Severe Weather Season 2011/Severe Wx thread

[toxictwister00]

Death toll from the storms is 72, but that could change as numbers are still sketchy..
http://www.freep.com/article/20110427/NEWS07/110427043/Deadly-storms-rake-South-72-dead-buildings-obliterated-

According to what Steph got from AP, the death toll is close to 170 now. She also heard the same report from FB, but she  said that still could be flawed/unofficial. I saw a report on FB last night about a housing shelter collasped in Birmingham I believe where there were bodies found laying everywhere. That might be where that high death toll number is coming from.

[Localonthe8s]

Now it has risen past 200, god the super outbreak in 1974 killed 315 ppl, hopefully we don't surpass that

[TWCmatthew]

Now the death toll is 213. This will probably go up as search teams go through the rubble.

[Mr. Rainman]

Toll now stands at 231, and still rising. General consensus now is that the Birmingham tornado was the latest EF5 tornado since Greensburg in 2007.

[Localonthe8s]

So the EF5 at BHM/TUS was one tornado, or perhaps a series of possible EF5s?

[Donovan]

158 of these deaths were in Alabama alone.

[TWCmatthew]

Wow, I heard on TWC that this outbreak could be the worst in U.S. history...

[toxictwister00]

Toll now stands at 231, and still rising. General consensus now is that the Birmingham tornado was the latest EF5 tornado since Greensburg in 2007.

Actually I think the tornado that hit Parkersburg, IA in 2008 was the most recent EF5 tornado.

[Mr. Rainman]

You're  right, my bad.

Speaking of which, mini-rant. WHY is it that we have such better technology to detect tornadoes than we did in 1974 during the Super Outbreak, when 300-odd some people died, and yet we are on track of beating that record today? Why did so many people die now?

[Donovan]

You're  right, my bad.

Speaking of which, mini-rant. WHY is it that we have such better technology to detect tornadoes than we did in 1974 during the Super Outbreak, when 300-odd some people died, and yet we are on track of beating that record today? Why did so many people die now?

The common person probably thinks that they are invincible to weather and get in their minds "that will never happen to me". Populations were probably less back then, and less building and debris to be picked up. Ignorance is one of the main causes of weather related death in my opinion.

[toxictwister00]

You're  right, my bad.

Speaking of which, mini-rant. WHY is it that we have such better technology to detect tornadoes than we did in 1974 during the Super Outbreak, when 300-odd some people died, and yet we are on track of beating that record today? Why did so many people die now?

The common person probably thinks that they are invincible to weather and get in their minds "that will never happen to me". Populations were probably less back then, and less building and debris to be picked up. Ignorance is one of the main causes of weather related death in my opinion.

It's also possible some people didn't get the warnings because of the strong S winds that may have knocked out their power and communication lines ahead of the storms. Unless they had a weather radio or someone called them early enough they may have not known what was coming for them. When that tornado hit Tuscaloosa it not only knocked out some communication lines, it also knocked out the power to the Northern half of AL and on top of that most of the NWS offices in AL were transferring their duties to neighboring NWS offices while they took cover from the tornadoes. I heard on several occasions yesterday that radars were completely down or showing old data so that certainly didn't help any.

EDIT: I found a video of the tornado forming/hitting Ringgold,GA last night, you can't really see it after 32 seconds, but you can definitely hear it.

Ringgold, GA Tornado, 04/27/11

[Eric]

Unless they had a weather radio or someone called them early enough they may have not known what was coming for them.

Is there ever an excuse for not owning a weather radio, especially in tornado-prone areas?

[toxictwister00]

Unless they had a weather radio or someone called them early enough they may have not known what was coming for them.

Is there ever an excuse for not owning a weather radio, especially in tornado-prone areas?

No, but that doesn't mean there aren't people who don't own them.

[Donovan]

Unless they had a weather radio or someone called them early enough they may have not known what was coming for them.

Is there ever an excuse for not owning a weather radio, especially in tornado-prone areas?

No, but that doesn't mean there aren't people who don't own them.

You also have to account for that very many people don't have basements here. Although they may have had the warning, they just might not have been in a strong enough building. Its terrible.

[WeatherWitness]

Speaking of which, mini-rant. WHY is it that we have such better technology to detect tornadoes than we did in 1974 during the Super Outbreak, when 300-odd some people died, and yet we are on track of beating that record today? Why did so many people die now?

Although we have better technology, that doesn't really matter when talking about the number of deaths. As Donovan said, some people think "oh, it's not going to happen me...I'll be fine." Same thing is with hurricanes...why doesn't everyone evacuate? Because they think they're "invincible." And as Donovan also said, this tornado flattened homes, and if these people didn't have a basement, well then they would be in trouble, wouldn't they?