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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.