By The Way...

Wednesday, November 16, 2005
7:38:00 AM EST
Hearing Nothing at the moment


The tornadoes passed us by last night, but it appears large swaths of the Midwest weren't so fortunate:

Meteorologists said a cold front moving east collided with warm, unstable air to produce severe thunderstorms and funnel clouds across Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Tennessee. Tornadoes also were spotted in Indiana and Illinois. 

"We heard a weird sound coming through, kind of a whistle," said Penny Leonard, 37, who sought shelter in the basement of a hospital in the western Kentucky town of Madisonville. "I thank God I'm safe." 

In some parts of community, the roofs of homes were caved in, walls were blown out and entire buildings were blown off foundations. Some water pipes sticking from the ground gushed water. 

The link includes more pictures as well as video.

I always joke that one of the nice things about Ohio is that it has no major disasters to think about, but in fact here on the western edge of the state we are at the very tail-end of "Tornado Alley" and from time to time a twister will come through the area and really tear things up -- the Xenia tornado of 1974 is a memorable example of this. It's a reminder that wherever you are on the globe, nature has a way of impacting you. Given the choice between living in tornado country and hurricane country, I'll pick the former (the odds are better you won't be in the wind path), but not matter how you slice it you have to respect the weather.


Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this

This entry has 2 comments: (Add your own)

• #2 Comment from lurkynat
  11/16/05 3:52 PM | Permalink

  jees John taht sound horrifying! Try to keep you Krissy and Athena safe.I hope for better climes for you
  nat
• #1 Comment from tehfifthfeather
  11/16/05 11:30 AM | Permalink

  I think I'd rather stick to the lake effect snow of central NY and avoid the tornadoes.  :D