Another tornado outbreak

[GothingNC]

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected today in Alabama and the South.

T-season seems to be much bigger this year.

YouTube - Tuscaloosa, AL - Tornado Aftermath (04/27/2011)

YouTube - Large Violent EF5 Tuscaloosa Alabama Tornado on April 27th 2011 F5?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XInx2RsPIz8

[island911]

horrible

[gt350mike]

I just got off the phone with my wife and it's worse than I had initially thought. Like everyone in North Alabama, she's without power because TVA shut down Browns Ferry power plant, but the ominous part is the death toll throughout the state. Depending on the news service, the numbers are in the 60's to 70's. My son called me after he got an update from his buddies in Tuscaloosa and they told him the tornado that hit downtown Tuscaloosa was a category 4 or 5. We’ll know more in the morning but for now, they need our prayers.

[wdfifteen]

This year is becoming a nightmare. I'm so sorry for the folks in the mid-south from Arkansas to the Carolinas. We had another night of severe storms and I was up half the night but no tornados.

[VaSteve]

I was just drifting off last night when the EAS went off. We were right in the path of one in Virginia. Pretty scary stuff. Fortunately no damage here.

[onewhippedpuppy]

My prayers go out to everyone in that region, it's been a brutal year. Oddly enough it's been a mild year for KS, where this stuff normally happens.

[gt350mike]

Well, wish I had bought a generator. My wife said that the power will be out for three to five days. It would be much worse so we're thankful that our home wasn't damaged. The latest updates on the net says that the death toll is 128 just in the state of Alabama.

[GothingNC]

CNN reports 128 perished in Alabama

[R K T]

We had it pretty rough here in Arkansas, buy not like Alabama. Heartbreaking.

It's amazing when a storm comes through so fierce and destructive and then see it actually grow and become worse as it travels across the country.

Our thoughts and prayers for all the victims.

[74-911]

Could be my imagination but it seems over the past few years (or decades) that "tornado alley" has moved South and East from where it used to be defined. Although TX, Kansas, Nebraska , etc. still get their share, the monsters storms now seem to be hitting the Southeast instead of the Southwest and Mid-west areas. This past years some big tornadic storms in Michigan, Minnesota, even New York ??

[rouxroux]

Mike, I know that feeling all too well as I was living in HSV in '74. I've talked (texted) with many of my friends "back home" today and the damage is much more widespread now than it was then. The memories of seeing cars on top of buildings and suspended around power poles on S. Memorial Pky is still vivid 37 years later. Prayers to everyone in the region.

[ben parrish]

One hit here on Lake Rabun about one am last night..devestating..houses wiped to the foundation...already a few bodies recovered from the lake. It went about two miles north of our house; we're very thankful we were spared.

[Zeke]

I have a niece at UOA in Tuscaloosa. This is what they are saying on the University website:
"UPDATED Thursday, April 27, 2:45 p.m. - Normal operations are suspended as recovery efforts continue. The University will not conduct final exams next week as scheduled. Students will have the option of accepting their existing grades as of April 27, 2011, or they can take a final exam at a later date. For those students who request to take a final exam, faculty will have the option of scheduling the final exam on site when normal operations resume or via distance education means. Commencement exercises scheduled for May 7, 2011, have been rescheduled for Aug. 6, 2011, when May and August graduates will be recognized"

[motion]

We had a tornado here in Montana wipe out the sports stadium and many business last summer. Bizarre.... tornados in Montana? Hope everyone makes it through these OK.

[artplumber]

Pretty awful event. Didn't realize the totals have been as high as 329 for a single set of storms in 1974...

[Bryans951]

TVA lost all main power lines to local utilities. Hearing 5 to 7 days before power is restored. Last count I heard was close to 300 dead juust in AL.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by artplumber

Pretty awful event. Didn't realize the totals have been as high as 329 for a single set of storms in 1974...

April 3, 1974. I remember it clearly. Hail stones the size of softballs came through the skylights on my roof, the town down the road blown away, a cousin and a guy I went to school with and 31 others were killed.
People flooded in to help, but when a month of 18-hour days had barely put a dent in the mess, the massiveness of the task sank in. There was a lot of frustration, depression, and tears. That's when people started to break. The town still isn't the same.
'74 tornado tore Xenia's heart

[gt350mike]

Here is the tornado tracker that NOAA posted on thier site. I've never seen anything like it, especially the number of F4 and F5 tornados in the north and central part of the state.

NWS

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by 74-911

Could be my imagination but it seems over the past few years (or decades) that "tornado alley" has moved South and East from where it used to be defined....

It's not your imagination from my perspective. It was 13 years ago when a tornado hit north of Greensboro...a "freak occurance" and I don't ever recall one before that. It has become MUCH more common now it seems. I need to go turn on the TV...I didn't know about this latest news...be safe everyone!