A tornado has killed at least five people in Ohio after touching down in Wood County overnight.

Among the dead is a 4-year-old child in Millbury, Ohio, as well as a man who was found dead in the street there, CNN reports. Two adults in a van were also killed in Lake Township.

The deaths were caused by a severe storm system that also injured at least 11 people in Michigan, where storms also shut down a nuclear power plant, according to CNN. The storm also ripped through Illinois and other parts of the Midwest.

Tornadoes have already killed several people across the country this year. This past spring, tornadoes tore through Mississippi and Louisiana, killing at least 10 people. Read more here on Indyposted.

via Ohio Tornado Death Toll Reaches 5 – IndyPosted.

Link

The tornado fatality that occurred in Washington County on Friday, October 9th was the first death from a tornado in Mississippi in 4 years or since 2005.

Sixty year-old Sarah Smith was killed when a EF-1 tornado with winds near 110 mph flipped her mobile home on its roof.

Smith died after suffering severe head trauma.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, the last tornado fatality during the month of October in Mississippi -was over 40 years ago in 1967. (Harrison County 1967)

---

This was also the first tornado death since May of this year across the country.

A total 22 tornado fatalities have occurred in the United States in 8 states, this year.

(Mississippi, Georgia, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky)

This is well below the 126 fatalities that occurred across the country in 2008 and the 3 year average of 91 tornado fatalities.

Link

Swimmer possibly attacked by alligator

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) – According to witnesses, an alligator attacked a swimmer in the Pearl River Sunday afternoon.

Fishermen at the scene said a man was swimming in the river near Laurel Street in the Belhaven Area of Jackson.

Police said the 24-year-old was with a group of friends from Clinton.

Witnesses said he unknowingly swam toward an alligator then went under the water.

The search began around three o’clock.

Rescue crews from the Jackson and Pearl Fire Departments called off the search at night fall.

Friends say they looked for the Hinds Community College student when they discovered him missing.

“By the time we got to where we had last seen him some fishermen told us that they saw him go under water and he never came back up,” said friend Brandon Johnson.

“We have fishermen who where on the bank who told us that they have seen gators in this little stretch of the river sometime this afternoon; however, it’s just too early to speculate what may have happened to the missing individual,” said Jackson Police Dept. Lt. Jeffery Scott.

Police have not released the man’s name and said the search will resume Monday morning.

According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks web site, Mississippi has never documented an alligator attack.

Link

Yazoo lightning strike victim dies

An 18-year-old Job Corps cadet struck by lightning Saturday near Yazoo City has died.

Yazoo County Coroner Ricky Shivers said Andrew Williams never regained conscious and died Monday of injuries from the lightning strike.

Shivers said Williams has an address in Crystal Springs, but was a resident of Florida.

Shivers said Williams and two other youths were at the edge of a cornfield about eight miles southwest of Yazoo City at about 2:20 p.m. when lightning struck.

Williams was in water and the other two youths were at the edge of the muddy field, Shivers said.

After Williams was struck by lightning, one of the other youths ran about a quarter-mile when she came upon her father who was looking for the trio. The father notified his wife and they went the scene. They found Williams without a pulse and unresponsive.

The woman began CPR and continued until paramedics arrived. Williams was brought to Yazoo City and then airlifted to the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Link

Teens Struck By Lightning

Yazoo County Sheriff’s Deputies say the teens were in a field on Eagle Bend Road, near Highway 3.

By Nichole Cyprian

Story Created: May 16, 2009 at 5:18 PM CDT

Story Updated: May 17, 2009 at 5:33 PM CDT 

Three teens are in the hospital tonight after they were struck by lightning in a field in Yazoo County. 

Yazoo County Sheriff’s Deputies say the teens were in a field on Eagle Bend Road, near Highway 3.  Officials say one of the teens had to be revived and was air-lifted to University Medical Center in Jackson. 

The other two teens were taken to King’s Daughter hospital in Yazoo County with minor injuries.  The names of the teens have not been released.

Click here for lightning facts from National Geographic.

Link

Woman Killed in Mississippi Tornado

Reported by: RNS Newsroom Solutions

Monday, May 4, 2009 @08:40am CST

A tornado that tore through Laurel, Mississippi claimed one life there Sunday. 

The National Weather Service says a woman died when an uprooted tree slammed onto her mobile home. 

Laurel is in Jones County, Mississippi, in the southeast part of the state. 

Severe thunderstorms and twisters swept through the Deep South from southern Arkansas and Louisiana up and across into the Carolinas.

Heavy rain caused flash flooding in Tennessee and through much of the Tennessee River Valley.

Link

The article says that 25 people were rescued from rip currents in Florida on Sunday alone. Unbelievable.

Search for missing surfer suspended off Navarre

Teen went missing Sunday off Navarre

Troy Moon
tmoon@pnj.com

The U.S. Coast Guard suspended a search for a surfer Sunday afternoon, 18 hours after the teenager went missing Saturday evening near the Navarre Beach Pier.

Coast Guard spokesman Steve Lewallen said the search was suspended about 1 p.m. Sunday. He said 17-year-old John Stevens of Mississippi was reported missing about 6:45 p.m. Saturday, and the Coast Guard was notified about 9:35 p.m. The search will continue only if there are further developments, Lewallen said.

