~Deadliest Year For Tornadoes~

[Dabs]

2011 has become the deadliest year for tornadoes since 1950. So far, there have been 520 deaths from tornadoes, this year, so far, with still some missing and plenty injured.
The lastest tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri was devastating, an F-5.
A few weeks back, here in the south in my area, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee were hit bad, and we lost 34 people in my state, and the worst devastation was a few short miles from me.
I drove by to see beautiful homes completely snatched off their foundations!
And families who lost children..it's sickening- and quite sad.

 

[waltky]

Obama goes to Joplin...

Obama says Joplin shows world how to come together
29 May`11 - President Obama views damage from the tornado that devastated Joplin, Mo., with residents on Sunday.

Face to face with the legions of homeless and the bereaved, President Obama on Sunday toured the apocalyptic landscape left by Missouri's killer tornado, consoled the community and committed the government to helping rebuild shattered lives. "We're not going to stop 'til Joplin's back on its feet," Obama vowed. A memorial service where Obama spoke punctuated a day of remembrance one week after the disaster, as authorities pressed on with the task of identifying the victims and volunteers combed through wreckage of neighborhoods where nothing was left whole. The service erupted in cheers when Obama said, "I promise you your country will be there with you every single step of the way," a pledge he extended to all parts of the nation raked by violent storms this season.

Air Force One flew over a massive swath of brown — a land of flattened houses and stripped trees — on its approach to Joplin. On the ground, the destruction was even more stark and complete. Obama confronted painful sights at every turn and said nothing in his life measured up to what he saw this day. Yet he spoke, too, of redemptive moments, the stoicism of the community and tales of plain luck. He told a story of a man he talked to who apparently put a pot pie in the oven, heard the storm was coming, hid in a closet and "came out without a scratch." Obama celebrated the spirit of volunteers who have flocked to Joplin to help, the pickup truck owners who ferried people to the hospital and the citizens who lined up for hours to donate blood to people they don't know.

"You've demonstrated a simple truth," he told the service, "that amid heartbreak and tragedy no one is a stranger. Everybody is a brother. Everybody is a sister. We can all love one another." The crowd of hundreds at the service reflected a community in the midst of rebuilding: people in shorts and baseball caps, and plenty of babies who occasionally burst out crying. The president talked over the screeching until a baby was hurried out by the mother. Obama got a notably warm reception in this conservative part of Missouri. His remarks were tailored for a religious service, with quotes from scripture, references to the love that binds people to each other, and comments on the essential goodness of humanity. The stories of the storm lead us to "put aside our petty grievances," the president said. "There are heroes all around us, all the time. So, in the wake of this tragedy, let us live up to their example: to make each day count."

Known for his cool, even-tempered demeanor, Obama offered his own brand of comforting: eloquent words, plentiful handshakes, some hugs, pats on the heads of children, offers of "God bless you." Not for him the raw emotion Americans saw in his predecessors George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. Before the service, Obama's motorcade pulled into a neighborhood where downed trees cleaved open houses, roofs were stripped or blown off, cars were cratered and splintered wood was everywhere. He saw nothing intact, but rather small domestic sights — a view into a room with a TV still in place, a recliner sitting amid rubble, a washer-dryer standing next to a decimated house. American flags were planted here and there in the mess. "Sorry for your loss," Obama told an anguished woman, hugging her twice as they talked. Another woman told him that her uncle lives up the road — he survived but his house did not. "Tell your uncle we're praying for him," the president said.

MORE

 

[waltky]

E-4 twister devastates Granbury, Texas...

Texas tornado devastation includes Habitat homes
May 16,`13 -- Habitat for Humanity spent years in a North Texas subdivision, helping build many of the 110 homes in the low-income area. But its work was largely undone during an outbreak of 16 tornadoes Wednesday night that killed six people and injured dozens.

