Category Archives: Natural Disasters

News, photos and videos all about natural disasters including fires, floods, tornadoes, tsunamis, etc.

Joplin MO: Receipt traveled from tornado all the way to Indiana Reply

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More than doubles previous record from 1915 Kansas tornado

Found in town of my ol’ alma mater, Purdue University.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — An Indiana couple discovered a receipt that may have blown 525 miles from Joplin, Mo., to their porch — the longest recorded journey of debris from a tornado.

Tia Fritz contacted Ernest Agee, a Purdue University professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and tornado expert, when she and her husband discovered a receipt dated May 13 from Joplin Tire on the porch of their Royal Center, Indiana, home on Wednesday (May 25). Royal Center is in north central Indiana about 45 miles from Lafayette.

“This paper traveled more than twice as far as the longest distance recorded for debris from a storm,” said Agee, who now has the receipt. “The previous record was a cancelled check that traveled 210 miles after the 1915 tornado in Great Bend, Kansas.

The distance paper travels is directly proportional to the intensity of the tornado. This paper’s journey is a testament to the strength of the EF5 tornado that struck Joplin and what that city went through.”

In order to reach Indiana, the receipt, which was folded into one-quarter of its original size, would have to have been sucked into the tornado and then carried by the jet stream for 12.5 hours, according to Agee’s estimates using wind speeds and the distance traveled. It is not known exactly how long the receipt was on the porch before it was discovered.

The devastating tornado destroyed nearly one-third of Joplin and killed more than 132 people in the city of more than 50,000. The tornado is considered the deadliest to hit the United States in 65 years.

Source

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Oklahoma tornado footage up very close Reply

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Absolutely incredible footage. First they put it in reverse to get away from the funnel, then they start driving driving parallel to it.

From Holy Tornado:

After coming really close to a giant wedge tornado in Lookeba Oklahoma, Holy Tornado then raced south to Chickasha were we once again got our visual of the mesocyclone just of to our southwest. Before this thing had condensed all the way to the ground, you could see the concentrated area where the funnel was about to emerge from the meso. It seemed like there was just a cloud of debris on the ground underneath this meso forever until it had finally fully condensed. Thereafter as the twister gets closer, it intensifies dramatically right outside Jeremy’s window. Shortly after this, you see it hit several homes in a small community and also hits a trailor house and lofts it out the back of the twister. We immediately start searching through rubble and debris. Fortunately, nobody that we know so far has been reported dead from this area although there were some injuries. May god be with the families that were effected by this and may the recovery process get underway fast and be quickly completed.

Another video from Holy Tornado:


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Other footage of the recent tornados:


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This video gives me the chills as you can first hear the warning sirens, then the crashing as the tornado hits the building – thankfully they’re in a basement


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TornadoVideosdotnet

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TornadoVideosdotnet – Just wait until about 1:16 into the video… footage up close

Aerial footage of Joplin MO, destroyed by EF-5 tornado Reply

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Aerial photos of the Missouri city of Joplin taken on Tuesday showed the widespread devastation wrought by the record-breaking tornado that struck over the weekend, with entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble and massive buildings levelled. The National Weather Service said Sunday’s twister was an EF-5, the strongest rating assigned to tornadoes, with winds of more than 200 miles per hour. With 122 people confirmed dead so far, it was the deadliest single twister since the National Weather Service began keeping official records in 1950 and the eighth-deadliest in US history.

Joplin MO Tornado, several footages – 75% of city gone, 89 dead, many still missing 1

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Currently estimated to have been an EF4 (166-200mph winds) strength twister. Death toll currently at 89 and still counting. 75% of the city has been devastated, leveled – 2,000 buildings. Estimated to have been a mile wide. Debris found 70 miles away.

The tornado slammed into St. John’s Hospital, doing damage from the top to the bottom of the building. One witness reported seeing a victim blown out of the building when the twister hit.