Dangerous rip currents have hampered activity at area beaches all weekend. On Friday, a Robertsdale, Ala., man drowned when he was caught in a rip current off Perdido Key.

On Sunday, three adults were transported to Gulf Breeze Hospital by Escambia County EMS after being pulled from the rough surf about 4:15 p.m., just east of the Portofino Island Resort. Their conditions were not known Sunday evening, but Dave Greenwood, water safety supervisor at Pensacola Beach, said all three people — two men and a woman — were breathing on their own as they were transported to the hospital.

Greenwood said four people — two couples — were reported to be in distress, but when emergency personnel arrived, one of the women had managed to make it to shore. Beach lifeguards, bystanders and rescue workers from Escambia County Fire Rescue pulled the three people from the water.

“One of the rescue people was out there on a Jet Ski trying to help them, and it hit a swell so hard that it did a back flip,” said Tim Gorrell, 20, a University of West Florida student who was at the beach with friends during the rescues. “I was worried about their safety as much as the people they went to rescue.”

Lifeguards rescued more than 25 people from dangerous surf Saturday on Pensacola Beach, and six more — including the three who were hospitalized — on Sunday.

There were 18 lifeguards on duty across Pensacola Beach on Sunday, Greenwood said.

Everyone who visited Pensacola Beach on Saturday and Sunday knew of the risks, said Bob West, Pensacola Beach public safety director.

West said beachgoers were given surf and rip-tide information at the toll both as they entered Pensacola Beach, and large red flags signaling dangerous surf and numerous signs telling people to stay our of the water were conspicuous across Santa Rosa Island.

“We even have trucks driving down the beach telling people ‘Don’t go in the Gulf,’ ” West said. “And what do people do? They go in the Gulf. All the things we do, and they still almost drown. The reality is this: On red flag days, you can’t get in the Gulf.”

Greenwood said he talked to one of the men who had to be hospitalized.

“He said he got the safety flier and knew what a red flag is,” Greenwood said. “But he didn’t think they were out that far.”

Lewallen said the search for Stevens went through the night Saturday until it was suspended Sunday afternoon. He said Coast Guard units from Pensacola and Destin used boats and helicopters to search for the teenager. The search was concentrated on about 10 miles of coastline and as far out as two miles from shore.

Link

Levees can’t save New Orleans from floods: report

Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:44pm EDT

By Chris Baltimore

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Bigger, higher and stronger levees cannot save New Orleans from the worst floods and the city remains vulnerable to a repeat of Hurricane Katrina, the National Academy of Sciences said on Friday.

New Orleans had the flood protection of a 350-mile network of levees, I-walls and T-walls ringing the city when Hurricane Katrina slammed ashore on August 29, 2005. The levees broke, flooding 80 percent of the city.

The hurricane killed about 1,500 people along the U.S. Gulf Coast and caused $80 billion in damages, making it the costliest U.S. natural disaster.

As Katrina demonstrated, “the risks of inundation and flooding never can be fully eliminated by protective structures no matter how large or sturdy those structures may be,” said the report by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council.

“Substantial risks” of living in flood-prone areas were never clearly communicated to residents before Katrina, it said, and simply rebuilding New Orleans and its hurricane-protection system back to pre-Katrina levels would leave the city vulnerable to another flooding disaster.

The first floor of buildings in flood-prone parts of the city should be raised at least to the 100-year flood level, which the report called a “crucial flood insurance standard.” But for heavily populated cities like New Orleans, that standard is inadequate, said the report, part of a five-part study by the academies in the wake of Katrina.

The 100-year standard basically stipulates protection based on the assumed worst damage of the worst flood in the last 100 years. It determines insurance rates for the National Flood Insurance Program administered by the federal government.

But structures in New Orleans’ most flood-prone areas have a 26 percent chance of flooding over the term of a 30-year mortgage, and the 100-year standard is “far too risky” to rely on, the report said.

Authorities should discourage settlement in flood-prone areas and encourage voluntary relocation away from them, the report said. They should also shore up electricity supplies that are key to running giant pumps that route floodwaters away from the city, the report said.

Large portions of New Orleans are below sea level, which makes it vulnerable to floods and storm surges from hurricanes. Located at the mouth of the Mississippi River delta, New Orleans is in close proximity to Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne.

The city’s levee system was tested again in September 2008, when a surge from Hurricane Gustav nearly overtopped a protective T-wall along New Orleans’ Inner Navigation Canal.

Link

Snakes Alive! Watch Where You’re Walking!

Snake Expert Explains Which Snakes Are Harmful, Which Aren’t

JACKSON, Miss. – There have been reports recently of snakes popping up all across Mississippi.

 

Just this week, several snakes were found in a Hattiesburg middle school. One even bit a teacher. 

Snake expert Terry Vandeventer explained that people don’t have to look very far in Mississippi to find snakes. 

Terry Vandeventer found this snake hiding under some old tin.

 

There’s no such thing as a snake repellent, Vandeventer said. Mothballs and commercial repellants don’t repel snakes. So homeowners should keep areas mowed and clean. 

Along the edge of a building that hasn’t been mowed is a good place for rats and mice, which also makes it a good place for snakes to pursue their favorite foods. Snakes are good because they destroy rats and mice, but they’re a nuisance around the house where there’s children and pets. 

