said the company had called in more than 70 employees from Pampa, Borger, Amarillo, Hereford, Plainview and Lubbock to rebuild the damaged lines.

He said the infrastructure damage appeared to be caused by straight-line winds.

By the end of day, outages in Lefors and Pampa were estimated to be less than 50 and local crews were expected to work overnight to fix the rest of the outages.

Another sub-par review because someone thinks we are wrong about the information in LETHAL. When actually, we are right.

Earthquakes are a real threat in Washington State, the most recent occurrence being in 1996. The potential for more happening in the future is there, because of existing, known fault lines.

Tornadoes are often also real threat in Washington State.  In 1972, Washington lead the country in tornado deaths. And in 1997, 6 tornadoes touched down in Washington state in a single day.

 April 5, 1972 – Washington’s Deadliest Tornado Outbreak

* An F3 tornado touched down in Vancouver

* 6 deaths and 300 injured, Washington led nation in tornado deaths that year

* Tornado swept through a grocery store, bowling alley, and grade school near where Vancouver Mall is today

* 50 million dollars in damage

* Later that day, another F3 tornado touched down west of Spokane

* And an F2 tornado struck rural Stevens county

* Numerous severe thunderstorms with large hail and damaging winds were reported over other areas of eastern Washington 

As for the Great White Shark in the woods, it’s likely the user is in a coastal forest, and when in a coastal area, we list the dangers that the oceans represent, as a general rule.

It’s frustrating that our app consistently gets bad reviews for having information that is accurate, but unexpected or against “common wisdom.” Oh well.

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Tornadoes kill 3 people in Missouri

By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER – 1 day ago

KIRKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Violent storms tore through four Midwestern states, killing three people in northern Missouri, damaging dozens of homes and leaving thousands without power.

Kirksville apparently took the hardest hit Wednesday night. Police Detective Sgt. Ron Celian said about 30 to 40 homes were damaged, one was destroyed and an auto dealership sustained significant damage.

Lynne Sanders told the Kirksville Daily Express she took shelter in a bathtub while a tornado flipped one of her sheds, destroyed another and sucked up a barn while leaving the horses inside.

“It was just awful, simply awful,” she said. “The whole house was just rocking.”

Sullivan County Emergency Management director Rick Gardner said a woman was killed Wednesday night when what appeared to be a tornado struck a mobile home east of Milan in Sullivan County.

Two other people died in neighboring Adair County, said communications operator Tammy Babcock of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. She called all three deaths are tornado-related.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Brent Bernhardt said the Adair County sheriff flew over the area to inspect the damage and said in some places the tornado was only 500 feet wide.

“It was not wide,” Bernhardt said. “It would be on the ground and then come back up and be on the ground again.”

In Caddo County in southwest Oklahoma, a possible tornado damaged homes and businesses in Gracemont and Anadarko, authorities said.

Dozens of inmates were evacuated from the Caddo County jail because of a gas line break, said Caddo County Emergency Management Director Larry McDuffey.

In northeast Oklahoma, a 100 mph wind gust was recorded west of the Bartlesville airport in Washington County, authorities said. The high winds downed trees and power lines, with 8,000 power outages reported at one point.

Central Indiana saw wind gusts of up to 60 mph and street flooding was reported in Vincennes, Linton and Rockville, authorities said. Utilities reported 8,000 were without power in and around Indianapolis early Thursday.

In Illinois, a range of windy storms dumped as much as 3 inches of rain within 50 minutes. National Weather Service meteorologist Ed Shimon called the accumulation “unbelievable,” comparing it to heavy rainfall in the tropics.

The storm was continuing in southern Illinois early Thursday, with lightning, heavy rain and strong wind gusts, Shimon said.

The latest storms come less than a week after another batch of severe weather, including at least a dozen confirmed tornadoes, ravaged parts of southern Missouri. Those storms killed four people and damaged or destroyed several hundred homes.

Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth and Andale Gross in Kansas City and Rochelle Hines in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

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Storms leave many in the dark in city, suburbs

 

May 13, 2009 

FROM STNG WIRE REPORTS

Storms that moved through Cook County and most of northeastern Illinois Wednesday night left about 7,500 people without power in Chicago and suburbs.

