Pictures of today's tornado and damage from Sumner County TN

[beam me up scottie]

More here as well as local news and unedited aerial footage: http://www.newschannel5.com/content/

This is much worse than I thought it was.

[niyad]

1. that looks truly awful-- I was just thinking--so many tornadoes this past

winter, hurrican season only 47 days away--I think it is going to be one devastating summer.

[beam me up scottie]

2. I'm still watching the aerial footage.

I'm stunned.

It's horrible, these people had no chance, it leveled large sturdy brick homes.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. What it did to those McMansions was incredible...

I just saw a flyover on the news... nothing left but slabs, plywood scattered 100 yards away.

I grew up on the plains of Colorado, if you didn't have a basement or a root cellar to go to, the people right next door did. I hope those people are ok. :cry:

[beam me up scottie]

7. We don't even have basements around here.

Some of the older houses and farms have root cellars, but the new homes are built on slabs.

There was no place to go to get away from this.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

18. I just watched it too

on the tv, it looked like they were cheaply built houses, now I realize many of them were brick, much sturdier. This is awful!

Why no root/storm cellars?

One good thing, it was 2:30 in the afternoon... hopefully not many people were at home.

[beam me up scottie]

20. Most of those houses are brick.

We have an extensive underground cave system in my area, and many sinkholes.
I think that, plus the additional cost of digging a cellar has a lot to do with it.
Houses in my area are very cheaply constructed.
I guess it wouldn't matter with a tornado that size.

[TNDemo]

3. They are saying 35 tornadoes in TN and 10 dead right now

but I imagine it is going to get worse. Those were huge brick homes in Gallatin that were wiped out. Every time I turn on the TV it gets worse. I'm in Nashville. Are we neighbors??

[beam me up scottie]

5. Yes, I'm north of you, in Franklin Ky.

I have friends in Gallatin.
I had no idea it was this bad-I don't have a tv and the news reports on the radio were vague.
I will be shocked if only ten people died in this.

Have they said if it was an F3 or F4?

[TNDemo]

8. They said it would be tomorrow before they would make

a determination. They need daylight to check it all out. The Tennessean website had some video and pictures the last time I checked.

[beam me up scottie]

11. If this had hit after 6pm instead of 2,

the death toll would have been much higher.

I'm still shocked by what I saw on the video.

[SammyBlue]

4. But Global warming is a myth!

I mean, tornadic storms need heat to fuel the updrafts that cause the upward rotation!

So, it's true that G-d is punishing the people down south!

[uppityperson]

9. I am so sorry, this is hard.

Good luck peoples. Donate to the Salvation Army.

[blonndee]

10. I've been thinking of all the people in the paths today...

living in tornado alley (and in a town that has suffered a direct hit 4 times in 8 years), it could be me. That damage reminds me of the aftermath of the horrible Bridge Creek/Moore/OKC tornado in 99. I hope to gods it doesn't end up being that bad.

My thoughts are with everyone, especially you DUers in the area, now.

[nascar55]

12. Just got off the phone

with my son-in-law in Gallatin....he said 11 dead now...still no power...looks like an F-4 storm

[beam me up scottie]

15. I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to alarm anyone, I was just so shocked at the damage.
I'm glad your family is okay.

[northofdenali]

43. I hope your daughter & son-in-law are okay and

don't have any damage.

I hate tornados, they scare me much more than any other weather phenomena. Give me a white-out at 45 below any day.

Southeast DU'ers, check in when you can and let us be sure you're all right.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

13. yeah that one was a close call and now the wind is howling again

I don't think it will hit quite this far south this time. I dodged the bullet again but more are coming.

[beam me up scottie]

16. Do you have a NOAA radio?

I sleep with mine now.

[ThoughtCriminal]

14. Anybody in Huntsville/Decatur area?

Concerned.

[beam me up scottie]

23. They're under the gun right now.

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?rid=htx&product=NCR&overlay=11101111&loop=no

I'm not sure how they fared earlier.

[ThoughtCriminal]

24. A Watched on radar

Sounds like there may have been another hit on the Parkway/Airport Road area (What is it about that part of town?). I have no idea about injuries or damage yet.

Frustrating when you live 1500 miles away and you have family there. I tried to call earlier tonight, but no answer. Hope they are someplace safe.

[beam me up scottie]

25. I'm sure they are.

They had advance warnings and plenty of time to get somewhere safe.
I know how it is, I email my dad frequently when it's bad here.