“If I’m available, I’ll go remove a snake,” Vandeventer said. “I don’t charge for it or anything like that, but I would rather take away and release it where it would do some good than have it killed. I’m not snake busters.” 

Roofing materials, which Vandeventer said he calls “Katrina Tin,” that have been blown off old buildings are prime hiding places for snakes. In fact, Vandeventer found a copperhead under some roofing material with 16 WAPT cameras rolling. 

This copperhead was found hiding under old tin in Terry.

 

“Now, that is not a deadly snake, but he will ruin your day,” he said. “This is a snake found in urban areas.” 

Vandeventer said copperheads are potentially dangerous because they are venomous and they bite a fair number of people in Mississippi, but they are not considered a lethal species. In other words, he said, copperheads rarely, if ever, cause a human fatality. 

However, Vandeventer said, there have been some very close calls in the U.S. 

“It’s an animal that’s secretive, that wants to be left alone,” he said. “But when people seem them, they always make an effort to kill them. And as a result, we have a lot of bites in Mississippi from copperheads.” 

He also found a bigger snake, which was a chicken or rat snake. Both snakes were found near rodent burrow holes. 

The timber rattlesnake was once common in Mississippi, but is now rare.

 

Vandeventer showed 16 WAPT News a timber rattlesnake, or a kind brake rattlesnake. 

“This is a snake that was once common in Mississippi but is now somewhat rare,” he said. “They’ve been destroyed on a wholesale manner. This is the snake that was on the first American flag — don’t tread on me, the timber rattlesnake.” 

The Mississippi corn snake is often mistaken for the venomous copperhead and killed. In the end, Vandeventer said, the best idea is to use common sense and leave snakes alone.

Link

Hub City school expels 3 snakes

Officials taking precautions after teacher bitten

BRITTANY BROWN • HATTIESBURG AMERICAN • APRIL 15, 2009

HATTIESBURG — A baby snake bit an N.R. Burger Middle School teacher in her classroom, and others were found in the building two more times earlier this month.

Jas N Smith, Hattiesburg Public School District spokesman, said a baby snake was found in a classroom, a second inside a desk and a third in the school’s office. All the discoveries occurred around the first of April.

Smith said the teacher was bitten while trying to ease the snake out of her classroom with a pencil.

“The teacher was taken to the emergency room, treated and released,” said Smith, who added the teacher’s name is not being released. “She’s back at school and doing just fine.”

Dunagin Pest Control in Hattiesburg, he said, removed the snakes and inspected the campus, spraying chemicals to kill mice and insects, both part of a snake’s diet.

“The snakes were so young and small, they weren’t sure what species they were,” said Smith, who added no adult snakes or eggs were found in the school. “They’re not totally sure how the snakes got inside.”

Smith said maintenance workers have replaced a few door jams and patched small openings along the building’s exterior. As a precaution, he said, brush will be cleared from the school’s exterior.

Smith said a letter explaining the incidents will be sent home to parents.

“We’re staying on top of it,” he said. “We definitely don’t want this to happen again.”

But that might not be possible at this time of year.

“They’re starting to come out full force,” said Cody Dunnam, a herpetologist who founded Scales and Tails Inc., a free reptile rescue operation in Lumberton.

Dunnam, who has worked with snakes for the past nine years, urges Pine Belt residents to be on the lookout for reptiles.

“Snakes are cold-blooded and this continuous warm weather we’ve been having brings them out to warm up their bodies,” he said. “And anywhere you have mice or frogs, you’re going to attract snakes because that’s their basic diet.”

The Pine Belt is home to a variety of snakes including Texas rat snakes, black racers, copperheads, diamondback rattlers, cottonmouths and speckled king snakes, Dunnam said.

Mississippi has nine poisonous species: the eastern diamondback, coral snake, timber rattlesnake and two species each of copperheads, cotton mouths and pigmy snakes.

“If you see a snake, the best thing to do is to just leave it alone,” Dunnam advises.

Link

MDOT to use Twitter during hurricane season

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS • APRIL 15, 2009

JACKSON — Too busy fleeing from a hurricane to decide which evacuation route to take in Mississippi? You may want to check your cell phone or laptop for a tweet.

 

The Mississippi Department of Transportation will use the micro-blogging platform Twitter.com to relay information to evacuees during the upcoming hurricane season. Twitter allows users to post 140 characters that can be viewed by anyone with Internet access.

The tweets — Twitter posts — can be sent or received on either a computer or cell phone.

 

MDOT has created six separate Twitter feeds to provide route-specific traffic information to evacuees traveling on Interstates 10, 20, 55, 59 and U.S. Highways 49 and 98.

Link

Tornadoes hit Holiday, Land O’Lakes; watch remains for Tampa Bay

Tornadoes were spotted in the Trinity Oaks subdivision 4 miles east of Holiday and just north of State Road 54 and U.S. 41 in Land O’Lakes, according to the National Weather Service. The tornadoes are part of a fierce front sweeping through Tampa Bay, bringing hail and wind gusts of 60 mph.

