Greensburg Tornado

[ocala]

Man that looks terrible out there. 90% of the town is gone. It's amazing only 9 were killed with that much devastation. Have to feel for those people.

[Mark / Ohio]

Looking at the photos I'm surprised more were not killed.  They must have all been hunkered down in storm shelters and safe rooms.  I'd hate to think if something that size came through here.

[NGRRFan]

From what I've heard, very few of the homes had basements or safe rooms.  I've been through that town, and to think that the footprint of the tornado was almost as wide as the town just boggles my mind.

[ocala]

Here's a video from youtube. You can only see it when the lightning flashes but remember this thing is appx 1.7 miles wide. By the way it was classified as an EF5 on the new scale after the NWS did their damage assessment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRm4yu2MI-c
And a pic.
http://www.wxbob.net:8080/galleries/albums/BatchUploads/20070504/large_20070504_156.JPG

[Harryca]

Here are some links you all might be interested in.

Aerial photos: http://www.kansas.com/static/slides/050507tornadoaerials/
Ground photos: http://www.kansas.com/static/slides/050507tornado/
Path of the tornado: http://www.kansas.com/static/maps/050507tornado.swf
Amateur Radio At Work In The Disaster Area: http://www.cenkares.org/
Pics and video of the EF-5 can be found here: http://tornadovideos.decadehost.com/

Harry

[Mark / Ohio]

Thanks Harry.  If I were looking at those photos without the location being known I would think hurricane damage by the swath of the damage.

Cement and old multiple brick thick walls looks to be the only thing that withstood the winds at all.

One of the TV channels showed a 28,000 lb. combine that was picked up from the John Deere dealership and set down in a pond.  Amazing....

[Harryca]

Mark, it's really hard to imagine a whole town being ripped apart like that in a matter of seconds.  I'm sure it will take a long time for them to rebuild.  

When I looked at the photos, I had flashbacks of another F-5 tornado that occured 50 years ago only 15 miles from where I was living in Kansas City.  It was the Ruskins Heights Tornado on May 20, 1957 that created a 71 mile long path, with an average width of 700 yards, of death and destruction that left 44 dead and 500 injured.  Below, are some photos I found that shows some of the destruction it caused. To enlarge the photos, click on the image in the center of the page.

Ruskin Heights High School
https://www.kclibrary.org/localhistory/media.cfm?mediaID=2602

Another view of Ruskin Heights High School
https://www.kclibrary.org/localhistory/media.cfm?mediaID=2601

The path of the tornado
https://www.kclibrary.org/localhistory/media.cfm?mediaID=2605
https://www.kclibrary.org/localhistory/media.cfm?mediaID=2606

Ruskin Heights Tornado Memorial
http://www.ruskinheightstornado.org/

Harry

[ncpilot]

You see some of that destruction and then think maybe you're not a crazy paranoid to want a safe room in a house... if not a "bunker"...

[Mark / Ohio]

The Xenia, OH was one of the worst we've had though Northern Ohio has had some since 1974 near or of the same wind strength.  I can recall taking canned food to school to be sent over to the Xenia area which is approx. 100 miles WSW from my location.

http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/storms/

http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/storms/ohio.html

I've only personally seen the damage of much smaller ones that went a few hundred yards or less.  The terrain in our area seems to help break them up compared to the flatter ground to our West and North.

[SLOweather]

Last Sunday my parents left on a road trip from California to Kansas City for a family wedding. Their route was to take them through Greensburg yesterday.

They were detoured around the city on other roads because of the continuous stream of dump trucks hauling wreckage down the highway from Greensburg to the landfill.

[Harryca]

You see some of that destruction and then think maybe you're not a crazy paranoid to want a safe room in a house... if not a "bunker"...

Actually, I would prefer a bunker, one that would withstand a 10+ megaton blast.     But realistically, if I were to move back to the midwest (fat chance!), I wouldn't buy a house unless it had a basement.

The April 3-4, 1974 outbreak was super bad with 148 tornadoes.  I guess it's still the worst one on record, isn't it?  I found another link that also tells the story along with a clip showing the Xenia tornado, interviews of some of the survivors, and some photos http://www.ohiohistory.org/etcetera/exhibits/swio/pages/content/1974_tornado.htm

SLOweather, I do hope your parents make it back from KC okay.  I hear there is another chance of more severe weather around KS and OK next week.

Harry

[racenet]

My Aunt and Uncle survived the Xenia tornado and told many stories about that day. Until the day they passed, neither one of them got over the fear of storms. I guess you really couldn't blame them.



Bob

[Mark / Ohio]

Going off topic a bit...

Seeing the old green weather radar in that video reminded me of watching WBNS channel 10 out of Columbus, Ohio and Joe Holbrook the weatherman during severe weather back in the 70's.  We only had three channels off the antenna and WBNS seemed to always have the fancier tools at that time.  I was just a kid in the 70's but when they showed the old weather station with the dial indicators along with that radar on the news I wished I had a station and radar of my own.  I still have my first wind chill chart that Joe handed me in person at the Dispatch Home and Garden Show one year.  I learned a lot at a young age from watching Joe and also Jym Ganahl who joined channel 4 in the late 70's.