The confirmed death toll from the Oklahoma medical examiner was lowered from an earlier figure of 51, illustrating the confusion as day broke over the shattered city of Moore. It was not clear how many children were included in the revised death toll, and authorities cautioned the toll could change again.An NBC News story on the death toll from the Oklahoma tornadoes, which was revised down to 24, something the Associated Press reports was caused by counting victims twice during the early chaos of the storm.
…already Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says he will insist that any federal disaster aid be paid for with cuts elsewhere.
Roll Call (via brooklynmutt)
Not the time.
40 minutes, 20 miles, at least 37 dead: the New York Times maps out the path of the tornado that leveled Moore, Oklahoma
Note the varying count from the prior post.
At Plaza Towers Elementary School, the tornado tore the roof off, and authorities kept hysterical parents back because it was too loud to hear screams for help. A teacher told NBC affiliate KFOR that she draped herself on top of six children in a bathroom to shelter them.
It was not clear how many children were trapped. Students in fourth, fifth and sixth grade were evacuated to a church, but students in lower grades had sheltered in place, KFOR reported. More than two hours after the tornado struck, several children were pulled out alive.
Moore, Oklahoma is a target for tornadoes. As Buzzfeed notes, it’s the fourth to hit the city since 1999. The tornado in 1999, which caused $1.1 billion in damage, was the third-costliest in U.S. history; 36 people died in that tornado.
“Time lapse of the Oklahoma tornado. This is stunning and terrifying.” - @colinjones
via wmctv
We had the audio of this yesterday, but here’s the clip of KSN running for shelter after a major storm battered down in Wichita, Kansas yesterday.
Tornado confirmed in NYC: So, tornadoes aren’t just a midwestern thing. With confirmed reports of a storm touching down in a beachfront area of Queens (above) and a tornado watch for all five boroughs lasting until 9 p.m., looks like New Yorkers are getting to experience certain things for the first time. Fortunately, nobody was injured in this one, though it did cause some damage and power outages. Other natural disasters they’ve had to deal with lately? An earthquake (which was really more of a DC thing) and a tropical storm. (image by Joey Mure, via AP)
EDIT: Worth pointing out that tornadoes aren’t completely unheard of in NYC (just somewhat rare), as a 2010 storm took out hundreds of trees in Brooklyn. (ht ohheybill)
Image description: This map shows tornado tracks from 1950 to 2006. Stronger tornadoes appear as brighter lines.
The map was created by John Nelson of IDV Solutions using data that’s available on Data.gov. Learn more about the map.
In which destructive, deadly acts of mother nature are presented in a way that makes you wanna go, “whoa, awesome!”
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Among the videos from last night’s storms: Here’s a clip of a double tornado that hit near Cherokee, Oklahoma. That’s right, two tornadoes right next to one another. Our pal Philip Bump has a couple other harrowing clips. Anyone see anything particularly insane from last night’s storms? Leave a link in a response.
» Storms predicted, reported early: On Thursday, the Norman, Okla.-based Storm Prediction Center announced a potentially life-threatening storm that would hit the midwest and plains states this weekend. It was just the second time that the center made an announcement more than a day in advance of a storm. The center warns that the threat is still there, but it’s just moved eastward. But it left much destruction in its path: In Iowa, a town was largely destroyed; in Kansas, an Air Force base suffered damage. Nebraska reported baseball-sized hail. But in Oklahoma, the storms proved deadly. Very scary.
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The majority of surveyed Joplin residents did not immediately go to shelter upon hearing the initial warning, whether from local warning sirens, television, NWR [NOAA weather radio], or other sources.From the National Weather Service’s report on last year’s tornado in Joplin • Detailing how, in severe storm conditions, a big part of safeguarding communities and lives depends on people taking warnings seriously. In one instance, a Joplin resident ignored a slew of warning signals, driving from place to place looking for an open restaurant despite seeing that some were barred against the brewing storm, and hearing tornado warnings throughout town. As a response, the NWS has implementing new, stronger and more frightening vocabulary to be used for high-risk storm alerts, such as “mass devastation,” “complete destruction,” and “not survivable.” We really hope everybody in the Midwest will prioritize their safety over the coming days – authorities anticipate big storms (and likely tornadoes) to roll through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska later tonight. source (via • follow)
» Why the storms didn’t prove deadly: Despite there being a dozen tornadoes that touched ground, it helped significantly that the storms happened in the middle of the day, rather than late at night. With people awake, it’s much easier to ensure they take cover; when people are asleep, the challenge becomes much more significant, meteorologists say.
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