No injuries were reported in Trinity, but damage was widespread. Trees were uprooted, and roof tiles littered Middlesex and Davenport streets in the Wyntree subdivision. A bit further north, power lines fell along Ridge Road in New Port Richey, and some traffic signals were out. Across Pasco County, emergency crews were responding to similar reports of damage and power loss in the Land O’Lakes area. The traffic signals at the busy intersection of I-75 and SR 56 were out at 10 a.m.

The NWS reported a strong rotation on Doppler radar near Dunedin but has received no reports of damage. All tornado warnings for the Tampa Bay area have been dropped.

Tampa Fire Rescue has reported four car accidents and a number of blown transformers due to heavy rain and wind. Crews are on the way to restore power to four stoplights on Florida Avenue and Busch Boulevard. Drivers are crossing the intersection at random, increasing the potential for an accident, responders said.

 

Trees and power lines are reportedly down in north Tarpon Springs, and pea-sized hail was reported in the Citrus Park area.

The morning tornando warning was issued because a storm system moving across the upper Mississippi River Valley and Great Lakes with a cold front extending south from it is about to meet warm, moist air in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.

When the fronts meet, the cold front provides the “lifting mechanism” and changing wind directions that can breed tornadoes. The front should push through by mid afternoon.

Otherwise, there is a 60 percent chance of precipitation today, with thunderstorms most likely after 2 p.m. Highs will reach near 79 degrees with southwest winds between 13 and 23 mph. According to the NWS, rainfall amounts between 0.5 and 0.75 of an inch are possible.

Lows should drop to the high 60s tonight with rain chances diminishing.

Link

Largest project to study tornadoes to start in May

In what’s described as “the largest attempt in history to study tornadoes,” more than 50 scientists are preparing to hit the road next month to explore the origin, structure and evolution of the killer storms, the National Science Foundation says.

From May 10 to June 13, scientists will focus on the central Great Plains — southern South Dakota, western Iowa, eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma.

The project, called VORTEX2 — Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment — involves 40 research vehicles, including 10 mobile radars.

This year’s tornado season has been punishing. Today, severe weather swept across much of the South, killing at least two people, toppling trees and cutting power to tens of thousands of homes. More than 92,400 customers still did not have power this afternoon after a strong thunderstorm blew across Alabama, spawning an apparent tornado and wrecking a yacht marina near the Mississippi line. Most of the Florida Panhandle and areas east and southeast of Tallahassee have been under tornado watches or warnings most of the day.

A twister Friday killed a woman and her infant daughter and damaged 500 buildings in Tennessee.

Late Thursday a tornado killed three people in Arkansas.

Link

Much of state under tornado watch

Lightning strikes Madison Co. home

By Nicklaus Lovelady
nicklaus.lovelady@jackson.gannett.com

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for all of central and southern Mississippi until 9 p.m. The advisory includes Hinds, Rankin and Madison counties.

Severe weather is moving across the state from Louisiana and is responsible for quarter- and half dollar-sized hail in the Delta and Sunflower County, meteorologist Joanne Culin said.

“It’s packing a lot of lightning, wind gusts and hail,” she said.

Madison County Emergency Management Coordinator Butch Hammack said lightning struck a home on Cox Ferry Road. No injuries were reported.

Rain chances will remain in the forecast for the Jackson area until about 4 a.m., Culin said.

Monday is expected to be clear until the evening hours when a low pressure system from the Texas Panhandle will bring another round of thunderstorms, Culin said.

Link

Storms likely Monday, chance of tornadoes

Strong to severe thunderstorms will threaten West Tennessee again through Monday and into the night.

The National Weather Service office in Memphis predicts a slight chance for severe thunderstorms throughout the Midsouth on Monday as a cold front moves through the area.

Damaging winds, large hail and isolated tornadoes are possible with these storms, with the greatest likelihood concentrated along and east of the Mississippi River.

Monday’s high temperature in Jackson is predicted to reach about 74, with a 70 percent chance of rain. The chance of rain drops to about 60 percent Monday night, with a low of 48.

Tuesday is expected to be mostly cloudy and cooler, with a higher near 60 and a low of 45 degrees Tuesday night.

Wednesday should be sunny and warmer, with temperatures in the high 60s.

The next chance of rain is expected to arrive around Saturday, according to The Weather Channel’s 10-day forecast.

Link

Significant Tornadoes expected in Louisiana on Easter Sunday

April 12, 1:27 AM

Saturday’s storms were finally limited to a small area, and better yet there were no tornado reports! There were just a handful of hail and wind reports, which is a nice change since the previous two days both had deadly tornadoes.

Unfortunately Sunday may be back into the tornado-realm of things, with ongoing convection turning into redevelopment in the afternoon hours over parts of eastern and southeastern Texas and all of Louisiana. This is the area that should see the most significant coverage of severe storms–and tornadoes. In fact, the Storm Prediction Center has southern Louisiana under a Moderate Risk for severe weather on Sunday. They also outline a larger area for a slight risk for severe storms across all of Eastern Texas, Southern Oklahoma eastward through Southern Arkansas and Mississippi.

On the map I have outlined the SPC’s severe risk areas as well as the area I’m most focused in on. Note that in Southwestern Louisiana the SPC’s Moderate Risk area overlaps with my interest area. Therefore, the threat seems most significant in that area by consensus. Here is where significant tornadoes may be possible in the late afternoon hours.

