FAO Tornado-Fearing, Black-and-white thinkers.

[K3WE]

Last time this topic came up, there was quite the debate between those who felt "running" wad good and those who said "stay put".

In the case of Oklahoma- What do you do with these monster F-5 tornadoes. You don't stand much chance in the standard stick house (without a shelter/or genuine reinforced concrete safe room).

(By the way- who says that the campground shower house isn't just cheap cinder blocks that will be obliterated in an F-5 tornado?)

Then again, the infrastructure does not allow everyone to drive away- hurricanes cause day-long gridlock, and you want to evacuate a subivision with 15 minutes to spare?

Oddly enough the first OKC tornado probably had a lot of survivors who drove away before the tornado hit.

On the more recent, second tornado, some folks were stuck in traffic.

I always like to restate that lightning and flash flooding kill similar numbers of folks and that car wrecks kill lots more folks than Tornadoes- still it's an interesting discussion.

Link (The comments below the article are interesting.)

Oklahoma TV weatherman vilified for tornado advice

By Alice Mannette | Reuters

(Reuters) - An award-winning Oklahoma television meteorologist has been criticized as "irresponsible" for telling viewers on Friday to get in their cars and flee approaching tornadoes, and some are blaming him for putting people in grave danger on clogged roads.

Mike Morgan, chief meteorologist for Oklahoma City television station KFOR, told viewers during a tornado warning to get in their cars and drive away from a threatened storm.

Some people said they followed his advice and ended up stuck in traffic jams on major central Oklahoma highways as a massive storm bore down on the Oklahoma City area.

The result was a "nightmare" on the roads, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said, exacerbated by some employers letting people off early from work to beat the rush hour on Friday.

Tornadoes and flooding from the Friday storms killed 20 people, the chief Oklahoma medical examiner's office said on Wednesday in its latest update of fatalities. Fallin said some people were sucked from their cars and some vehicles tossed from the roads.

It was the second wave of deadly tornadoes in the area in two weeks. A monster twister flattened whole sections of the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on May 20. One Oklahoma tornado on Friday was the widest ever recorded in the United States at 2.6 miles, the National Weather Service said.

Morgan, an 11-time weather broadcast award winner in Oklahoma, where meteorologists are admired for timely forecasts about tornadoes, gave viewers the standard advice to seek cover in a storm cellar, shelter or other safe place below ground.

But some critics said Morgan then went too far when he told viewers: "If you can leave South Oklahoma City and go south do it now." He repeated similar advice several times.

Morgan was not the only local forecaster to give such advice as the storm front threatened to hit the major population center of Oklahoma City.

'IRRESPONSIBLE REPORTING'

Ernst Kiesling, research professor at Texas Tech's National Wind Institute, said it was wrong to advise people to get in their cars and try to outrun a tornado.

"Irresponsible reporting of that kind is unconscionable in my mind. You have the responsibility to give more than your off-the-cuff opinions."

Cassandra Donnelly of Oklahoma City was one of those people who headed south on the advice of newscasters and got stuck in traffic.

Donnelly said she saw cars driving the wrong way and through stop signs on one of city's major arteries. She eventually pulled off the road into the bushes.

"I told my mom and my sister to keep praying. The rain was horizontal," Donnelly said. "We were pushed forward twice."

Morgan has not appeared on the network since Friday, and the station said he is on vacation and would be back on Thursday. He could not be reached for comment.

But a statement from KFOR on Wednesday said: "After every major storm, we review our coverage and the many things that make each weather event unique, for the purpose of improving our coverage and our ability to forecast."

Greg Carbin, Meteorologist for the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said a car is a more dangerous place to be than a well-constructed home in a tornado.

"You will more likely put yourself in more danger by leaving your house," he said.

Some people defended Morgan. David Barfield of Oklahoma City said he believes Morgan's advice two weeks ago during the monster tornado in Moore saved his daughter's life.

His daughter was in an above-ground closet but Barfield, following Morgan's advice to go underground, kept telephoning her to urge her to leave. She eventually did and survived.

"She would have died if she had stayed there," Barfield said.

(Additional reporting by Heide Brandes; Editing by Greg McCune and Mohammad Zargham)

[D___M]

K3WE, is there a question in there somewhere? Or a point to your post?

[trickyvic3]

dwayneb236 wrote:
RV replaceable, my wife, not so much..

X-2 At that point I would care less about the RV. I have insurance for that.