On Thursday, authorities combed through debris in Granbury, while residents awaited the chance to see what was left of their homes. Witnesses described the two badly hit neighborhoods as unrecognizable, with homes ripped from foundations and others merely rubble. Granbury, about 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth, bore the brunt of the damage. The National Weather Service's preliminary estimate was that tornado had wind speeds between 166 and 200 mph. Other tornadoes spawned from the violent spring storm damaged nearby Cleburne and Millsap. "I tell you, it has just broken my heart," said Habitat for Humanity volunteer Elsie Tallant, who helped serve lunch every weekend to those building the homes in a Granbury neighborhood and those poised to become homeowners.

Hood County Commissioner Steve Berry said Thursday he couldn't tell one street from another in Granbury's Rancho Brazos Estates neighborhood because of the destruction. Half of one home was torn away while the other half was still standing, glasses and vases intact on shelves. Trees and debris were scattered across yards, and fences were flattened. Sheet metal could be seen hanging from utility wires. The weather service said the preliminary storm estimate for the Granbury tornado was an EF-4, based on the Fujita tornado damage scale. An EF-5 is the most severe. Of the homes in the Rancho Brazos Estates, 61 of them were built by Habitat for Humanity, according to Gage Yeager, executive director of Trinity Habitat for Humanity in Fort Worth. He said most of those homes were damaged, including at least a dozen that were destroyed.

Emergency personnel look through debris on near Granbury, Texas on Thursday, May 16, 2013. Ten tornadoes touched down in several small communities in Texas overnight, leaving at least six people dead, dozens injured and hundreds homeless. Emergency responders were still searching for missing people Thursday afternoon.

Raul Rodriguez was among the lucky few: His Habitat for Humanity home was still standing. The 42-year-old mechanic rode the storm out in a closet with his wife and three children. They heard the windows shattering outside but realized their fortune when they emerged to see a heartbreaking scene. "Injured people, bloody people, started coming to our house, asking us to call 911," said Rodriguez, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than two years. He assessed his own home, finding only shattered windows, lost roof shingles and a collapsed garage. "My neighbors to the right, they lost everything," he said.

Habitat for Humanity homes, built for low-income buyers using volunteer labor and donations, are financed with affordable loans. The nonprofit selects homeowners based on their level of need, willingness to become partners in the program and ability to repay their loan. Homeowners invest their own time into building the homes as well. Habitat for Humanity volunteer Bill Jackson said the damaged or destroyed homes were insured and can be rebuilt. But that doesn't alleviate Tallant's pain. She'd gotten to know the people who had waited for years to become homeowners. "We were going to dedicate a house this weekend, and her home was destroyed," she said.

Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said Thursday afternoon that two of the dead were women and four of them men; one man and one woman in their 80s. "Some were found in houses. Some were found around houses," Deeds said. Six or seven people have not been accounted for, he said at a news conference. "I'm very confident we'll find those people alive and well," Deeds said, adding 37 injured people were treated at hospitals. "We're going to keep looking. We're not going to give up until every piece of debris is turned over."

MORE

 

[whitehall]

The weather channel sent out a crew of tornado hunters (at taxpayer expense?) and they haven't found one so far. Who do we blame for the outbreak in 1950? Global cooling?

 

[waltky]

Granbury starting to recover from tornado devastation...

7 Texans missing after tornadoes found safe; death toll remains at 6
May 17, 2013, People who were missing in the wake of the destructive tornadoes in North Texas have been found safe, officials said Friday, but they didn't indicate when residents of one hard-hit neighborhood will be allowed to return to survey damage to their homes.

The Hood County Sheriff's Office said the death toll from the violent storm system Wednesday night remains at six and is unlikely to change. Authorities initially said seven people were missing, but that everyone has been accounted for. Hood County sheriff's spokesman Nathan Stringer said authorities were focusing Friday on a devastated neighborhood in Granbury known as Rancho Brazos Estates, where most of the homes were damaged or destroyed.

