Early warnings, good timing, and common sense all helped prevent a tragedy Friday night. But on Easter Sunday, many of those cleaning up the mess also thanked a higher power.
“I don’t know why God decided to spare our lives, but I’m thankful for it,’’ Joni Bellinger, children’s minister at hard-hit Ferguson Christian Church, said yesterday.
Another round of severe thunderstorms and possibly tornadoes is expected to strike the southern states later this week, according to the US Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. The center said an area from southern Ohio to Mississippi, including Atlanta and Cincinnati, is likely to see thunderstorms, high winds, and tornadoes....
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Related: Storm Savages St. Louis
Weekly U.S. Weather Report
"Town evacuated as levee threatened" April 26, 2011|Associated Press
POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — A thousand residents fled their homes in southern Missouri yesterday, as heavy rains falling on saturated ground threatened to break the levee protecting their town. Smaller evacuations also took place from Kentucky to Arkansas, as rivers and lakes continued to rise.
Forecasters said severe storms will drop more heavy rain across the lower Ohio and Mississippi River valleys, compounding the misery from a storm system that pounded the region last week and over the weekend, spawning tornadoes.
Some places have already seen 10 to 15 inches of rain, and the worst flooding may not come until tomorrow. Two storms with rain and possible tornadoes were moving into the region, with parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas expected to feel the brunt, a meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said. Last night, at least five people in Arkansas were killed — three in flood waters and two in a town where it was likely a tornado struck.
Police in Poplar Bluff, a town of 17,000, moved residents out by noon, after officials said they feared that a catastrophic failure of the town’s levee on the Black River was imminent.
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"Rain-swollen rivers threaten Midwest, force evacuation in Missouri town" April 27, 2011|Associated Press
POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — A powerful storm system that spawned a deadly tornado in Arkansas caused rivers to swell yesterday across the Midwest, straining levees that protect thousands of homes and forcing panicked residents of one town to flee for higher ground....
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"Storm system pounds South, killing 77 people; Ala. bears brunt of deaths" Associated Press / April 28, 2011
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A wave of tornado-spawning storms strafed the South yesterday, splintering buildings across hard-hit Alabama and killing 77 people in four states.
At least 61 people died in Alabama alone, including 15 or more when a massive tornado devastated Tuscaloosa. The mayor said sections of the city that is home to the University of Alabama have been destroyed, and the city’s infrastructure is devastated.
Eleven deaths were reported in Mississippi, four in Georgia, and one in Tennessee....
The storm system spread destruction Tuesday night and yesterday from Texas to Georgia, and it was forecast to hit the Carolinas next before moving further northeast....
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And if it keeps on raining, levees are going to break.
How come they were not repaired, America? Do you believe the paper's spin that it was a the locals fault? Seems like there is always plenty of money for banks, wars, Israel, and corporations.
"Storms leave a trail of devastation; Tornadoes kill 290 in six states across the South" by Greg Bluestein and Holbrook Mohr, Associated Press / April 29, 2011
Part of Pratt City, a suburb of Birmingham, Ala., lay in ruins yesterday after a tornado struck overnight. (Marvin Gentry/Reuters)
PLEASANT GROVE, Ala. — Firefighters searched one splintered pile after another for survivors yesterday, combing the remains of houses and neighborhoods pulverized by the nation’s deadliest tornado outbreak in almost four decades. At least 290 people were killed across six states — more than two-thirds of them in Alabama, where large cities bore the half-mile-wide scars the twisters left behind.
The death toll from Wednesday’s storms seems out of a bygone era, before Doppler radar and pinpoint satellite forecasts were around to warn communities of severe weather. Residents were told the tornadoes were coming up to 24 minutes ahead of time, but they were just too wide, too powerful, and too locked onto populated areas to avoid a horrifying body count....
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PLEASANT GROVE, Ala. — Firefighters searched one splintered pile after another for survivors yesterday, combing the remains of houses and neighborhoods pulverized by the nation’s deadliest tornado outbreak in almost four decades. At least 290 people were killed across six states — more than two-thirds of them in Alabama, where large cities bore the half-mile-wide scars the twisters left behind.
The death toll from Wednesday’s storms seems out of a bygone era, before Doppler radar and pinpoint satellite forecasts were around to warn communities of severe weather. Residents were told the tornadoes were coming up to 24 minutes ahead of time, but they were just too wide, too powerful, and too locked onto populated areas to avoid a horrifying body count....
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"Plane crash in Kan. kills 4 family members" April 23, 2011|Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. — A small airplane filled with relatives on their way to visit friends for Easter crashed in a muddy Kansas cornfield yesterday, killing all four people aboard, officials said....
The plane left a long trail of wreckage in conditions so sloppy emergency crews initially had trouble reaching the debris. Weather conditions were cool and damp; there were no severe storms in the area when the crash happened....
I read that and I instantly think of the lack of debris in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
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Other storms the Globe is tracking down south:
"A sniper hiding behind a tree on a wooded hillside in rural southwest Virginia killed two sheriff’s deputies from long range with high-powered rifle and wounded two other officers during a shootout Sunday. After a search, authorities caught up to the gunman, and police said he was shot to death when he pulled a pistol on officers....
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Related: Hundreds attend funeral for slain Ga. police officer
Court upholds Virginia prisons’ beard ban
Also see:
Court voids Ark. ban on gay adoptions
Alabama leaders apologize for ‘unkind’ handling of rape case in 1944
Ala. to apologize for handling of 1944 rape
Boy killed when train ride overturns in S.C.
Deadly South Carolina park ride was not inspected
Teen dies in crash on road named for dad
I-95 speed cameras in S.C. draw lawsuit
N.C. pair investigated for thefts across US
