18 reported dead in U.S. tornadoes
- added May 11, 2008
- 8 responses
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- mischabarrett
- added this
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At least 18 people have died following a series of tornadoes which swept through Missouri and Oklahoma yesterday, but police have not ruled out finding more victims.
Hardest hit was Racine, a tiny community in Newton County: six people were also killed in the small Oklahoma town of Picher. "Basically a 24-block area is virtually destroyed", said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. National Guard troops were due to arrive in Picher by this morning to help in rescue and recovery operations. An employee of the Missouri Emergency Management Agency said, "there's a lot of wreckage and overturned vehicles".
Local television footage from Picher showed widespread devastation. Homes were ripped from their foundations, trees were stripped of leaves and sheet metal was twisted like paper. Search efforts for missing people in Picher were shutting down as it was unsafe for rescuers to move through the rubble at night even with mobile floodlights. Fifty people have been treated for injuries ranging from head trauma to lacerations and broken bones.
Picher is currently undergoing a massive pollution clean-up to clear lead and zinc mining hazards. Residents were being assisted with relocation from the community after high levels of lead were found in groundwater.
Reporting by Ben Fenwick in Oklahoma City; additional reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston and Andrew Stern in Chicago; editing by Eric Beech
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters)
Hardest hit was Racine, a tiny community in Newton County: six people were also killed in the small Oklahoma town of Picher. "Basically a 24-block area is virtually destroyed", said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. National Guard troops were due to arrive in Picher by this morning to help in rescue and recovery operations. An employee of the Missouri Emergency Management Agency said, "there's a lot of wreckage and overturned vehicles".
Local television footage from Picher showed widespread devastation. Homes were ripped from their foundations, trees were stripped of leaves and sheet metal was twisted like paper. Search efforts for missing people in Picher were shutting down as it was unsafe for rescuers to move through the rubble at night even with mobile floodlights. Fifty people have been treated for injuries ranging from head trauma to lacerations and broken bones.
Picher is currently undergoing a massive pollution clean-up to clear lead and zinc mining hazards. Residents were being assisted with relocation from the community after high levels of lead were found in groundwater.
Reporting by Ben Fenwick in Oklahoma City; additional reporting by Erwin Seba in Houston and Andrew Stern in Chicago; editing by Eric Beech
OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters)
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- mischabarrett
- 2 months ago
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Here is a pod on the tornadoes which hit the same areas last week. Check it out.
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- mischabarrett
- 2 months ago
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If anyone wants to help those affected by these storms please check out VolunteerMatch. It lets you help your community when disaster strikes or respond today to current relief opportunities.
Its that time of year. Midwest starts getting battered with floods and tornadoes. Out in Cali we get wild fires and I'm pretty sure it smells like earthquake season here in San Francisco.... -
Climate of Blue Planet is acting very destructive, is this the end of smooth life on Earth? Our own mistakes pays off. -
I'm in Alabama, and we had tornado sightings and alarms all night last night. It seemed like half the country was under watch.
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At least 19 people were killed in Missouri and Oklahoma when tornadoes and violent storms ripped through the central and southeastern United States, devastating neighborhoods and injuring hundreds, officials said on Sunday.
The National Weather Service reported six deaths in Oklahoma and 13 in Missouri but those tolls may rise.
"The numbers picked up after first light," said Susie Stonner of Missouri Emergency Management. "We are still doing search and rescue. There are reports of missing people." -
Rescue Crews Search for Survivors After Storms Kill 22 in Three States
Emergency crews searched through wreckage on Sunday from violent storms that killed at least 22 people in Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/us/11cnd-storm.html?h... -
I saw this on CBC last night and kept trying to find more info on CNN and the like, but no american news was covering them. Even this morning CNN was airing some political roundtable instead of even mentioning the storms!
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This ongoing US severe storm cycle is a good indication of what is deemed newsworthy by Big Media. Like Elligirl, I see more coverage on the BBC, CBC and other more outside sources who are not only reporting the storms, but tracking the history of them to get a handle on why they're occuring and how other areas throughout the world are being effected. I've been e-mailing every major US television and radio news source that I can think of to demand more quality journalism that covers the stories of "clear and present dangers". I've also targeted local outlets that have veered away from covering local issues due to being engulfed and devoured by those same major media players. It's time to go way beyond just getting mad. It's time to demand better journalism right this minute.
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