For storm chasers, the areas farther north into Arkansas and Oklahoma seem less appealing to me. Moisture and moisture depth will be significantly lacking, however very cold mid levels may be able to compensate for the lack of moisture. With good instability in these areas there could be some storms, and that must be what the SPC is homing in on in those areas.

Link

It’s the season when bears emerge from hibernation and gators get active. Add snakes to the list, too. Watch yourselves out there, folks.

Snakes Active in Spring   Lauderdale County, Miss. This is the time of year snakes come out of hibernation. Dr. Jarrod Fogarty, a biology instructor at MSU Meridian, says many people are afraid of all snakes. But he says of the fifty varieties in Mississippi, only eight are actually venomous. “One of the most important things is if you don’t know how to identify snakes, just stay away from them,” Fogarty said. “Don’t try to handle them. That’s one of the mistakes a lot of people make.” Fogarty said keeping your grass cut and removing things like fallen limbs in your yard are good ideas, because snakes like to hide there.

Link

Even though people think earthquakes only occur on the West Coast, they have and will occur in other parts of the United States.

Earthquakes In The Midwestern and Eastern United States?!

Most people think that earthquakes occur only in places like California, Alaska, and Japan. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Several major and numerous minor earthquakes have occurred in the midwestern and eastern United States, as well as eastern Canada. Some of the earthquakes that have caused notable damage in these areas are listed below.

• 1663 & 1870, St. Lawrence River region, Canada
• 1755, Boston/Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Earthquake estimated to be magnitude 6.0; buildings damaged.
• 1811 & 1812 – New Madrid, Missouri, experienced the three largest earthquakes known to have occurred in North America (magnitudes estimated between 7.2 and 8.3) and 203 damaging aftershocks. Soil liquefaction occurred.
• 1886, Charleston, South Carolina. Estimated magnitude 6.8. Soil liquefaction occurred. Extensive damage; 60 people or more died. Over 400 aftershocks over the next 30 years.
• 1895, Charleston, Missouri
• 1897, Giles County, Virginia
• 1884, New York City area
• 1931 — Valentine, Texas, had a magnitude 6.4 earthquake, the largest earthquake to hit Texas in historic times.
• 1935, Timiskaming, Ontario (Canada)
• 1947 — Michigan experienced a magnitude 4.4 earthquake.
• 1979 & 1980 – New York State and the adjacent areas experienced 131 earthquakes of magnitude 1 to 5.
• 1980, 5 earthquakes recorded north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1980, Kentucky shaken by a magnitude 5.1 earthquake.
• 1982 — New Brunswick, Canada, had a magnitude 5.7 earthquake.
• 1982 — Arkansas earthquake swarm starts. Eighty-eight earthquakes between June 24 and July 5, 1982. Four earthquakes with magnitudes of 4.0 to 4.5 during first 3 months of swarm. Total of about 40,000 earthquakes in the area (most very small or not felt) between 1982 and 1985.
• 1983 – Lake Charles, Louisiana, experienced a magnitude 3.8 earthquake.
• 1983 — Indiana had a magnitude 5.9 earthquake.
• 1986 — Painesville, Ohio, experienced a magnitude 4.9 earthquake and several aftershocks. The earthquake was felt in 11 states.
• 1987 — Southeastern Illinois experienced a magnitude 5.2 earthquake. This area has had 7 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or greater since 1892.

You probably noticed that in the list above, the magnitudes of earthquakes that took place in the 1800′s are described as “estimated.” This is because these earthquake events took place before the Richter magnitude scale was put in place. The approximation is made by a study of accounts of the earthquake which are correlated with the damage described in theMercalli intensity scale, which, as you may recall, allows a classification of an earthquake’s magnitude by ordinary people (not just seismologists). The descriptions may come even from personal correspondance of average citizens and include telling details about the damage the earthquake caused.

Over 900,000 earthquakes occur worldwide each year. Fortunately, the vast majority of them are magnitude 2.5 or less, and great earthquakes (magnitude 8.0 or more) only happen about once every 5 to 10 years. Most of these great quakes occur along the plate boundaries, not in the eastern and midwestern U.S.

A few areas of the midwestern and eastern United States are more prone to earthquakes than others. The most earthquake-prone areas include Charleston, South Carolina, eastern Massachusetts, the St. Lawrence River area, and the central Mississippi River Valley. Others sections of this part of the country are prone to earthquakes, but can expect fewer quakes of smaller magnitude. Below is a map showing the risk of damage by earthquakes for the continental United States.

FIGURE 1 (MODIFIED FROM STEARNS & MILLER, 1977)

The central Mississippi River Valley and the Charleston, South Carolina, are more prone to damage during earthquakes than the northern part of the country. These areas have sandy soils that shake more than solid rock, resulting in damage from subsidence during an earthquake. The high water tables along the Mississippi and near the coast also increase the risk of soil liquefaction during strong earthquakes.

Link

Tornado touches down in Jackson County

By Ken Bonner
The Daily Sentinel

Published April 10, 2009

It was a tornado.