Will add more video through the day as it comes in.

On the following video, from the person who took it, “The video i took while at Fastrip on east 20th street. We huddled in the back of the store until the glass got sucked out , then ran into the walk in storage fridge. Sorry for the lack of visuals but the audio is pretty telling of how intense the storm was. The tornado hits at around 1:20 seconds.”

2011 Year of the Tornadoes – Pix from TX to MI tornadoes which hit Sunday May 22 Reply

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Tornadoes ripped through parts of the Midwest today killing at least 24 people in a Missouri town where a hospital was damaged, and at least one person in Minneapolis.

These storms were part of a series that battered the Midwest tonight. Tornado warnings and watches were posted from Texas to Michigan.

Those storms followed a tornado Saturday night that swept through a small eastern Kansas town, killing one person and destroying at least 20 homes, as severe thunderstorms pelted the region with hail that some residents described as the size of baseballs, authorities said today.

AP Photo/The Capital-Journal, An

AP Photo/The Capital-Journal, An

AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Marli

AP Photo/The Capital-Journal, An

AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Marli

AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Marl

AP Photo/The Capital-Journal, An

Jaime Green/Wichita Eagle

AP Photo/The Star Tribune, David

Jaime Green/Wichita Eagle

Jaime Green/Wichita Eagle

AP Photo/The Capital-Journal, An

Photos from Detroit Free Press

Deadly tornado rips through Joplin MO, deaths and damage Reply

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Picture above shows the damage to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., after it was hit by a tornado on Sunday

A tornado steamrolled across Joplin, Mo., Sunday night, directly hitting a hospital and causing many deaths, according to various reports.

The city, which took a direct hit from the tornado, according to the reports, was left isolated in the destruction, with telephone connections largely cut off.

“The power lines have gone down – we can’t reach anyone there,” said Bill Davis, a meteorologist at the Springfield office of the National Weather Service. He said any assessment of exactly how strong the tornado was will have to wait until tomorrow, when experts drive to Joplin, but he said that on a scale from 1 to 10, the tornado looked to be “on the 8-9 level.”

The News-Leader of Springfield quoted Ryan Nicholls, the head of the local emergency management office, as confirming that there were 24 fatalities. The number of injuries was unknown, the newspaper said. But in a separate call to the office, officials said they were still trying to determine how many fatalities there were.

The storm blew out the windows of St. John’s Regional Medical Center, a large structure on the city’s south side, and swathes of its walls were ripped off.

One Joplin resident, Donald Davis, described to the News-Leader driving through the city, saying that Joplin High School had its windows broken out and part of the roof missing. A church across the street was demolished, he said.

He also described damage to a grocery store, and a large building, the Hampshire Terrace Apartments.

“They’re flattened,” Mr. Davis said. “You just can’t believe it. There must have been 150 units. One lady had a bathrobe around her. Others just had blankets around them.”

Mr. Davis of the National Weather Service said there was a tornado in May 2008 near Joplin that “very much looked like this supercell,” it but missed the city. Still, that tornado, he said, had more than a dozen fatalities.

Check back for updates, photos and videos

Post from The New York Times
By NOAM COHEN
Published: May 22, 2011

Dramatic photos of the Mississippi River flooding in Midwest, TN, MO… Reply

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The Mississippi River and tributaries continue to rise, reaching record crests, and the worst may still be to come. Portions of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas are under water, with more to come. Pressure on levees led the Army Corps of Engineers to blow up a section below Cairo, Ill, inundating 130,000 acres of farmland while saving the town. As a bulge of river water makes its way downstream, levees are stressed and rivers that empty into the Mississippi have no outlet, backing up and flooding even more land. The bulge will reach the Delta later this month, and millions of acres are threatened.
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See my other posting: Flood waters near record levels in Memphis TN (Video footage / pictures) - click here to view