As of 11 p.m., 4,900 Chicago Commonwealth Edison customers were without power, ComEd spokesman Peter Pedraza said. The South Side of the city was most affected by the outages, he said.

“Crews are working to insure safe restoration of power for our customers,” Pedraza said. “We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Customers in west suburban Elmhurst were also hit hard by the storms. Pedraza said 2,600 customers were without power in the suburb.

A storm system that developed across eastern Iowa Wednesday afternoon moved into the area about 10 p.m. Wednesday evening, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a tornado watch.

The watch, which was issued for Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, McHenry, Kane and more than two dozen other Illinois counties Wednesday afternoon, expired at 11 p.m., but the NWS said a severe thunderstorm watch remains in effect until 4 a.m. Thursday.

“These thunderstorms may become severe as they move across northern Illinois and northwest Indiana,” the weather service said.

The storms moving through the area brought strong winds, hail, heavy down pours, lightning and thunder.

Flooding could also occur in some areas and one to two inches of precipitation is predicted.

Most of the storms will occur before 1 a.m., according to the weather service.

Thursday is expected to by dry and sunny, with a high near 67 degrees.

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Woman, 83, dies in mobile home as tornado strikes northeast Missouri

By MEREDITH RODRIGUEZ

The Kansas City Star

Missouri officials say one person was killed this evening in the northeastern part of the state as violent weather, including a tornado, struck the area.

The victim was an 83-year-old woman. She was killed in her mobile home near Milan in Sullivan County.

More severe damage happened near and in the northern part of Kirksville. Three people were moderately injured when a gust of wind overturned their car, pinning them inside. Other people were trapped in their basements, according to Susie Stonner of the State Emergency Management Agency. Flash-flooding and various minor injuries were also reported.

Thirty to 40 homes were damaged in the Bob White area of Kirksville, city police said. At a car dealership, windows shattered, vehicles were damaged and a gas leak was reported.

No damage or injuries were reported at Truman State University.

U.S. 63 reopened before 10 p.m. after a gas-line leak and downed power lines caused it to close.

More minor damage was reported elsewhere. To the east in Knox County, two miles north of Edina, trees and power poles snapped across Missouri 15. Damage to structures also was reported in that area.

One shelter opened at a church in Kirksville. A Highway Patrol Command center was also opened in Knox County south of the Kirksville-Edina area, Stonner said.

Storms had mostly cleared from the Kansas City area by 8 p.m. A watch over Cass County is expected to expire by 11 p.m.

Continued severe storms were expected all night, according to Andy Bailey of the National Weather Service. The cold front causing them is expected to move from the northeast to the southeast part of the state.

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Expert advice on how to survive dangerous encounters with nature can be so inconsistent. Should we run or face a mountain lion? Apparently it’s a crapshoot! And now, we’re being told – by the Red Cross – that you should stay in the car during a tornado. Before we were being advised to find a ditch and lie in it. And actually, the National Weather Service still stands by that older recommendation.

Stay in the car or get out when near a tornado

(5/10/09) By Jeniffer Berry – Tornado rules usually tell us when we are in a car and near a tornado we should leave our vehicle and lie flat in a ditch.

The American Red Cross is now changing that recommendation.

Red Cross officials said it is actually safer to stay in your vehicle during a tornado.

The National Weather Service is not so sure that is the best thing to do.

They are still recommending people leave their cars and find a ditch if they are out in the open during a tornado.

“The reason why we tell people to go to a ditch and lay flat down is that it offers some protection against the flying debris. When a home is damaged when a car becomes air born all those things leave the ground and are flying. If you are standing or in a vehicle you are more apt to be struck by debris than if you are lying flat,” said Brian Hirsch, National Weather Service.

Hirsch said the National Weather Service and the Red Cross both agree the best case scenario is for people to be aware of approaching severe weather.

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Fairly rare.

Tornado confirmed in Vermont Associated Press  WASHINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A tornado touched down in central Vermont Saturday afternoon, ripping the roof off an apartment building, according to National Weather Service investigators. The storm tore a half-mile path through Washington, Vt., tearing the roof off the two-story building, knocking over a metal barn and snapping trees. There were no reports of injuries. The building’s owner told the Rutland Herald that all but one family had found temporary housing with family or friends by Saturday night. According to Weather Services investigators, multiple eyewitnesses observed the tornado. Their descriptions and observations of the debris pattern support the conclusion that a tornado touched down. The Weather Service estimated winds ranged from 90 to 100 miles an hour. Tornadoes are relatively rare in Vermont. On average 1 tornado is reported every two years. A tornado in May is an even rarer event. According to the Weather Service, a quick search of tornado records for the state reveals that this is the 2nd earliest confirmed tornado there since 1950.

