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Tornadoes kill 200 in Southeast United States, Nou blames the south again
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| quote: | TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The death toll from severe storms that punished five Southern U.S. states has jumped to 249.
Alabama officials confirmed 162 deaths. Mississippi officials reported 32 dead in that state and Tennessee raised its report to 33.
Another 14 have been killed in Georgia and 8 in Virginia.
Map: Outbreak tornado reports
The White House said President Barack Obama will travel to Alabama on Friday to view damage and meet with the governor and with families devastated by the storms.
One of the hardest-hit areas Wednesday was Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 and home to the University of Alabama. The city's police and other emergency services were devastated, the mayor said, and at least 15 people were killed and about 100 were in a single hospital.
A massive tornado, caught on video by a news camera on a tower, barreled through the city late Wednesday afternoon, leveling it.
By nightfall, the city was dark. Roads were impassable. Signs were blown down in front of restaurants, businesses were unrecognizable and sirens wailed off and on. Debris littered the streets and sidewalks.
"I don't think the damage we're seeing is close to the worst, even," The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore said in Tuscaloosa Thursday. "This is an awful situation. There is just so much debris. Thousands of buildings are just completely demolished."
At Stephanie's Flowers, owner Bronson Englebert used the headlights from two delivery vans to see what valuables he could remove. He had closed early, which was a good thing. The storm blew out the front of his store, pulled down the ceiling and shattered the windows, leaving only the curtains flapping in the breeze.
"It even blew out the back wall, and I've got bricks on top of two delivery vans now," Englebert said.
A group of students stopped to help Englebert, carrying out items like computers and printers and putting them in his van. "They've been awfully good to me so far," Englebert said.
The storm system spread destruction from Texas to New York, where dozens of roads were flooded or washed out. The governors in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia issued emergency declarations for parts of their states.
President Obama said he had spoken with Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on Wednesday and approved his request for emergency federal assistance, including search and rescue assets. About 1,400 National Guard soldiers were being deployed around the state.
"Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this devastation, and we commend the heroic efforts of those who have been working tirelessly to respond to this disaster," Obama said in a statement.
In northwest Georgia, Sheriff Phil Summers said search-and-rescue crews were combing through rubble for people still missing in Ringgold. A suspected tornado struck near Interstate 75 late Wednesday, then hit the
city's downtown and smashed a residential neighborhood. At least seven people are reported dead in Catoosa County, while dozens more were injured.
The sheriff said rescue crews are focusing on searching damaged fast-food restaurants and motels near the interstate.
Around Tuscaloosa, traffic was snarled by downed trees and power lines, and some drivers abandoned their cars in medians.
"What we faced today was massive damage on a scale we have not seen in Tuscaloosa in quite some time," Mayor Walter Maddox said.
The University of Alabama cancelled classes through Friday. University officials said there didn't appear to be significant damage on campus, and dozens of students and locals were staying at a 125-bed shelter in the campus recreation center.
Volunteers and staff were providing food and water to people like 29-year-old civil engineering graduate student Kenyona Pierce. "I really don't know if I have a home to go to," she said.
Storms also struck Birmingham, felling numerous trees that impeded emergency responders and those trying to leave hard-hit areas. Surrounding Jefferson County reported 11 deaths; another hard-hit area was Walker County in the far northwest part of the state with at least eight deaths. The rest of the deaths were scattered around northern Alabama.
In the Birmingham suburb of Pleasant Grove, resident Jack Otwell told The Weather Channel's Jeff Morrow that he and his wife "got in the far corner" of the basement as the tornado approached. "You could hear it coming. It was real loud -- like a roaring. We could hear the house coming apart.
"We sat there, prayed and cried. And then it got real quiet."
Pleasant Grove resident Jerry Stewart said he and his wife, along with their daughter and two grandchildren, survived by hiding under their front porch. The 63-year-old retired firefighter said he pulled out the bodies of two neighbors whose home was ripped off its foundation.
The Browns Ferry nuclear power plant about 30 miles west of Huntsville lost offsite power. The Tennessee Valley Authority-owned plant had to use seven diesel generators to power the plant's three units. The safety systems operated as needed and the emergency event was classified as the lowest of four levels, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
In Huntsville, meteorologists found themselves in the path of severe storms and had to take shelter in a reinforced steel room, turning over monitoring duties to a sister office in Jackson, Miss. Meteorologists saw multiple wall clouds, which sometimes spawn tornadoes, and decided to take cover, but the building wasn't damaged.
"We have to take shelter just like the rest of the people," said meteorologist Chelly Amin, who wasn't at the office at the time but spoke with colleagues about the situation.
In Kemper County, Miss., in the east-central part of the state, sisters Florrie Green and Maxine McDonald, and their sister-in-law Johnnie Green, all died in a mobile home that was destroyed by a storm.