Stringer said it isn't known when the community will be safe enough for people to return, but said an informational meeting for residents will be held Saturday morning. Granbury is 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. He said there are at least 100 workers who have descended on Rancho Brazos to restore water service, raise electrical lines and clear debris. "I can't see them being able to get anyone in the area," Stringer said. "That area is utterly devastated. I was in there for a couple of hours and I didn't see anything untouched. It was one big debris field." He added that the damage is so extensive that it's unclear where roads begin and end.

Lisa Montgomery pauses as she talks about surviving a tornado that destroyed her home in Cleburne, Texas, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Ms. Montgomery rode out the twister the night before in her bathtub with her 10-year-old son and is salvaging items with friends and family helping.

Raul Rodriguez was at home Wednesday with his wife and three children when the storm hit. "I looked out the window and thought, 'It doesn't look good,'" he said. The 42-year-old auto mechanic has lived in Rancho Brazos for two years in a home built by volunteers for Habitat for Humanity. It was the first home Rodriguez has ever owned. They took shelter in a hall closet. All he could hear above the storm's din was the sound of every window in his home shattering. After the storm passed, they emerged to find his home damaged but still standing. "I'm surprised. I can't believe it. My wife was the first person out, and injured people, bloody people, started coming to our house, asking us to call 911," he said.

Habitat for Humanity spent years in the subdivision, helping to build many of the 110 homes in the low-income area. But its work was largely undone during the outbreak of 16 tornadoes. Granbury bore the brunt of the damage. The weather service said the preliminary storm estimate for the Granbury tornado was an EF-4, based on the Fujita tornado damage scale. An EF-5 is the most severe, but an EF-4 tornado has wind speeds of 166 to 200 mph. Another tornado in nearby Cleburne cut a mile-wide path through part of the city Wednesday. The weather service said it was estimated as an EF-3, which has winds between 136 and 165 mph. No deaths or severe injuries were reported from that tornado.

Source

See also:

Tornado-ravaged Texas town to start recovery
May. 17,`13 — Residents whose homes were torn apart or blown away by a North Texas deadly tornado can soon return to retrieve what belongings may be left and start cleaning up, authorities said Friday.

In Granbury, the area hardest hit by Wednesday night's exceptionally strong tornado, workers are trying to restore water service, raise electrical lines and clear debris piles filled with insulation, roof tiles, pieces of carpet, a shoe, a teddy bear, a woman's purse. Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said authorities will only allow residents of the Rancho Brazos Estates neighborhood back in to survey things starting Saturday morning.

But Jerry Shuttlesworth won't be one of them. He doesn't know where his mobile home ended up, but he finally has his only treasured possession: his bull-terrier mix, Junior, who had been missing since the tornado that left six people dead swept through the city 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. Shuttlesworth, 53, broke three bones in one of his feet and suffered a 2-inch gash in his forehead.

Texas State Troopers sit in front of a closed road due to storm damage in Granbury, Texas, Friday, May 17, 2013. On Wednesday an EF-4 tornado hit the small north Texas town.

Friends helped spread the word about his dog through social media. On Friday, someone found Junior and took him to a shelter, where a worker called Shuttlesworth. "You could call it a miracle," he said. "He's scratched up and a little traumatized, but he's eating. He's my baby. I don't care about anything else." Gov. Rick Perry and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott on Friday toured Granbury, which bore the brunt of the damage during Wednesday's outbreak of 16 tornadoes in North Texas. Perry said the devastation is almost incomprehensible. Abbott urged residents to be cautious of those who might try to scam them as they rebuild.

The National Weather Service said Friday that the Granbury tornado was an EF-4, based on the Fujita tornado damage scale. Winds in an EF-4 tornado are between 166 and 200 mph. An EF-5 is the most severe. Earlier Friday, the Hood County Sheriff's Office said the death toll is unlikely to change, as those who were reported missing were with relatives or friends and are safe. Workers on Friday cleared debris in nearby Cleburne, where a tornado cut a mile-wide path through part of the city Wednesday and damaged about 600 homes. The weather service said it was an EF-3, which has winds between 136 and 165 mph. No deaths or severe injuries were reported.