That word came through loud and clear from rural parts of Jackson, Marshall and DeKalb County late Friday after a strong storm system moved through the area at mid-afternoon even thoght there had been no confirmation from the National Weather Service. Tornado warnings were in effect and warning sirens had gone off all across the area prior to the storm’s arrival.

In Section at least two people were transported by ambulance to Highlands Medical Center in Scottsboro with what were described as non-life threatening injuries.

The Good Friday storm first struck in the Preston Island Community in northern Marshall County. It made its way across the Tennessee River before striking in the Langston area of southeastern Jackson County. From there the storm hop-scotched across Sand Mountain striking near Macedonia, in areas outlying Section before making its way through Powell in DeKalb County just east of Northeast Alabama Community College.

Ernest Fernandez, 19, and Ivan Garcia, 13, whose home on County Road 430 in Jackson County was totally destroyed, were transported for medical treatment by Highlands Medical Center Ambulance.

“The wind blew too hard,” Thomas Fernadez,Jr. said. “We were about to leave when we heard it coming so we jumped on the couch and then everything was blown away.”

The Fernandez family’s mobile home was gone. Debris was scattered for hundreds of yards and a car that had been parked near the residence had been picked up and set back down approximately 30 feet away with no apparent damage, according to Fernandez. 

From there the tornado severely damaged a two-story wood frame home nearby. No one was at home when the storm hit but two horses still roamed about, seemingly unfazed, in an adjacent pasture less than an hour afterwards.

At least six people were in the home when the storm struck. Fernandez and his young sister, Anna, received minor injuries. Fernandez shoulder was hurt by flying debris and Anna had a cut on her hand.

“It blew everything away, Thomas Fernandez, Sr., said. “We’ve lost everything. What you see is what we’ve got.”

“It scared me,” Anna Fernandez, who sat quietly in the front seat of a nearby van, said. “It was loud.”

Kenneth Cisco and his family, who live on County Road 38, a mile or so from the Fernandez, were lucky too. Most of the roof was blown off the family’s single-story ranch style home and the majority of the windows were blown out. 

The family huddled in a closet during the storm. Their cattle and three dogs tied up outside were unharmed.

“It scared the heck out of me,” Melody Ellis said. “It didn’t last long. Boom – and it was over. We felt the whole house move.”

Ellis said the storm hit at 3:45 p.m.

Wilson and Loretta Thomas were in their home just down the road when the storm hit. Their two-story brick home withstood the storm well with moderate roof damage and broken windows. A barn style shed behind the home that contained an office and a small living area was totally destroyed.

“I was cleaning the stove,” Loretta Wilson said. “I thought boy it’s windy. And it was hailing big.”

“Wilson said. ‘it’s a tornado’,” Loretta said. “So we already knew where we were going and got in a triple-walled stairwell going into the garage. It’s covered from above with another stairwell and is the safest place in the home.

“We could hear the scream. It hailed and knocked windows out, but we’re alive,” Loretta said.

“We’re safe,” Wilson said as friends and neighbors drove up to help clean up downed trees and scattered debris at the home.

In Scottsboro eight power poles along Alabama Highway 35 were downed as the storm, packing strong straight line winds, made its way through the city. Three of the poles fell on vehicles traveling the roadway but there were no reported injuries to any of the four people trapped inside.

The roadway was blocked for some time while emergency personnel set up barrel barriers to allow traffic to move in both directions.

It took power company and emergency personnel about 30 minutes to get the people safely out of their vehicles. Work crews remained on the scene into the early evening hours resetting poles and restoring power to the area.

South of Scottsboro, Preston Island was devastated, according to early reports from the scene. Alabama Highway 79 from Scottsboro to Guntersville was blocked in the area of Waterfront Grocery in Marshall County due to downed trees, which made it difficult for emergency personnel to reach the scene.

Reports indicated at least 20 homes were totally destroyed and many more severely damaged by the storm. There were no immediate reports of injuries on the island that is home to permanent residents as well as weekend and summer homes. But some people were unaccounted for and work crews were trying to clear roadways into the community as night fell.

Across the river at Langston major damage was reported at campgrounds in the area. One report indicated that at least 20 recreational vehicles had been tossed into the water at a resort area. Many more were damaged by falling trees and flying debris. There were no immediate reports of injuries. 

The storm was part of a large system that struck the southeast Friday. Tornadoes were reported in Mississippi,Tennessee and Kentucky as well as other parts of Alabama. Storms were also threatening Georgia into the early evening hours.

Early reports indicated at least two people were killed and 30 injured when a tornado hit downtown Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 25 miles southeast of Nashville, at about midday. The city, Tennessee’s fastest growing, is home to Middle Tennessee State University.

Link

Some ignore siren as tornado strikes Ark. hamlet

By JON GAMBRELL – 7 hours ago

MENA, Ark. (AP) — The sirens sounded three times across this western Arkansas hamlet, and residents watched several funnel clouds pass harmlessly over town. The fourth siren was for another twister that ended up being a killer.

While many took cover immediately Thursday night in the basement of the county courthouse, others stayed home, only to glance out their windows just in time to see the black funnel descend on the community just east of the Oklahoma line. At least three people were killed, at least 30 others injured and 600 homes were damaged or destroyed.

“This one popped out of nowhere,” said Polk County Sheriff Mike Oglesby.