Johnnie Green's daughter-in-law said Florrie Green and McDonald owned mobile homes side-by-side, and Johnnie Green lived nearby. Johnnie Green was at one of the woman's homes at the time the storm hit.
"It's hard. It's been very difficult," Mary Green said. "They were thrown into those pines over there," she said, pointing to a wooded area. "They had to go look for their bodies."
In a neighborhood south of Birmingham, Austin Ransdell and a friend had to hike out after the house where he was living was crushed by four trees. No one was hurt.
As he walked away from the wreckage, trees and power lines crisscrossed residential streets, and police cars and utility trucks blocked a main highway.
"The house was destroyed. We couldn't stay in it. Water pipes broke; it was flooding the basement," he said. "We had people coming in telling us another storm was coming in about four or five hours, so we just packed up."
Not far away, Craig Branch was stunned by the damage.
"Every street to get into our general subdivision was blocked off. Power lines are down; trees are all over the road. I've never seen anything like that before," he said.
In eastern Tennessee, a woman was killed by falling trees in her trailer in Chattanooga. Just outside the city in Tiftonia, what appeared to be a tornado also struck at the base of the tourist peak Lookout Mountain.
Tops were snapped off trees and insulation and metal roof panels littered the ground. Police officers walked down the street, spray-painting symbols on houses they had checked for people who might be inside.
Mary Ann Bowman, 42, stood watching from her driveway as huge tractors moved downed trees in the street. She had rushed home from work to find windows shattered at her house, and her grandmother's house next door shredded. The 91-year-old woman wasn't home at the time.
"When I pulled up I just started crying," Bowman said. |
http://www.weather.com/outlook/weat...tion_2011-04-27
As if this whole situation doesn't suck enough, the comments on this page make me shake my head. It seems that the only thing people are willing to discuss to help out is whether or not praying will work. I don't give half a if you believe in Jesus or don't, but this guy has a point:
| quote: | Bogdan Milanović · University of Minnesota
God doesn't exist. Instead of praying, rather do something useful. |
This is a bit of a harsh way to put it, but he's right. Sitting there saying "oh I'm praying for the survivors" is a complete ing cop-out of any sort of actual help. People must be joking when they are trying to validate their reasons for praying.
| quote: | Christina Hatfield · Super Mom! at Stay at home mom and wife
Don't get upset people. Just pray for this very lost person! |
| quote: | Rose Perry · Youngstown State University
PRAYER is a very POWERFUL thing!!! I have been part of many prayers and a recipient of many blessings from prayers! |
| quote: | Nicole Ninjaa · Work Study at D&E Bookstore
Have you not thought about the fact that prayer is all that some people can do? It's very effective, but most people have jobs that they can't leave, children that they can't travel that far with, and responsibilities that they have to take care of and can't go and volunteer at shelters or help with cleanup. God does exist, and he's helping everyone with cleanup and volunteer efforts. |
This type of makes me sad. Few people are able to get up and travel to another state to help clean up, but people who are posting on facebook and the internet generally have 5 bucks to send to a professional organization that is working on cleaning up. Every little bit helps, especially a lot more than empty words being sent to a being that nobody is sure exists or not.
Thoughts, c0r?
c0r version - Tornadoes rip through SE United States, all people can do is argue over whether or not prayer is an acceptable form of help. |
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| Redd |
| hell I'll become religious to save 5 bucks |
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| Ted Promo |
| I'M ALRIGHT EVERYONE, STOP WORRYING. I MADE IT THROUGH ALRIGHT AND AM ON MY WAY TO SENSATION WHITE. |
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| Zyklon_Jay |
| its nice to know that god doesn't only hate japan. |
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| Silky Johnson |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ted Promo
I'M ALRIGHT EVERYONE, STOP WORRYING. I MADE IT THROUGH ALRIGHT AND AM ON MY WAY TO SENSATION WHITE. |
:stongue: |
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| srussell0018 |
| It's still the dolphins. |
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| srussell0018 |
| My favorite comment was "Prayer is very effective!" One time I was nervous about an upcoming baseball game I had in high school. I jerked off to ease the tension, and we ended up winning. From now on, every time there's a natural disaster, I'm going to rub one out for all of the people affected. |
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| Joss Weatherby |
| I hope these s dont get a single federal tax dollar for the recovery, since they are so opposed to them at every other moment. |
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| Joss Weatherby |
| Was there like creepy drone music during that Youtube video??!? At the end you hear the person say "omg" etc... but the whole rest of the time except for the start its like weird droning sounds... :wtf: |
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| tubularbills |
deadliest outbreak of tornadic activity since the Super Outbreak in 1974.
:( |
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