Oklahoma Tornado

[Vincero dOro]

My Irish grandmother was a devout Catholic apparently and according to the story got very upset with my grandfather for not going to church very much.

She sent the priest around to talk to him and my grandfather told him to bugger off

 

But was divine retribution swift & ruthless.

[Total Chaos]

Crikey, anyone got the news on today, such a vast scale of destruction with 91 including at least 20 children declared dead.

 

At least 150 people reported injured and the tornado itself was around a mile deep.

 

I believe that American shoddy homes housing people in match stick homes instead of solid concrete buildings only aids things like this.

 

A large piece of timber or even a flying car or two at 200 mile per hour, would still go straight through a concrete house.

[buck]

A large piece of timber or even a flying car or two at 200 mile per hour, would still go straight through a concrete house.

The school that was hit the worst wasn't made of wood, but it still fell apart.

 

---------- Post added 22-05-2013 at 14:11 ----------

 

No hate here old chap. Just pointing out that any god of love has a pretty strange way of showing it regardless of which particular god they choose. There are lots around the world who seem to think that god is on their side, and some even kill in their gods name. It just seems that they seem to get scant recognition from their gods for doing his work.

I'm sorry if I used that word hate on you. You might think from the tone of my answers that I'm a religious nut. Nothing is further from the truth.But I have a devout Irish wife who asked me to go to church with her, and I see little harm in those who go. I lost my first wife in a car crash back in 1979, and if there was a god I wanted nothing to do with him, her or it. But I've been married now to Pauline for 31 years and if she represents what God is capable of, I'll go along with it. Atheists always say they know God doesn't exist, completely without proof, and I can't prove he does. But if Einstein can believe it, its as good an opinion as anyone anywhere, even in Sheffield. The earth and life is a pretty remarkable feat of social engineering. It would be nice to be able to congratulate whover was responsible for it. If its just evolution, how come it happened nowhere else in our galaxy.

[SnailyBoy]

The school that was hit the worst wasn't made of wood, but it still fell apart.

 

---------- Post added 22-05-2013 at 14:11 ----------

 

I'm sorry if I used that word hate on you. You might think from the tone of my answers that I'm a religious nut. Nothing is further from the truth.But I have a devout Irish wife who asked me to go to church with her, and I see little harm in those who go. I lost my first wife in a car crash back in 1979, and if there was a god I wanted nothing to do with him, her or it. But I've been married now to Pauline for 31 years and if she represents what God is capable of, I'll go along with it. Atheists always say they know God doesn't exist, completely without proof, and I can't prove he does. But if Einstein can believe it, its as good an opinion as anyone anywhere, even in Sheffield. The earth and life is a pretty remarkable feat of social engineering. It would be nice to be able to congratulate whover was responsible for it. If its just evolution, how come it happened nowhere else in our galaxy.

 

Atheists don't have a belief in gods

 

As for evolution, that's a fact. If you're talking about abiogenesis, that's still being researched.

[Rupert_Baehr]

Its just hard to believe the destructive power! It makes us humans just so insignificant to mother nature.

 

Do they get even get insurance as they live in 'Tornado Alley'

 

Poor people.

 

 

The British News Media have been rattling on about 'tornado alley' as if it's a comparatively narrow band. In fact, tornadoes occur most regularly anywhere from central Texas (to the South) and the northern edge of the great Lakes (to the North) from the Rockies through to the Appalachians.

 

It's hardly an 'alley;' it's a vast tract of land.

 

The Plains States are particularly prone to tornadoes because they have vast extents of flat land (with little on it to disrupt a twister as it starts) so the tornadoes have more chance to develop. There are some areas which seem (slightly) more prone to tornadoes than others ... mobile home parks are often known as 'tornado magnets.' Perhaps historically people realised that some places seem to be more prone than others and the price of the land in those places fell accordingly?

 

I would think most insurance companies would black list places like this but you would think red tape goes out the window in these situations.

 

Insurance companies do tend to decline to cover some properties in certain areas, but if that happens, the State government may well invite the company not to do any business in that State. What's more likely is that the premiums for new customers will be prohibitively high and those customers are pushed into insuring with a (comparatively small) group of carriers who may also benefit from some 'State Underwriting'.

 

You can get insurance for anything in America.

 

 

If you're prepared to pay enough, perhaps. - But you can expect to pay a great deal for some coverage in certain areas. Where I live, tornadoes aren't much of a problem (though a funnel cloud was sighted in the area earlier today.) Hurricanes are more of a threat and as a result, house insurance (including hurricane damage - which comes with a hefty excess) is likely to set you back between £2000 - £3000 a year. (Flood insurance is another £300 on top.)

 

The thing which did surprise me was that so few houses, neither of the schools nor the hospital had decent storm shelters. I lived in Michigan in 1988 and during that summer, we spent 2 nights out of 3 in the cellar - because there were either tornado watches (likely to happen) or tornado warnings (one has been seen in the local area.) Practically every house had a cellar or basement and most people had them fitted out as tornado shelters.

 

Oklahoma City had a major tornado in 1998. (We were thinking of moving there, but after that particular event, the job had 'gone away'.) (Which suited me fine!)

 

Apparently, the town of Moore has had 4 tornadoes since 1998.

 

I expect something will be said about the lack of shelters.

 

Tornadoes do some freakish (and wholly unpredictable) things. I saw one which hit Omaha in the 70's. It went up one side of a street, demolishing every house. The houses on the other side of the road didn't suffer a single broken window. One of the local TV News stations showed a picture of a 3" thick plank of wood which had a tulip sticking through it. The stem of the flower had pierced the wood completely, half was one side and half was the other. The petals were still on the flower.

 

---------- Post added 22-05-2013 at 21:11 ----------

 

On the BBC news they had film of someone coming out of his home when the tornado had passed through. Looking at the damage he said "the lord giveth and the lord taketh away". His IQ must have been 10 or fewer above a bean bag.

 

If he'd said: "Oh well, some you win and some you lose" would you have accused him of frittering his life away gambling?

[Harleyman]

But was divine retribution swift & ruthless.

 

Yes swift and ruthless. When he got to the pub later on they had just run out of beer