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Floodwater engulfs a home after engineers blew a hole in a levee to divert water from the town of Cairo, Ill. May 3 near Wyatt, Mo. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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The Quad Cities River Bandits and the Peoria Chiefs play a baseball game April 20 inside Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport, Iowa. The rising flood waters of the Mississippi River surround the stadium which is protected by a flood wall. (Paul Colletti/The Dispatch/AP)

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Floodwaters from the Mississippi River on May 3 swamp the area north of New Madrid, Mo. (Jeff Roberson/AP)

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Water flows through an intentional breech in the Birds Point levee May 3 in Mississippi County, Mo. after engineers blew the levee up in an effort to protect nearby Cairo, Ill. from rising floodwaters. (Jeff Roberson/AP)

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Roy Presson embraces his daughters Catherine (left) and Amanda as they stand on the edge of State Highway HH looking out at their family farm on May 3 in Wyatt, Mo. The Presson home and 2,400 acres of land that they farmed was flooded when engineers blew a hole in a levee to save the town of Cairo, Ill. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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With Green River floodwater over his calves, Daniel Davis stands in the kitchen with personal belongings on sawhorses May 3 in Livermore, Ky. (John Dunham/Messenger-Inquirer/AP)

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Workers use a boat to recover supplies from a flooded grain elevator May 4 in Caruthersville, Mo. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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Houses are surrounded by floodwater May 3 in Pinhook, Mo. (Jeff Roberson/AP)

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Linley Dennis plays in a boat while her parents and grandfather work the motor in their flooded front yard in Big Boy Junction May 6 near Finley, Tenn. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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Property owners and hired workers erect temporary flood walls along the Mississippi River in Natchez, Miss. May 7. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

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Lesli Lambert (left) and Tammi St. John row through their neighborhood as floodwaters slowly rise in Finley, Mo. May 7. (Eric Thayer/Reuters)

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Residents look at houses being engulfed by floodwater May 8 in Memphis. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

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Cyril Forck, 90, catches a small perch fish from his backyard deck, which is usually 50 feet away from the edge of the Mississippi River, on Mud Island in Memphis, Tenn. May 4. (Lance Murphey/AP)

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See my other posting: Flood waters near record levels in Memphis TN (Video footage / pictures) - click here to view

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Memphis TN Flood: Army Corps of Engineers: No Concern for Levee Failure (Video) Reply

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Update on my previous post: Flood waters near record levels in Memphis TN (Video footage / pictures)

Forecasters say the Mississippi River could crest late Monday at Memphis, hours sooner than previously predicted, but the mayor says the city’s ready for it. (May 9)

See post – new video added.

Flood waters near record levels in Memphis TN (Video footage / pictures) 4

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Historically high water levels in the Mississippi and Ohio river systems prompted the Army Corps of Engineers to intentionally blow up levees and flood 130,000 acres in Missouri. Now “the most high risk population” is in Memphis, according to Corps of Engineers Col. Vernie Reichling, though the worst danger zone is expected to move further south in the days to come.

“This water that we’re seeing coming by is moving 2 million cubic feet per second,” said Reichling of the situation on Sunday outside Memphis. “To use an analogy, in one second that water would fill up a football field 44 feet deep.”

By daybreak Sunday, the Mississippi had already reached 47.3 feet.

The river is expected to crest at 48 feet — just shy of the 48.7-foot record set in 1937 — shortly after midnight Tuesday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Borghoff.