Tornado-ravaged Texas town to start recovery

 

[depotoo]

Tornado activity hits 60-year low
Doyle Rice, USA TODAY12:45 a.m. EDT May 10, 2013

The USA in the past 12 months has seen the fewest number of tornadoes since at least 1954, and the death tolls from the dangerous storms have dropped dramatically since 2011.

Just two years after a ferocious series of tornado outbreaks killed hundreds of Americans, the USA so far this year is enjoying one of the calmest years on record for twisters. Through Thursday, tornadoes have killed only three Americans in 2013; by the end of May 2011, 543 Americans had died.

The seven people killed from May 2012 to April 2013 is the fewest in a 12-month period since five people died in September 1899-August 1900, according to Harold Brooks, research meteorologist with the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

The year-to-date count of tornadoes is probably approaching the lower 10% of all years on record, said Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman.

The reason: An unusually cool weather pattern from the Rockies to the East Coast. "Generally, the lower the temperature and/or the drier the air, the lower the number of thunderstorms," said AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

(continues)
Tornado activity hits 60-year low
we need to add 6 to that red line above.

 

[waltky]

Search operation almost complete, teachers were heroes at saving kids...

Search for Okla. tornado survivors nearly complete
May 21,`13 -- Helmeted rescue workers raced Tuesday to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children.

Scientists concluded the storm was a rare and extraordinarily powerful type of twister known as an EF5, ranking it at the top of the scale used to measure tornado strength. Those twisters are capable of lifting reinforced buildings off the ground, hurling cars like missiles and stripping trees completely free of bark. Residents of Moore began returning to their homes a day after the tornado smashed some neighborhoods into jagged wood scraps and gnarled pieces of metal. In place of their houses, many families found only empty lots.

Justin Stehan salvages photographs from his tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds.

After nearly 24 hours of searching, the fire chief said he was confident there were no more bodies or survivors in the rubble. "I'm 98 percent sure we're good," Gary Bird said at a news conference with the governor, who had just completed an aerial tour of the disaster zone. Authorities were so focused on the search effort that they had yet to establish the full scope of damage along the storm's long, ruinous path. They did not know how many homes were gone or how many families had been displaced. Emergency crews had trouble navigating devastated neighborhoods because there were no street signs left. Some rescuers used smartphones or GPS devices to guide them through areas with no recognizable landmarks.

The death toll was revised downward from 51 after the state medical examiner said some victims may have been counted twice in the confusion. More than 200 people were treated at area hospitals. By Tuesday afternoon, every damaged home had been searched at least once, Bird said. His goal was to conduct three searches of each building just to be certain there were no more bodies or survivors.

The fire chief was hopeful that could be completed before nightfall, but the work was being hampered by heavy rain. Crews also continued a brick-by-brick search of the rubble of a school that was blown apart with many children inside. No additional survivors or bodies have been found since Monday night, Bird said.

MORE

See also:

Teachers credited with saving students in Okla.
May 21,`13 -- The principal's voice came on over the intercom at Plaza Towers Elementary School: A severe storm was approaching and students were to go to the cafeteria and wait for their parents to pick them up.

But before all of the youngsters could get there, the tornado alarm sounded. The plan changed quickly. "All the teachers started screaming into the room and saying, `Get into the hallway! We don't want you to die!' and stuff like that," said sixth-grader Phaedra Dunn. "We just took off running." In the moments that followed, some of the children at Plaza Towers Elementary would, in fact, die. At least seven were killed by the twister Monday afternoon. Others would crawl out of the rubble, bloodied and bruised, utterly terrified.

Teachers carry children away from Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City, Okla, Monday, May 20, 2013. Near SW 149th and Hudson.

