Oklahoma tornadoes again!

[waltky]

Tornadoes and flooding claim 12 lives...

12 dead in aftermath of tornadoes, floods
2 June`13 > The death toll has jumped to 12 in the aftermath of a swarm of destructive twisters that tore through the Midwest, killing seven adults and two children in Oklahoma and causing three deaths in Missouri blamed on flooding.

Floodwaters also proved deadly in Oklahoma, where a 4-year-old girl died after she was swept away while taking shelter with her family in a ditch, according to police. It is unclear whether the girl is one of the nine people who died as five tornadoes — one a half-mile wide — struck the Oklahoma City area Friday evening, terrorizing communities already battered by deadly storms this spring. The Oklahoma Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told NBC News seven adults and two children are confirmed dead, including a mother and her small child.

The medical examiner said that five of the nine dead had been positively identified and called on the public's help to identify the others. "If someone is missing a loved one from last night’s tornado, we would encourage them to contact our office at 405-239-7141," said Amy Elliott, of the medical examiner's office. Hospitals in Oklahoma City reported 104 injuries, including five critical patients. At least five people killed were in vehicles and may have been trying to flee as dark clouds gathered and warning sirens wailed, authorities said.

Marcus Jolly, 32, of El Reno told The Oklahoman newspaper the scene along Interstate 40 "was a war zone. There were semis turned over and skeletons of buildings remaining.” The twisters came just 11 days after a monster tornado left 24 dead in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, where power outages were reported Friday. Mark Wiley, meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s southern region headquarters in Fort Worth, said early Saturday that there had been five confirmed tornadoes in the Oklahoma City area on Friday and one in the Tulsa area early Saturday.

A total of 12 tornadoes hit Missouri and Illinois around St. Louis, where “numerous homes” were damaged. Wiley did not have any information about casualties there. Two twisters touched down briefly in North Dakota, but did not do any damage. The Oklahoma City area “definitely” experienced the worst of the bad weather, Wiley said, with wind gusts of up to 90 mph, baseball-sized hail and extensive flooding.

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Storm chaser caught in tornado: It felt like I was going to heaven
2 June `13 > When Mike Bettes was chasing a tornado in Oklahoma Friday, the twister was hot on the heels of his SUV. He realized he wasn't going to make it as his truck was lifted up into the air. “It really felt like at that moment I was going to heaven," he said Sunday on TODAY.

Bettes is an experienced meteorologist with The Weather Channel, but his credentials were no match for the ferocity of the storm. The truck, which was carrying Bettes and two others, tumbled as it was picked up by the winds. "As soon as I felt the vehicle tumble, I knew we were in trouble,” Bettes said. In that moment, he thought of his family. “I just saw my wife's face and I thought, you know, that's my life, I don't want to give that up just yet.” The crew had ended up on the wrong side of the tornado that day. They’d gotten caught on the north side, which is typically the side that has a lot of rain, wind and hail. Had they been thirty seconds faster, Bettes guessed, they would've made it to the safer side of the tornado in time and been able to observe it without danger.

The entire crew made it out alive, albeit with a few bumps, scratches and shaken nerves. One producer is in the hospital with broken bones. Many people weren't as lucky as Bettes. The tornadoes that raged through the Midwest Friday killed eight adults and two children in Oklahoma and caused three deaths in Missouri due to the floods. Among those who died in the storms were three storm chasers who had done work with The Weather Channel. Father and son team Tim and Paul Samaras, as well as fellow crew member Carl Young, were killed as a result of a twister in El Reno, Okla., a town hit especially hard by the storms. “When I saw our lead vehicle get pulled off the road and into a ditch that was the moment I realized we were not going to get past it,” Bettes told TODAY’s Lester Holt on Weekend TODAY.

Though all three of the convoy’s vehicles ran into trouble, it was Bettes' truck that saw the most damage, flying 200 yards across a field and landing with its body smashed and the airbags deployed. “You could hear Mike basically yelling into the radio, ‘Faster, faster, faster!,’” said J.K. Kautz, one of the crew members, who was able to listen in to Bettes as he tried to shout directions to his crew. Kevin Parrish, another crew member, added, “The last thing that I remember is looking over my left shoulder and seeing the Bettes' mobile pass me and go airborne.” Despite the harrowing ordeal, Bettes said he and other tornado chasers provide a valuable service. “Storm spotters can give that advance warning that you wouldn't otherwise get,” he said, though he admitted storm chasing has become more extreme and there's a lesson to be learned in his experience. “Safety comes first. There’s always another tornado to chase.”

http://www.newsforum.com/breaking-n...nado-felt-like-i-going-heaven.html#post166122

 

[depotoo]

Storm Chasers Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras and Carl Young Killed in Oklahoma Tornadoes - ABC News
Welcome to Thunder Chase with Tim Samaras
here is their vehicle before and after. All the chasers that knew them said they were very conservative in the storm chasing, more scientists than chasers really. Unfortunately this storm did the unexpected and caught several seasoned vets off guard-

 

[waltky]

Storm chasers killed in Oklahoma tornado outbreak...

