I have a couple friends on Facebook that lost everything. One was in Edmond... lost her home, truck, horse trailer and 1 horse. Another in Moore that lost 3 horses that were boarded beside Orr Family Farms.
I saw a picture of the devastation at Orr and I won't post it here because it is so graphic... there are no words. I heard from somewhere that maybe only 15 horses survived out of around 100...
Location: Oklahoma - Where they call a puck a ball...
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Originally Posted by vegasbound
I have a couple friends on Facebook that lost everything. One was in Edmond... lost her home, truck, horse trailer and 1 horse. Another in Moore that lost 3 horses that were boarded beside Orr Family Farms.
I saw a picture of the devastation at Orr and I won't post it here because it is so graphic... there are no words. I heard from somewhere that maybe only 15 horses survived out of around 100...
Agree 100%. I was more trying to call attention to the improvement seen in recent times.
Think of the explosion in West, TX. They did a good job there.
I think that you are an order of magnitude different with the level of widespread devastation in Oklahoma.
Should also mention that this was even more complicated because people couldn't get in to help. Everybody had to air lifted in because the access roads were a mess from what I understand. For Joplin the main access roads were "fine".
Also, as I suspected from looking at the damage (eerily similar to Joplin for simply utter destruction of everything) it has now been upgraded to an EF5 with sustained 200-210 mph winds speeds. Same wind speed as the Joplin tornado. Like Joplin I expect this will also have some peaks speeds in the 250 mph range (keep in mind that wind speed is at the ground and it increases as you go up the tornado). Path was 1.3 miles at it's widest which is significantly wider than Joplin tornado which was slightly less than a mile wide at it's widest. Had the Joplin tornado been that wide I would have likely lost my wife and daughter who were literally feet from where the debris zone started.
Tomorrow is the 2 year anniversary of the Joplin tornado and to have it happen again a few hours away has made it a difficult day for many. Not as difficult as those directly affected of course. Not even close but there is a definite air of sadness over everybody that no one has ever really seen before. Everyone affected is in our (joplin and area) thoughts.
Last edited by ernie; 05-21-2013 at 03:23 PM.
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Location: Oklahoma - Where they call a puck a ball...
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This is making it's rounds on FB. Figured I could post it here:
Do you know what it takes to be an Oklahoman? You probably don’t because to be an Oklahoman is to be nuts, balls-to-the-wall crazy, off-the-charts insane. You have to be.
In Oklahoma, when you pop out of your mama, the doctors give you the once over. They check your eyes, because they know you’re going to have to stare down EF4 tornadoes and not flinch. They check the gravel in your guts, because true grit’s making a living from hard, dry land — molding a life from red clay. And they check your heart, because to be an Oklahoman is to be the smack-dab center of the Heartland.
Then you grow up in Oklahoma with your “Yes, ma’ams” and “No, sirs” and “Ranch, pleases,” and you learn how to drive in a place where you reserve one hand for waving to the neighbors you know and the neighbors you don’t know just quite yet. Your sentences are peppered with words like “hook echo,” “vortex,” “Pushmataha,” “biscuitsngravy” and “might could.”
You go to school and you learn the history of your state, from the Trail of Tears to the land run to the Dust Bowl to the Tulsa Race Riot to April 19, 1995 to May 3, 1999. You understand that you come from misfits and mistakes and pain. A lot of pain. You realize you come from underdog stock. You listen to a lot of Woody Guthrie, and you really get what it means.
At some point, life punches you in the gut for the first time. You watch the hand of God come down, and an entire town disappears off the map.
You fall to your knees and you cry and you spit and you cuss the day and night. And then you get up.
You don’t waste your time asking the heavens why. There’s work to be done.
You see someone else shaking their fists at the sky, so you reach your hand down. And then they get up.
That’s what being an Oklahoman is. Being so goddamned resilient and perseverant that ain’t nothing or nobody can keep you down. I’ve been a lot of places, lived in a few of them, and met many great people. Without minimizing anyone else, Oklahomans are a different breed. When you’re a little guy used to getting kicked, you not only learn to pop back up but you become the first one to reach out to others.
Oklahoma isn’t a place. It’s something in your blood. It’s something that you do. It’s the shirt off your back and a tear in your eye and the giddyup in your soul.
As we watched the wreckage from this latest prizefight with nature, several people asked me if I had people there — in Moore, in Shawnee. The answer is unequivocally yes. Every ever-loving, bless-your-heart mumbler in that grand land is My People. And God help us, My People don’t give up and don’t give in.
I love you, Oklahoma, and I thank my lucky stars that I’m one of yours. And if you don’t start installing storm shelters in every public building, I’m fixin’ to raise some hell.
It's true. And even for us transplanted guys to the area (in my case SW Missour-ah). 4 short years and I honestly can't imagine living somewhere else. I love it....even when cowering in my storm shelter (btw, our kind has now been rated to withstand a EF-5..still looking into using it as the "topper" for an underground one.
