‘I couldn’t stop screaming’: Witnesses describe Texas tornadoes
(Photo: Ralph Lauer / EPA)
Survivors of the tornadoes that devastated two towns in Texas on Wednesday night described their terror as the violent storm tore apart their homes, killing six people and injuring dozens more.
The spate of extreme, hazardous weather we’ve seen over the last year or so has been truly disturbing, which is not to say the people of Texas aren’t in the know about tornado threats. Regardless, though, the damage and human toll here is deflating. Our thoughts are with the victims, stripped of their homes, and for some, their lives.
iphisquandary says: Oh come on don’t even pretend this isn’t about race. A fucking Saudi-American guy carrying a RICE COOKER THAT POLICE THOUGHT WAS A BOMB made bigger news than this. We all know he didn’t necessarily do it, but if this guy was of color and was a suspect like a certain other man who had nothing to do with the Boston Marathon bombing, everyone would know his name by now. Let’s not be disingenuous.
» SFB says: The circumstances of the cases were different. It was unclear that a criminal element may have been involved in the West, Texas case when it first happened (it’s still not clear, though it’s currently being investigated), whereas it was immediately clear that someone was trying to hurt people after the Boston incident—a set of circumstances that led to different treatments by mainstream media sources. The arrest over the pipe bomb parts only came weeks later, after the case had cooled in the national press.
It’s not fair that people got falsely accused of things in the middle of a media circus, but considering it wasn’t clear that this was even a criminal matter (the angle leaned much closer to evil corporation that failed to protect the public), it’s understandable why the response was more muted. But that still doesn’t take away from your point. It’s awful that people were unfairly targeted for their race during a media circus. — Ernie @ SFB
(P.S.: It’s also worth pointing out that, during this same period, a white guy was arrested and accused of sending ricin to the president, only for further investigations to show that he was allegedly framed.)
If you haven’t been keeping a close eye on the story in West, Texas, a lot has happened since the deadly explosion a few weeks ago. Bryce Reed (right), an early responder who was one of the first EMTs on the scene of the incident, was found in possession of an alleged pipe bomb. While he has not been charged with anything in connection with the explosion as of yet, authorities have opened up a criminal investigation into the incident since his arrest. As Talking Points Memo reports, he had a shaky personal situation in recent days.
A white guy with an Anglophone name was found with a pipe bomb in circumstances related to a blast that killed a dozen people, injured scores, and devastated a town?
No, I hadn’t actually heard anything about that. Weird.
I’m sorry, what!? I don’t watch the news but I’m pretty sure the coverage should have been as closely watched as the Boston incident has been. I’ve learned all kinds of info about Boston without watching or reading conventionally news but nothing about this?! Por que, why?
Because the news had broken literally the day that I originally posted it. And also, there is no connection at the moment between him and the explosion (at least not currently, though officials say they have not ruled out arson as a cause of the fire that led to the explosion), just that he allegedly had the parts to a pipe bomb. — Ernie @ SFB
If you haven’t been keeping a close eye on the story in West, Texas, a lot has happened since the deadly explosion a few weeks ago. Bryce Reed (right), an early responder who was one of the first EMTs on the scene of the incident, was found in possession of components for an alleged pipe bomb. While he has not been charged with anything in connection with the explosion as of yet, authorities have opened up a criminal investigation into the incident since his arrest. As Talking Points Memo reports, he had a shaky personal situation in recent days.
EDIT: Quick clarification — he had pipe bomb components, not an actual pipe bomb. Sorry about that. That’s what I get for trying to write on an iPad.
Investigators have confirmed that ammonium nitrate was the trigger for the explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant last month that left 14 people dead and some 200 injured, according to the Texas state fire marshal’s office.
The actual cause of the fire and subsequent blast at the West Fertilizer facility is still being determined, investigators said.
The fire marshal’s office has been leading the investigation of the April 17 blast, along with the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency (ATF).
Roughly $100 million in damages will be attributed to the West, Texas blast when everything is said and done, according to the latest estimates from Texas’ State Fire Marshal Office. More than 70 investigators are still working to determine where exactly the initial fire began, with more than 200 leads and 400 interviews collected already.
First person: West, my home town, is gone
(Photo: Erin Trieb for NBC News)
I learned the news about the explosion in West, Texas, the way you seem to learn everything these days - on Twitter, and then Facebook. I was actually in the middle of telling someone about West. It’s where I grew up and lived until I was 20.
A stirring and emotional first-person reflection on the explosion that rocked West, Texas last week, overshadowed somewhat as it was by the Boston bombing and subsequent manhunt. It’s difficult to imagine finding out about something like this happening to your town and your neighbors on Twitter. Hard to fathom.
digg:
Aerial photos of the aftermath of the deadly Texas fertilizer plant explosion.
I’m making a deal with you guys. Once the news calms down we’re going to spend a day posting nothing but positive uplifiting stories. We’ve had too much stuff like this lately and I know it’s very heavy.
But this is one of the heavier news periods at the moment, and sometimes everything hits all at once. — Ernie @ SFB
Update: We’ve changed the confirmed dead from 15 to 5 to reflect the lower end of the range currently being offered by officials, after some readers raised concerns that reporting the higher end could be deceptive. — Scott @ SFB
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I said, ‘This thing is going to blow’ … and I told my mom and dad to get in the car. I was standing next to my car with my fiancee, waiting for my parents to come out and (the plant) exploded. It knocked us into the car… Every house within about four blocks is blown apart.Bill Bohannan • Discussing the explosion he witnessed in the town of West, Texas, an explosion which appears to have injured dozens, including firefighters. Bohannan was visiting his parents, who live in the city, when the fertilizer plant exploded. A number of nearby buildings, including a nursing home, were evacuated.
[Dylan] Quick, 20, is accused of a carrying out a bloody stabbing rampage at Lone Star College’s CyFair campus near Houston, and on Wednesday, he was “interacting well with investigators,” Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia told reporters Wednesday.
Forthcoming with information, Quick told police he had fantasies of stabbing people since he was 8 years old and that he had been planning Tuesday’s spree “for some time,” Garcia said. The rampage resulted in injuries to 14 people.
The weapon used in Tuesday’s stabbings is best described as a “razor utility knife,” Garcia said.
An update on yesterday’s college campus stabbing in south Texas. The hospital which admitted several victims from Quick’s spree confirmed that all of the patients were in good health, and three have already been released.
I think the individuals in North Korea understand that Austin, Texas, is now a very important city in America, as do corporate CEOs and other people who are moving here in record numbers.Texas Governor Rick Perry, explaining his theory on why Kim Jong-un listed Austin, TX as a possible target for a nuclear strike. source
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