The tornado was part of a line of storms that continued wreaking havoc in the South on Friday. The National Weather Service said a tornado destroyed two homes in southwestern Kentucky, and authorities near Nashville, Tenn., said multiple tornado touchdowns were reported.

As daylight broke Friday in Mena, pink insulation hung like cherry blossoms from the sheared branches of century-old maples. The roof of a two-story home sat atop the rubble that once was the floors beneath it, a set of women’s clothes still hanging from a suspended closet rack.

Oglesby said search-and-rescue teams had combed through the city’s downtown and a neighborhood just west that sustained the brunt of the storm without finding any other victims. The sheriff said he had no reports of anyone else missing in the city of 5,700 in the Ouachita Mountains.

An initial survey of the damage suggests the tornado packed winds of at least 136 mph, weather service forecaster John Robinson said Friday.

Basic tornado safety rules call for people, when warned, to go to the lowest floor in a building and put as many walls as possible between themselves and outside.

A warning was posted at 7:24 p.m. Thursday night for areas north of Mena and another one went up for the community at 8:01 p.m. — nine minutes before it hit. The reason for four separate sirens wasn’t immediately clear, but Robinson said some communities cannot run their sirens continuously because their motors will burn up.

“Everything was well-covered. We said everything was heading straight toward Mena. It’s unfortunate yet,” Robinson.

The twice-monthly meeting of the Mena’s chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star had been going on uninterrupted, the 19 people inside only faintly hearing the sirens through the building’s cinderblock walls, said attendee Thurman Allen.

“We heard the siren two or three times. It would sound off and it would quit,” said Allen, 79. “We were getting ready to get out of the building when it hit.”

The storm tore down the Masonic hall’s walls, collapsing the roof on one woman, killing her, Allen said. Allen was hit with debris and thrown to the floor. The wind bowled over his wife and others inside.

“We had several ladies who it took the shoes right off their feet,” said Fred Key, 37.

Others killed in the Mena storm were found in a collapsed house and in a front yard, said James Reeves, the county’s emergency coordinator. The identities of the two women and a man who died have not been released.

Some residents sought shelter in the Polk County Courthouse, where dispatchers became trapped immediately after the storm. A radio antenna fell over onto part of the beige brick building during the storm, damaging its roof.

Others, like Ken Butler, 40, said they initially dismissed the sirens. Butler could only huddle against a wall as the storm hit, his arms wrapped around an exposed gas pipe.

“The siren was going off in plenty of time, I just didn’t take it serious enough,” Butler said.

The storm plucked his neighbor’s shotgun-style home off its foundation and tossed it about 20 feet away. Across the street, neighbor Edward Cross, 69, said he and his wife Nettie, 66, also didn’t heed the sirens. Instead, he lifted the blinds of his back windows to look out toward the town’s middle school and the courthouse.

At that point, Cross said the “big black cloud” loomed right in front of him.

“I didn’t have time to go nowhere, I just grabbed a hold of the wall and held on,” Cross said. The storm tore away a quarter of their home’s roof.

The violent weather was part of a system that caused damage throughout the South and parts of the Midwest. As the storms moved east, hail and high winds were reported in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. Power was out in many parts of the region.

Southeast of Nashville in Rutherford County, a sheriff’s dispatcher said “multiple tornado touchdowns” were reported Friday in various parts of the county.

Brian Smith, general manager at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in the area along Interstate 24, said he saw a “pretty wide” tornado and that he “could see debris in the air from the rotation.”

A tornado Friday destroyed two homes and knocked down trees and power lines near the community of Mannington, Ky., in Christian County, weather service meteorologist Robin Smith said in Paducah. Smith said the storm also dumped hail, some as large as eggs, throughout Christian and Lyon counties.

The weather service said a woman was injured at Shreveport, La., when a tree fell onto her car during a tornado. Twisters also damaged homes east of Vinita and near Muse in Oklahoma and at Crossett in far southern Arkansas, near the Louisiana line.

Mena’s storm destroyed a city plant that makes gaskets for air conditioners and an ice manufacturer. Small business owners swept up glass from their sidewalks in the downtown in a city known for its remodeled homes from the 1800s and century-old trees, said Prosecutor Tim Williamson.

The town once looked “pastoral,” Williamson said. “It’s not anymore.”

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Link

Tornado wallops Ark. town; 3 killed, dozens hurt

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writer

MENA, Ark. – Authorities began a house-to-house search Friday to check on residents after a tornado struck a “direct hit” on this mountain community, killing at least three people, injuring at least 30 others and flattening homes and businesses.

The twister descended quickly on Mena shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday after a series of siren blasts warned residents of tornadoes in the area.

Daylight exposed a community ripped apart. Century-old pecan trees leaned into homes — some with pink insulation strung from their limbs. Along some streets, roofs had collapsed into homes. On other streets, roofs were simply gone.

“It just looks like a war zone,” Mayor George McKee said.

Thurman Allen, 79, said his charitable group, the Order of the Eastern Star, had just sat down for its twice-monthly meeting at the Masonic lodge when the last siren sounded. Before the 19 attendees could take cover, the tornado peeled away the roof with winds so strong that some women had their shoes ripped off their feet.

“I was down on the floor — I just flattened,” Allen said.