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I am amazed at how common tornadoes actually are.

UPDATE 13 tornadoes confirmed in the Ozarks from Friday’s storms

SPRINGFIELD — The National Weather Service confirms 13 tornadoes swept through the Ozarks as of Saturday evening.

EF0 (2):

Ebenezer, southeast of Mountain Grove in Texas County

EF1 (7):

Willard, Republic, Fordland, Garrison, north of Peace Valley in Howell County, north of Ava, near Mount Zion.

EF2 (3):

Lebanon, Good Hope and Charity

EF3 (1):

Pamona

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NWS confirms 2 tornado touchdowns in E. Tenn.

MORRISTOWN (WATE) — The National Weather Service in Morristown has confirmed that two tornadoes touched down in East Tennessee during severe storms on Friday, May 8. 

The first was in Scott County, five miles south of Huntsville near the Fairview community. 

The EF-2 tornado produced 135 mph winds, uprooting trees and causing a cell phone tower to collapse.

The second confirmed EF-2 tornado was in Claiborne County, near 192 Cole Road in New Tazewell.

That tornado produced 110 mph winds and touched down at the top of a hill and hit one home, taking off its roof and one side of the house. It also destroyed two barns across the street. 

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Gov. declares emergency after tornado kills 2

RICHMOND, Ky. — Gov. Steve Beshear declared a state of emergency Saturday after a tornado killed two people in central Kentucky and flooding sent hundreds scrambling for dry land in the eastern part of the state.

On Friday, an EF2 tornado with winds of 120 mph struck the Kirksville community of Richmond, about 20 miles south-southeast of Lexington, National Weather Service Meteorologist Nathan Foster said.

Glenda Charbonnel, 42, and Shawn Yarber, 35, were found dead in a pond near a mobile home community, Madison County emergency management spokeswoman Roma Pedeau said. Witnesses told authorities they were leaving a trailer when it “exploded.”

Michael Bryant, assistant deputy emergency management director for Madison County, said at least eight other people were injured. About 150 homes are damaged and destroyed, he said.

Madison County, the city of Richmond and some 13 other counties have declared states of emergency, said Buddy Rogers, spokesman for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management. Such declarations allow local governments to spend money on storm-related expenses and ask the state for help.

More than 40 Kentucky National Guard troops were deployed to Madison County to assist with traffic control and security. Sixty troops are conducting door-to-door wellness checks and evacuation missions after floods in Breathitt, Knott, Foyd, Pike and Owsley counties. The guardsmen, many of whom returned from Afghanistan in March, will be on duty for disaster relief until Monday, according to a news release.

“We are prepared to use every available resource to help our officials and our people make it through these rough conditions, whatever may come,” Beshear said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family who lost their loved one and to those who were injured.”

Many counties also reported trees down, hail and high winds throughout the late afternoon and evening as the storms swept across the state. Heavy rainfall during the night caused streams to overflow their embankments. Mudslides and downed trees have roads blocked in several counties.

Pike County Emergency Manager Bud Tackett told The Herald-Leader there is extensive flooding that has damaged homes, roads and water lines.

Pikeville had about 30 mudslides overnight, and Ky. 1460 was impassable, City Manager Donovan Blackburn said.

The state transportation department has sent engineers to Floyd, Breathitt, Owsley and Pike counties to assess road damage caused by flooding, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife has sent boats to Pike County and a few other areas to assist with evacuating residents stranded by high water, Rogers said.

“In a lot of these areas they don’t have time to do damage assessment because they are still in response mode and trying to get people from high water,” he said.

In Louisville, Churchill Downs suspended the last five races of the day due to heavy showers and thunderstorms, saying in a news release it was just the third cancellation of its kind in the last 19 years. The last time the track canceled races was May 30, 2004, due to tornado warnings, said track spokesman John Asher.