Officials have looked at the possibility of the river reaching 52 feet, “solely to fall on the high side of caution,” Nations said.
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An explosion lights up the night sky as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blows an 11,000-foot hole in the Birds Point levee in Mississippi County, Mo. on Monday. The breach lowered the flood levels at Cairo, Illinois. Credit: Getty Images, NOAA












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UPDATE: MAY 9, 2011

Forecasters say the Mississippi River could crest late Monday at Memphis, hours sooner than previously predicted, but the mayor says the city’s ready for it. (May 9)

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Forecasters are pushing up their prediction of when the Mississippi River could crest at Memphis. Now, the river could reach 48 feet as early as Monday night. (May 9)

Several amazing footages of killer tornado in Tuscaloosa AL 04/27/11 1

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Video footage by Clay Hasenfuss | Tuscaloosa AL
Governor Robert Bentley of Alabama declared a state of emergency after 25 were killed by storms on Wednesday alone. That was before the tornado hit Tuscaloosa, where 100 were said to have been injured. Another 11 people were killed in Mississippi, two in Georgia and one in Tennessee.

The Tuscaloosa tornado was one of several that hit Alabama. It tore through the city after 5pm, sweeping past a major medical centre, the University of Alabama campus and a high school.

Many parts of the state had been on a tornado watch throughout the day, prompting schools, government offices and businesses to close early or shut down. One of the Mississippi dead was a father trying to shelter his daughter at a campsite when he was killed.

Mayor Walter Maddox of Tuscaloosa said that sections of the city had been destroyed. News footage showed paramedics lifting a child out of a flattened home, with many other buildings in the city of more than 83,000 people also reduced to rubble.

“The city experienced widespread damage from a tornado that cut a path of destruction deep into the heart of the city,” Mr Maddox said in a statement.
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4/28/11 UPDATE:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of the killer tornadoes that ripped across the South may have been among the largest and most powerful ever recorded, experts suggested, leaving a death toll that is approaching that of a tragic “super outbreak” of storms almost 40 years ago.

“There’s a pretty good chance some of these were a mile wide, on the ground for tens of miles and had wind speeds over 200 mph,” said Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla.

Full story, please click here.

Latest from BBC: More than 300 dead in US storms (click here) | 29 April 2011 Last updated at 01:53 ET

Good Morning America: Tuscaloosa, Alabama Terrorized by Tornadoes, Hundreds Dead video | April 28, 2011
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PERSONAL NOTE: I grew up in tornado alley, but have never witnessed anything like this…. There are no words to describe what these people have gone through, and will go through….

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Video footage by Clay Hasenfuss | Tuscaloosa AL

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Drought and Fires Rampant in New Mexico Reply

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“Tire Fire” burns, evacuates homes
17,000 acre fire sparked by blown tire

While the rest of the country has been pummeled by rains, tornadoes, and snow the past several months, the drought continues in New Mexico.

January through March 2011, ranked as the 11th driest in the 117 years since 1895. And with wind gusts upwards to 70 mph, even the most innocent of circumstances bring on out of control fires. Take for example, the current “Tire Fire.”

The “Tire Fire” started after a tire was blown on a vehicle. When the tire blew, sparks from the vehicle wheel caught nearby grass on fire.

Picture of one of several fire vortexes.

The fire is burning between Melrose and Floyd, New Mexico. It has burned three homes and is estimated at 17,000 acres. The fire continues to burn east toward the area south of Clovis, New Mexico.

It has burned a line about 20 miles long and 1.5 miles wide and is 15 percent contained.

Homes along Highway 467 at the Roosevelt County Line and residents south and east of U.S. highway 70 are being evacuated. U.S. highway 70 is closed between Clovis and Portales, New Mexico.

About 30 fire departments are helping to battle the flames.

Current drought status in New Mexico is “severe” to “extreme”.




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Update:

State forestry officials say the Curry County “tire fire” is 90 percent contained Sunday night after scorching more than 17,000 acres.

A spokeswoman for the Clovis Fire Department says three firefighters are being treated at the hospital for burns and smoke inhalation.

The fire has left a 1.5 mile wide, 22 mile long scar between southern Curry County and northern Roosevelt County.

Drought map.

Updated: Sunday, 17 Apr 2011, 10:26 PM MDT
Published : Sunday, 17 Apr 2011, 1:56 PM MDT

Web Producer: Hawa Konte

MELROSE, N.M. (KRQE)