How is it possible in this day and age that people are dying in tornadoes?

[YellowRubberDuckie]

It's completely illogical to me. Did these places not have sirens? News weathermen with computers? In the storms since May 3, 1999, we haven't lost anyone in a storm, I don't think. Oklahoma has tornadoes out the wazoo year round. We have plenty of advanced warning. Why the hell are people dying from storms in the south? I'm completely baffled. :cry:
Duckie

[texas1928]

1. The storms are hittin gin the middle of the night.

and people may not hear the sirens and do not have weather radios in their homes.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

2. I guess that's true...

I guess I was always lucky to be a hard sleeper, but yet been sensitive to pressure changes. :shrug: It still saddens and perplexes me.
Duckie

[Broken_Hero]

9. Another thing...

I was in Lawrence, KS a few weeks back when a tornado went through. The sirens went off, AFTER the tornado's went through...so, I guess its just a matter of how good your weather equipment is, and how good your weather people are. Also, places don't have sirens either. I'm in SW Missouri, we got tornado sirens in town, and i'm 4 miles from town, and last year, they went off, and we couldn't hear it...we found out the next day a tornado went through, and we didn't even hear it...so, another example of "how good your equipment is."

I'm from SE Alaska, and tornado's is something i have taken a long time studying, cause truthfully, I never want to be caught in one...I have seen 4 so far, and all of them, in KS...I dont' have a weather radio, but I do have a radio that picks up the uhf channels, and our weather men from the Joplin area, seem pretty decent, so far....

[ashling]

27. And its not like it is out on the plains

where you can see them coming in the daytime either.

[xmas74]

3. I live in a tornado area.

Not every section of the county has sirens-just the towns. And some people have farms w/ trailers on them to reside in. If you are 15 miles from the nearest town you might not have time to take cover at a shelter.

And the last two warnings for us were nighttime warnings. When you get a warning at 11 pm it's never good. Some of the country folk are already asleep and wouldn't have any advance notice.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

5. Weather Radios are so affordable...

Why would you live in a tornado area and not have one? :shrug:
Duckie

[xmas74]

6. With the way the economy is right now

I know of people who cannot even afford gas to drive to work or food to feed their families.

Believe me, when you are standing in line at the food pantry for a three day supply and trying to think of how to stretch it for a week you are not thinking of the extra money for a wx radio.

They really just cannot afford it right now.

[ContraBass Black]

16. A tornado went through my neighborhood a year and a half ago.

I live 30 miles west of DC. Everywhere is a potential tornado area, even if there's never been one nearby before.

[leftyladyfrommo]

17. I have one but they aren't as good as you might think.

Its better to watch the TV. Unless you loose power.

I have batteries for my radio just in case.

[Bridget Burke]

19. Do you sit listening to the Weather Radio 24/7?

Some of these areas are NOT Tornado Alley.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

24. No...but it comes on automatically when storms threaten your area.

:shrug:

[Blue Diadem]

4. I don't know about the ones in the south but the one in Ohio

on Friday didn't even appear on radar so there was no advance warning at all. Luckily no one was killed..just lots of damage.

[begin_within]

7. Also they shouldn't be dying in hurricanes, tsunamis, fires or earthquakes

[MichiganVote]

8. Uh..because they're really destructive, pack a wild punch, and

Homeland Security isn't doing their job?

[leftofthedial]

10. the wind blows real hard in tornadoes

as I understand it

[RebelOne]

11. Even when the sirens go off,

you have very little time to get out of the way of the storm.

[Lars39]

12. People don't always have a basement to go to.

Or they underestimate how long it would take to get to their storm cellar,or they don't think the storm is quite as bad as it is. TN and the other southern states actually have more tornadoes than Oklahoma.
As far as Sunday's storms, people that have been with the TN emergency agency since its inception in 1951 have said that the intensity of the tornado action seems more intense than in recent years.

[RebelOne]

21. If a tornado passed through where I live, I'd be shit out of luck.

No basement. I live in a mobile home.

[av8rdave]

25. we live in tornado alley also (Tx), and yet...

NOBODY has basements here. If I die in a tornado, my last thoughts will probably be "this really blows!"

[Nicole]

28. I find that hard to believe

TN and the other southern states actually have more tornadoes than Oklahoma.

Do you have a source for that? Everything I've read about tornadoes state Oklahoma & Texas have the most. I've also read that the midwest has more than the south.

If I'm wrong, I sure would hate to move to TN. The tornadoes here in OK are more than enough to scare the hell out of me. :scared:

[Beware the Beast Man]

13. Tornadoes aren't like hurricanes. They can pop up with no warning.

They can't be predicted and charted well enough to warrant a foolproof evacuation. They're maddeningly random as well.

[leftyladyfrommo]

14. We all rely on TV Weather Casters

You can't depend on the sirens - they go off too late. And most of the time it is too dark to see anything. So the best thing is to listen to the TV weather. They come on and stay on for hours if the weather is really bad. And tornadoes put down and then go right back up and then put down somewhere else. They are pretty hard to predict.

But most people don't have anywhere to go. I don't have a basement. If my house goes I will just go with it.

[Orsino]

15. Because there are more of us in harm's way...

...the storms are just as strong, and our walls aren't much stronger, if at all. Mostly, though, our increasing population means that a tornado touching down is more likely than ever to be near somebody.

I count myself luckier than my father, though, who as a child was carried off by a Depression-era tornado.

[Bridget Burke]

18. And why are hurricanes still so destructive?

Some of these tornadoes have been striking outside Tornado Alley. Lots of people don't have basements--especially in areas with flooding tendencies.

And tornadoes can be really, umm, sudden.

[leftyladyfrommo]

20. I noticed that, too.

These things are hitting in areas that are normally not really tornado areas.

[Pithlet]

22. I know.

Dyersburg, TN had no tornado sirens, and it was a strong tornado. That's the town that was devastated the other night, to the north of where I live, that had all those deaths. That place was also slammed by tornadoes a couple of years ago. That they still didn't have tornado sirens is unbelievable. I would have thought that after the last tragedy that would have been a priority. I didn't realize they still had none until after they were hit again. Local governments are so strapped for cash. Another factor is basements. Few houses have them in this area. I don't have a basement. If an F4 or F5 hits where I live, we're toast.

This area is weird. We're just on the outer edge of tornado alley, almost a little mini tornado alley, but we don't get them regularly enough, the way TX or OK does, that safety measures like warning systems are a priority for our local governments.

Edited to add that a bunch of meterologists are about to be layed off from NOAA. Measures to increase funding for NOAA were defeated. So, we can probably look forward to even more deaths.

[doc03]

23. 1. Mobil homes 2. The damn NWS issues

so many damn warnings you ignore them after a while. I bought a weather radio a few years ago with an alarm and would get woken up at 2am with a flash flood warning any time there is a thunderstorm in the whole state of Ohio, I live on a hilltop the river would have to get 600 feet deep to flood here.

[sbj405]

26. People don't understand watch vs. warning, so they become immune to them

They think they are no big deal. Much like people who they seem to find that want to "ride out hurricanes." (I'm talking those that willingly stay and then brag about it) Unfortunately, I think it takes tragedy to remind people of the importance of these things.