[wa8yxm]

There is no single answer save one STAY OUT OF DITCHES. I will explain.

If you have to time to do so safely, get out of dodge, the problem with tornados is that they sometimes turn on you, the one in Oklahoma did just that it turned and surprised a bunch of folks .(Well one of them did at least)

Underground might be OK, if it is a strong shelter, but I've seen basement walls fall in and that was not anywhere near an F-5.. I might add I was a bit too close to that one for comfort.

Ive seen a bicycle (mine) sitting on it's kick stand, ride out said storm still sitting on it's kick stand (Same tornado).

And that is just what I have seen, with my own eyes.

There is no single answer.. You have to take each storm as it comes and decide what to do based on what is happening.

The best thing you can do is take weather spotter training, they teach you both storm identification, tracking and SURVIVAL.

Now, why stay out of ditches?

Because in a heavy rain they can flood and you can drown.

[Jloucks]

Running from a tornado is typically easy. Heck, some people even chase them around for a living.

Only issue would be traffic. Surprisingly, all the ones I have seen (lots, grew up in Wichita Falls, TX) visibility was not that much of an issue. We just go out back and watch them. Most never made it 100% of the way to the ground. Some did.

And yes, F5's are 'foundation polishers'. ...there will be nothing left above ground except bank vaults.

[dwayneb236]

RV replaceable, my wife, not so much..

[Dixiechick]

Living in a tornado prone area, I can assure you that if you listen to the weather reports you should have time to leave. Don't wait until the last minute when the twister is bearing down on you to make a decision. We have a weather radio in our motorhome and listen to it especially if the power is out and television is not working. We have left a campground when we felt the situation was getting dangerous. We lost our campsite and the money we had paid for the remaining time there but felt it was worth it. Yes, you can try to find a safe place to go to but what about your RV? I don't want to lose it either.

[2012Coleman]

So what's your point OP? And what does this have to do with the forum subject?

I always like to restate that lightning and flash flooding kill similar numbers of folks and that car wrecks kill lots more folks than Tornadoes- still it's an interesting discussion.

I'm sure this is comforting to people who lost loved ones.

[trickyvic3]

I would always have a backup plan when going into that type of climate ahead of time. Have a safe spot picked out that you could get to quickly in the event of a problem.

[noe-place]

Seems to me running would be feasible with a LOT of notice. More likely though you're not going to have much notice so I'd think a person would have a plan in mind where to seek shelter. 🙂

[dwayneb236]

We were camping in Oklahoma City just this past Friday when the tornado hit. Throughout the day the weather was the main topic on the TV. We watched if for several hours as they kept saying it was going to get bad. It was strange because there was really nothing to see at that time, they just knew that the conditions were conducive to bad weather and it was going to happen, no maybe's about it...I thought they were being overly dramatic, until it began to happen. The reporters kept reporting touchdowns just west of us. It was then my wife and I began thinking about what we were going to do. I told her we would be going to a large casino and racetrack just around the corner if it got worse. It did and we did. Glad we did. Nothing happened in our area, as the tornado turned away from us. but it was nice being underground anyway. Scary..
Moral of the story. listen to Oklahoma weather men if they say a tornado will come..

[johnrbd]

ol Bombero-JC wrote:
The weather reporter said to "run" or get under ground.

But - what about the possibility of being stuck in traffic?

So - look for a business (bldg) that should have a walk-in fridge, basement, or - a culvert along side the road. (Muddy & dirty is no big deal).

Your dice to roll for whatever the situation dictates to you.

Be "creative" and let common sense prevail..:W

~

IIRC, 3 or 4 people dies in a culvert, drowned. You have few good choices and a lot of possibly bad choices to pick from. Tough decision for all involved.

[ol_Bombero-JC]

The weather reporter said to "run" or get under ground.

But - what about the possibility of being stuck in traffic?

So - look for a business (bldg) that should have a walk-in fridge, basement, or - a culvert along side the road. (Muddy & dirty is no big deal).

Your dice to roll for whatever the situation dictates to you.

Be "creative" and let common sense prevail..:W

~

[Targa]

I think with an F5 tornado the destruction in its path is complete, without a reinforced shelter I think I would try and make a run for it, of course when they are a mile or more wide at the base and throwing shrapnel you would need alot of advanced notice to make a run for it. All I know for sure is that my heart goes out to those that are effected by natural disasters like this.