The most upsetting thing after the death, injuries and destruction from the Joplin tornado was that the city refused to pass an ordinance to make storm shelters mandatory for any new apartment/condo builds. Sad day that was IMO.
Glad to hear our CP friends in that region appear to have come out of this in one piece. Condolences to the loss of your friends and family if that happens to be the case.
Don't know what to say. Awful for those who lost loved ones, homes, etc. Always see these tornados on the news, but now that I've met Nickerjones several times; this one seems more personal.
Take care, and get back to Calgary soon.
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Two miles wide, that's freaking insane! I heard those F5s can get up to one mile wide, but 2?!
Wowza. That's pretty scary!
Surprised it hasn't been brought up yet, but makes me think about global warming and the seeming increase in extreme weather.
Even climate scientists would argue that you can't really look at a few years and draw any conclusions, but when you look at the tropical storms that have been hammering the east coast over the last couple years too...
Two miles wide, that's freaking insane! I heard those F5s can get up to one mile wide, but 2?!
Wowza. That's pretty scary!
Surprised it hasn't been brought up yet, but makes me think about global warming and the seeming increase in extreme weather.
Even climate scientists would argue that you can't really look at a few years and draw any conclusions, but when you look at the tropical storms that have been hammering the east coast over the last couple years too...
That got me curious. Which led me to this article (with a extremely strong anti-climate change slant):
Just about every type of extreme weather event is becoming less frequent and less severe in recent years as our planet continues its modest warming in the wake of the Little Ice Age. While global warming activists attempt to spin a narrative of ever-worsening weather, the objective facts tell a completely different story.
Well man made climate change is a fact, even the talking heads on Fox are starting to agree on that issue. In fact a lot of conservatives have changed their line from, 'there is no proof' to 'what can we do about it really? I mean, especially with China and all, ya know, etc.'
But yeah, as far as extreme weather, and not just warming, I don't know much about it or have any stats. That's why I worded it as 'seeming increase' because I really couldn't tell you for sure.
I think it has been documented that Gulf hurricanes are on the rise, but of course that's a small part of the entire story.
EDIT: From the article: 'It has been more than 2,750 days since a major hurricane struck the United States.'
That can't be right can it? I guess it all depends on what you call a 'major hurricane'. They could easily be framing the data in the light that best shows their bias. Maybe more hurricanes but there hasn't been a class 'whatever' since 2005.
And although I know that Superstorm Sandy didn't landfall as a hurricane, it did start as one, and the amount of damage was easily comparable to that of a major hurricane.
Two miles wide, that's freaking insane! I heard those F5s can get up to one mile wide, but 2?!
being reported now that it was 1.3 miles at it's widest. Still extremely wide but not close to 2 miles. (joplin tornado was nearly 1 mile wide at some points, but tended to be about 3/4 mile wide).
Location: Wondering when # became hashtag and not a number sign.
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Originally Posted by Daradon
EDIT: From the article: '[I]It has been more than 2,750 days since a major hurricane struck the United States.'
That can't be right can it? I guess it all depends on what you call a 'major hurricane'. They could easily be framing the data in the light that best shows their bias. Maybe more hurricanes but there hasn't been a class 'whatever' since 2005.
And although I know that Superstorm Sandy didn't landfall as a hurricane, it did start as one, and the amount of damage was easily comparable to that of a major hurricane.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center classifies hurricanes of Category 3 and above as major hurricanes, and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center classifies typhoons of Category 4 and 5 as super typhoons (although all hurricanes can be very dangerous).
I lived through a couple of these things in 2004.....and i dont care what "number" they grow too, they are all nasty and potentially fatal events. ...even the tropical storms.
That being said, they are all very much part of the normal activity in our atmosphere and the data shows relatively clearly that there is no co-relation between "global warming" and an increase in severe weather...at least as far as Western Hemisphere hurricanes are concerned.
Built on mostly rock and would have to dynamite it out. Too costly from what I have heard. However I'm not sure why they don't just dig out a small box, enough for 4-6 people to live for 24-48hrs.
That's not remotely true, the ground in the mid-west is mostly clay based. the biggest reason for not having basements plain and simple is cost. the groundwater is higher in those areas so theres additional costs to water proof the foundation. and because of the heavy clay you would need to "peg" the concrete...but it's very do-able.
Not sure if a basement would help a whole lot in a tornado anyway, the upper floors would probably still bury you if you weren't sucked out of it, I suppose you could build a safe room down there though.
That's not remotely true, the ground in the mid-west is mostly clay based.
Just going off what I read...
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Bedrock is also prevalent throughout Oklahoma. It can be especially difficult and expensive to chip away at the bedrock. Buildings often have to use explosives to clear room for a basement.
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Originally Posted by henriksedin33
Not at all, as I've said, I would rather start with LA over any of the other WC playoff teams. Bunch of underachievers who look good on paper but don't even deserve to be in the playoffs.