One woman was killed by falling debris — her body recovered after emergency workers cut part of the roof away.

Elsewhere in the Ouachita Mountains town, Marion Boyt, 76, said he survived after rushing into a small closet with his son and daughter-in-law.

“I guess we got skinny because we were so scared,” he said.

Boyt said one of those killed died when the roof of a two-story home collapsed.

The body of the third person killed was found in her front yard, county’s emergency coordinator James Reeves said. Authorities have not released the names of those killed pending notification of their families.

National Guard troops patrolled the downtown of this city of 5,700 residents. An overnight curfew was put in effect as emergency crews dealt with ruptured gas lines, downed power lines, fallen trees and heavily damaged buildings.

Meanwhile, emergency workers were going door-to-door to check on residents, although there were no specific reports of people missing. They said they would likely need help getting around fallen trees.

Prosecutor Tim Williamson said dispatchers at the county courthouse had been trapped inside immediately after the storm, and that the county jail was “uninhabitable.” Inmates were transfered to nearby counties, said the office of County Judge Ray Stanley.

The twister tore the roof off a local community college building and destroyed two businesses at the city’s industrial park, Williamson said.

Mena Middle School also sustained significant roof damage, principal Mike Hobson said. One portable classroom was destroyed and that part of the auditorium’s roof was ripped away, and administrators would have to discuss when classes can resume, Hobson said.

Rick Lanman, who manages the Mena Airport, said darkness fell quickly as the tornado crossed the Oklahoma border 10 miles away.

“Me and the dog ran to the bathroom when we saw it on the TV,” Lanman said. “It was here in less than a minute.”

Mena sirens sounded for earlier storms north and south of town. When they sounded a fourth time, “experience was telling me that we were in trouble,” said Lanman, who said he been through tornadoes before in Oklahoma and Illinois.

The violent weather was part of a system that caused damage throughout the South and parts of the Midwest. The National Weather Service said a woman was injured at Shreveport, La., when a tree fell onto her car during a tornado. Twisters also damaged homes east of Vinita and near Muse in Oklahoma and at Crossettin far southern Arkansas, near the Louisiana line.

As the storms moved east, hail and high winds were reported in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. Power was out in many parts of the region.

The injured were taken to Mena Medical Center for treatment.

Reeves, the emergency coordinator, said he had never seen such a powerful storm hit the tornado-prone region.

“Not in my lifetime,” he said. “The last tornado we had to hit the city of Mena was in November 1993. This time we had significant structures (hit).”

Link

There were often reports like this in my home state of Delaware too, and enough evidence that I believe there are probably small pockets of mountain lion populations all through those eastern states. At least, that’s more fun to believe, isn’t it?

Wednesday April 1, 2009

Timothy Decatur-Luker is just like any seven year old boy.

When he gets home from school, he likes to play outside with his brother and go exploring. But last September, one afternoon of exploration turned into adventure.

“We were driving on the golf cart and then we saw the mountain lion sitting on the log,” he remembers.

Little Timothy isn’t the only one in Madison County to have a run-in with the cat. In November, neighbor Sandra Schwobel and her husband awoke to a startling sight.

“We went outside and my dog was laying on our porch with blood all over her,” she recalls.

Schwobel’s dog needed two rounds of surgery to patch up extensive wounds to her shoulders and back; damage, Schwobel believes, that came from that mountain lion.

Timothy’s grandmother, Rita Decatur, says she saw the animal twice last fall, prompting her to call state wildlife officials and report it.

“They told me that I must be mistaken because there are no mountain lions up here, that I must have seen a large domestic cat,” Decatur says. “I have never seen a domestic cat get up to a hundred pounds.”

The Humphreys family went through a similar experience last spring, when what they believed to be a cougar stalked their backyard and terrorized their dogs.

Then they called John Lutz.

“I started my official investigations in 1965 and then they’ve just expanded across the eastern United States,” says Lutz, who runs the West Virginia-based Eastern Puma Research Network.

One of Lutz’s investigations happened last year, when he allowed a CBS19 camera crew to tag along as he interviewed residents and checked for signs of the “Crozet Cougar.” After a day-long investigation, Lutz concluded that reports of a cougar in the area were likely legitimate.

He says many will dismiss these types of reports, simply for the fact that cougar sightings are extremely rare in central Virginia.

“There is no state east of the Mississippi River that doesn’t have sightings,” Lutz says, adding, “and I mean good sightings. They are a very sure, determined, and sly animal. They are the most adaptable cat on the North American continent.”

He also says cougars typically do not pose a threat to children or pets.

“A cougar is not a wanton killer. It only kills to eat or to protect its young or to feed its young,” Lutz explains. “Wild cougars prefer to chase down their prey and humans [are] not exactly on the menu.”

Lutz has yet to fully investigate the sightings in Madison County, but he says from his preliminary findings, he believes there’s a strong possibility that the “Crozet Cougar” migrated north once its food supply ran out and took up residence in Madison.

For his part, little Timothy says he’s worried.

“If it like comes up in the yard I’d be scared,” he says before announcing his plan to strike back. “I have a BB gun. I’m going to get that and find it and then shoot it a million times.”

Perhaps that will be the end of the “Crozet Cougar” and the “Madison Mountain Lion.”