The tornado that devastated this Oklahoma City suburb of 56,000 people destroyed Plaza Towers and also slammed Briarwood Elementary, where all the children appear to have survived. Students and parents recounted stories Tuesday of brave teachers who sheltered their pupils, in some cases by herding them into a closet and a restroom amid the fear and panic. After the tornado alarm went off, students at Plaza Towers scrambled into the halls. But the halls - some of which were within the view of windows - did not appear safe enough. Sixth-grader Antonio Clark said a teacher took him and as many other youngsters as possible and shoved them into the three-stall boys' bathroom. "We were all piled in on each other," the 12-year-old said. Another teacher wrapped her arms around two students and held Antonio's hand.

Twenty seconds later he heard a roar that sounded like a stampede of elephants. His ears popped. Then it all stopped almost as suddenly as it started. Crouched down, his backpack over his head, Antonio looked up. The skylight and the ceiling were gone, and he was staring up into a cloud filled with debris. Antonio and a friend were among the first to stand up. They climbed over debris where their classroom had been just moments earlier. Students and teachers were struggling to free themselves from under the bricks, wooden beams and insulation. Some people had bleeding head wounds; blood covered one side of someone's eyeglasses, Antonio said. "Everybody was crying," Antonio said. "I was crying because I didn't know if my family was OK."

MORE

Related:

Power of Moore tornado dwarfs Hiroshima bomb
May 21,`13 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Everything had to come together just perfectly to create the killer tornado in Moore, Okla.: wind speed, moisture in the air, temperature and timing. And when they did, the awesome energy released over that city dwarfed the power of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.

On Tuesday, the National Weather Service gave it the top-of-the-scale rating of EF5 for wind speed and breadth, and severity of damage. Wind speeds were estimated at between 200 and 210 mph. The death count is 24 so far, including at least nine children. The United States averages about one EF5 a year, but this was the first in nearly two years. To get such an uncommon storm to form is "a bit of a Goldilocks problem," said Pennsylvania State University meteorology professor Paul Markowski. "Everything has to be just right." For example, there must be humidity for a tornado to form, but too much can cut the storm off. The same goes with the cold air in a downdraft: Too much can be a storm-killer.

But when the ideal conditions do occur, watch out. The power of nature beats out anything man can create. "Everything was ready for explosive development yesterday," said Colorado State University meteorology professor Russ Schumacher, who was in Oklahoma launching airborne devices that measured the energy, moisture and wind speeds on Monday. "It all just unleashed on that one area." Several meteorologists contacted by The Associated Press used real time measurements, some made by Schumacher, to calculate the energy released during the storm's 40-minute life span. Their estimates ranged from 8 times to more than 600 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb, with more experts at the high end. Their calculations were based on energy measured in the air and then multiplied over the size and duration of the storm.

In this Tuesday, May 21, 2013 aerial photo, emergency responders make their way down a street of damaged homes following Monday's tornado in Moore, Oklahoma.

An EF5 tornado has the most violent winds on Earth, more powerful than a hurricane. The strongest winds ever measured were the 302 mph reading, measured by radar, during the EF5 tornado that struck Moore on May 3, 1999, according to Jeff Masters, meteorology director at the Weather Underground. Still, when it comes to weather events, scientists usually know more about and can better predict hurricanes, winter storms, heat waves and other big events. That's because even though a tornado like the one that struck Moore was 1.3 miles wide, with a path of 17 miles long, in meteorological terms it was small, hard to track, rare and even harder to study. So tornadoes are still more of a mystery than their hurricane cousins, even though tropical storms form over ocean areas where no one is, while this tornado formed only miles from the very National Weather Service office that specializes in tornadoes.

"This phenomenon can be so deadly you would think that something that catastrophic, that severe would lend itself to understanding," said Adam Houston, meteorology professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. "But we're fighting the inherent unpredictability of these small-scale phenomena." Unlike hurricanes, which forecasters can fly through in planes and monitor with buoys and weather stations, usually over a period of days, tornadoes form quickly and normally last only a matter of minutes. While meteorologists and television hosts chase tornadoes and try to get readings, it's not usually enough. This storm lasted 40 minutes - long for a regular tornado but not too unusual for such a violent one, said research meteorologist Harold Brooks at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

MORE