3 veteran storm chasers killed by Oklahoma tornado
Jun 2,`13 > Three veteran storm chasers died doing what they loved: roaming the Great Plains in search of dangerous storms like the one in Oklahoma that ended their final pursuit.

Tim Samaras, his son Paul and colleague Carl Young, who through the years had shared dramatic videos with television viewers and weather researchers, died Friday night when an EF3 tornado with winds up to 165 mph turned on them near El Reno, Okla. They were among 13 people who died in the storm in Oklahoma City and its suburbs. Their deaths in pursuit of the storm are believed to be the first among scientific researchers while chasing tornadoes, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said. "They put themselves in harm's way so that they can educate the public about the destructive power of these storms," said Chris West, the undersheriff in Canadian County, where the men died.

Tim Samaras, 54, and Paul Samaras, 24, both of Bennett, Colo., were trapped in their car along with Young, 45, of South Lake Tahoe, which straddles the California and Nevada border. Many times before, Tim Samaras had told anyone who would listen that tornadoes were unpredictable. "I don't know if I would say I worried about it because one of the biggest things he stressed was safety," said Tim's brother, Jim Samaras, who confirmed the deaths to The Associated Press. "He knew what to look for. He knew where not to be and in this case, the tornado took a clear turn toward them."

This undated photo provided by The Discovery Channel shows Carl Young and Tim Samaras watching the sky. Jim Samaras said Sunday, June 2, 2013, that his brother storm chaser Tim Samaras was killed along with Tim�s son, Paul Samaras, and another chaser, Carl Young, on Friday, May 31, 2013 in Oklahoma City. The National Weather Service�s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the men were involved in tornado research.

Tim Samaras and his Twistex tornado chase team had been featured on the Discovery Channel and given grants by the National Geographic Society. They also were regular presenters at conferences dedicated to advances in meteorology. The Oklahoma storm that killed the three chasers developed before their eyes Friday. Tim Samaras tweeted a photo of clouds rising through a volatile atmosphere and noted: "Storms now initiating south of Watonga along triple point. Dangerous day ahead for OK - stay weather savvy!" It was his final tweet. "He looked at tornadoes not for the spotlight of TV but for the scientific aspect," Jim Samaras said. "At the end of the day, he wanted to save lives and he gave the ultimate sacrifice for that."

The tornado in the classic movie "The Wizard of Oz" fascinated a then-6-year-old Tim Samaras, his brother said. "He didn't give a crap about Toto, he didn't give a crap about the munchkins," Jim Samaras said. The Storm Prediction Center said in a statement Sunday that it was saddened by Tim Samaras' death. "Samaras was a respected tornado researcher and friend ... who brought to the field a unique portfolio of expertise in engineering, science, writing and videography," the center said.

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[depotoo]

turns out that the driver of The Weather Channel vehicle does have a broken neck, and ribs.

Also there was another storm chaser killed -

Oklahoma storms: Amateur storm chaser took photo of tornado that killed him
Richard Charles Henderson took a cellphone photo of the first tornado Friday and excitedly sent it to a friend. Minutes later, that tornado would kill him.By Nolan Clay Modified: June 3, 2013 at 10:26 pm • Published: June 3, 2013

Oklahoma storms: Amateur storm chaser took photo of tornado that killed him | News OK

 

[waltky]

Record breaking width of Oklahoma tornado...

Oklahoma tornado was widest on record
4 June 2013 > The deadly tornado near Oklahoma City last week was a record-breaking 2.6 miles (4.2 km) wide and packed winds of up to 295 mph, weather officials said.

It was the second top-of-the scale EF-5 twister in the area in 11 days, the National Weather Service said. Last Friday's storm in El Reno, along with flooding, killed 18 people, including three storm chasers. The other EF-5 tornado hit the nearby city of Moore on 20 May, killing 24 people and wreaking widespread damage.

The record-breaking tornado was one of several that touched down near the Oklahoma City area on Friday

Friday's massive twister avoided highly populated areas near the Oklahoma state capital, sparing lives. "If it was two more miles this way, it would have wiped out all of downtown, almost every one of our subdivisions and almost all of our businesses," El Reno Mayor Matt White said.

William Hooke, of the American Meteorological Society, says it is only "a matter of time" before such a tornado hits a major urban centre. "You lay that path over Oklahoma City, and you have devastation of biblical proportions," Mr Hooke told the Associated Press news agency.

BBC News - Oklahoma tornado was widest on record