Monday - March 13, 2006

Ground Zero

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to hunker down in a foxhole while artillery falls all around you, blowing huge holes in the earth as you pull your helmet tight on your head, curl up and wait it out? If not, you ought to come live in the Midwest during Spring. That’s what the last 48 hours have been like here in St. Louis. Tornados have been touching down all around us as a massive thunderstorm front rolled through over the weekend.

At last count the death toll was at seven nine ten. I’ve been sitting here with boiling black skies all around me with lightning flashes to occasionally illuminate clouds where ”they” hide. “They” are those nasty little funnels that drop down out of a cloud, savagely attack any mobile homes in sight then jump back up into the clouds. They don’t play fair. There’s almost no way to tell where the next one will appear. It’s almost like playing Russian Roulette. You never know.

As for me, I’m got some essentials in the basement (bottled water, canned food, spare clothes ... “personal protection") just in case. Power has been off and on a few times but everything seems to have danced all around us here in St. Louis. Folks to the North, West and South of us haven’t been as lucky. They’re still trying to go through the debris. That’s the good news. The bad news is everything East of us is in the gun sights. You kids in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky better get ready. I hope your foxhole is as lucky as mine was ....

‘The Trailer Came Down Right On Top Of Her’
Storms leave 5 people dead in Midwest
_{Monday, March 13, 2006 3:46 a.m. EST (08:46 GMT)}

(CNN)—Tornadoes rampaged through the heart of Missouri and into Illinois on Sunday, killing at least five people, authorities said, capping a weekend that had already seen two deaths blamed on severe weather. “One hundred homes or businesses received significant damage or were destroyed,” said Pettis County, Missouri, presiding commissioner Rusty Kahrs. He said at least three tornadoes had touched down in Pettis County, about 70 miles east-southeast of Kansas City.

Kahrs identified the fatality as 39-year-old DeAnn Frances Follman, who he said was exiting her mobile home when the storm hit. He said six others were injured and two were missing. A neighbor of Follman’s told The Associated Press: “The trailer came down right on top of her.” According to Kahrs, one of the tornadoes cut a half-mile-wide, 20-mile-long swath through the county late Sunday afternoon.

As the deadly line of thunderstorms rumbled to the northeast, Randolph County was next. According to Randolph County Coroner Gerald Luntsford, four people died in Moberly after their homes were destroyed by winds. The deaths occurred in three different homes. The damage stretched into northeastern Missouri.

“We’ve got buildings and mobile homes flattened—people are injured or trapped,” a harried Monroe City police dispatcher said. “It’s hard to give you anything firm because reports keep coming in.” The National Weather Service Web site said there were reports of people trapped in a damaged church.

The NWS also reported a confirmed a tornado near the Cedar County seat of Stockton, about 120 miles south of Kansas City, about 9:40 p.m. (10:40 p.m. ET). “We have damage and some injuries. We don’t know how many,” said Doug Miller, a dispatcher for the Cedar County Sheriff’s Department.

- Read the rest at CNN ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/13/2006 at 05:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather •  
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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