I just tried to get the forecast but the server is down.

Here's a link to a local station that has weather news and alerts:

http://www.whnt.com/

[ThoughtCriminal]

26. They hardly watch anything but the Weather Channel

I know I'm not the only one with parents like that.

Main concern is that there really aren't any tornado safe rooms in their house, so I hope they left for shelter.

[beam me up scottie]

28. I don't suppose they have a mobile?

Man, those things come in handy on days like this.
Almost everyone at work was able to reach their loved ones right away after our storm passed.

[QC]

31. Are you from Decatur? My folks are there.

Apparently everything is fine there, though they had some nasty wind and hail. You can check my post in Tom Joad's thread for more info.

[ThoughtCriminal]

32. Huntsville

So far, the damage reports don't sound to bad considering the wind, hail and tornado reports. I hope the rest of the evening is relatively quiet.

http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060408/APN/604080520&cachetime=5

[QC]

33. Yeah, things got ugly there, but I haven't heard of

trouble in Huntsville. Sounds like everything went well. Let me know if you need any help getting in touch with your folks--like I said, mine are close by.

[Punkingal]

17. Today was just awful here in Tennessee...

I was at my son't house in Celina, and it came the worst hailstorm I have ever seen.....they were huge, some almost as big as baseballs. All our vehicles were damaged, which is not important compared to what happened in other places, of course, but it was an unsettling experience.

I have a bad feeling about the weather. Something tells me we are going to see a lots of storms this year.

[beam me up scottie]

19. Glad you're okay.

They had a hail storm like that in Bowling Green in 1998.
You can still see the occasional car that was damaged from it.

They just issued a flash flood warning for my county.

[Punkingal]

21. I'm fine, and I'm not complaining about MY day....

I just looked at the video, and I am horrified. The south end of Gallatin is such a beautiful area, around Vol State, and that is where all that devastation is. This is so sad.

[beam me up scottie]

22. I know

Friends of mine in Gallatin were still assessing storm damage from Sunday.

[sleipnir]

27. I like the jackasses taking pictures of tornadoes only meters away.

Yeah, that's smart.

Dumbasses. It's lucky that they survived to print the photos.

[beam me up scottie]

29. Well,

I think they were probably farther away than that and after having lived here a few years, I admit I try to get photos of them as well.
From a semi-safe distance, of course.
And if you're trapped at work (where are you going to go?) and you have a camera handy, why not?

[sleipnir]

34. The second photo from the left on top, the twister is only seconds away

if it should change course, which they often do. It's just not safe, because tornadoes are unpredictable and highly dangerous. Not to mention, you might just get struck with flying debris above ground and that would really ruin your day to get slammed with a 2x4 traveling at 200 mph.

Having to deal with thes storms almost once every two weeks in Kansas, you take the safe route and go underground.

[beam me up scottie]

36. You're lucky you can go underground.

With the storms you guys get, you pretty much need to have a cellar.
That's always a problem here, not very many basements.
If I was near a grocery, the first place I'd head for is the walk in cooler.

At work today, we were able to see the funnel clouds forming from the front office, but of course, I didn't have my camera with me.
When the hail started we huddled near an interior wall until the worst was passed.

[beam me up scottie]

30. This incredible picture of one of LAST week's tornadoes

was taken in Hopkinsville, Kentucky:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

35. Damn. I've seen this too many times.

Condolences to all those affected by the weather there.

[beam me up scottie]

37. Glad you made it, TYJ.

I didn't see your thread until just now.

Next time (they're saying Sunday for here) I'll look you up and we can ride it out together.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

38. I'll be here!

Most likely. Fucking storms keep popping up.

I think the worst is over this way though.

[beam me up scottie]

41. I know.

As much as I depend on my NOAA radio, I'm SICK of the warnings tonight.
My cats have even started ignoring it.
They usually associate the sirens with being shoved into the bathroom for a bit thanks to last November's tornadic outbreak.

[eppur_se_muova]

39. LINK to tornado warnings

http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/us/tornado.html

more general info:
http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/graphicsversion/bigmain.html

[beam me up scottie]

40. Thanks for the links!

The NOAA page I check loads terribly slow sometimes.

Or maybe it just seems that way at the time.

[eppur_se_muova]

42. Yeah, I seem to have lucked out & found the low graphics page.

Found this during hurricane season. Looked like a darn good idea to bookmark it!