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Apollo11 -> RE: THE THREAD!!! (4/4/2012 11:22:24 AM)
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Hi all,
Bad day... [:(]
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2124648/Texas-picks-pieces-unprecedented-twin-tornadoes-tossed-TRUCKS-skies.html
quote:
'I've never seen anything like it': Texas picks up the pieces after unprecedented twin tornadoes tossed TRUCKS across the skies
By DailyMail UK
- Arlington and Lancaster declared 'disaster zones' in wake of tornadoes , 300 homes damaged in Lancaster
- News footage shows tractor-trailers being thrown by massive twister
- Homes in the path of storm reduced to rubble, roofs ripped of buildings and cars overturned by powerful storms
- Texas TV news reporter says 'I've never seen this before'
- Tens of thousands of homes without power
- Flights into and out of DFW International Airport cancelled by FAA
- More than a dozen people injured, but amazingly NO fatalities have been reported
Texans will begin the devastating task of counting the costs of an unprecedented cluster of tornadoes that ripped through major towns and cities in the state yesterday.
Homes were reduced to rubble and more than a dozen people injured as the powerful storm swept trucks across the skies and base-ball sized hail stones punched holes in the roofs of cars and homes.
Meteorologists said it was the first time two 'extremely dangerous' tornadoes hit two large metropolitan areas at the same time.
Arlington and Lancaster were worst hit with both areas being declared 'disaster zones', while damage was reported in at least nine cities in five counties.
Scroll down for video
Destruction: A woman stands in front of a house that had two vehicles thrown into it by the force of the tornadoes in Lancaster, Texas:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-1274ADDC000005DC-224_964x607.jpg[/image]
Take cover: Residents are being warned to stay indoors as the massive tornado touches down in the Dallas-Fort Worth area:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-1274815C000005DC-587_470x423.jpg[/image]
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-12748163000005DC-876_470x423.jpg[/image]
Twister: A piece of a tractor-trailer is shown being blown above Dallas County, Texas, as a massive tornado touches down in the region:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-12745D66000005DC-380_964x480.jpg[/image]
Powerful storm: A close-up view shows the airborne tractor-trailer above the Dallas Fort-Worth region:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-12746490000005DC-56_964x400.jpg[/image]
This aerial picture shows the trail of destruction left by a tornado that hit Lancaster peeling roofs off some homes and completely flattening others:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-12753780000005DC-919_964x602.jpg[/image]
'I have never seen two tornadoes hit two large metropolitan areas at the same time before,' AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity said, reports Newsroom America.
Weather service advisories issued yesterday said storm spotters and radar revealed separate tornadoes south of Dallas and Fort Worth.
Brandy Kemps filmed one of the tornadoes from work in north Texas, she told ABC News; 'Debris was flying right in front of me in the air – shingles, dirt, tree limbs. The tornado funnel was coming right at us, then went directly behind the apartment building I was in and then made a right toward 45 North.'
One tornado tore through the Flying J Truck Plaza in Dallas, grabbing two trailer trucks and tossing them, said truck driver Michael Glennon, who caught the destruction on his video camera as debris swirled through the air.
In Sunnyvale, Heather Montoya said the dark funnel shook her entire home and left uprooted trees inside and her furniture scattered all over her property.
Residents in Arlington go through their belongings in an upstairs area after a tornado ripped the roof off their home:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-12751E8B000005DC-333_964x580.jpg[/image]
Yuomiko Paige hugs her neighbor Doris Sparks as Sparks breaks down while relaying the extent of the damage to Diamond Creek in Forney over the phone:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-127512CD000005DC-801_964x642.jpg[/image]
Personal belongings are scattered outside a house damaged in Kennedale:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-127523E1000005DC-32_964x590.jpg[/image]
Driving hazard: Cars try to navigate around debris scattered in the street in southern Dallas County:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-1274AE91000005DC-6_964x690.jpg[/image]
Beyond recognition: A heavily damaged home is barely recognisable after a tornado moved through Lancaster, Texas:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-1274B95E000005DC-686_964x546.jpg[/image]
'It was insane. We have a lot of windows in our house. The whole house started shaking and in five seconds it was completely done,' she told ABC's Dallas affiliate WFAA.
A grandmother in Diamond Creeks, Forney, where 20 to 30 homes were severely damaged, sought refuge in a bath-tub with her grandchildren as the walls of her home collapsed. The woman was forced to hold on to her 18-month-old grandson's legs as the powerful winds almost swept him away, the toddler suffered minor injuries.
Most of Dallas was spared the full wrath of the storm. Yet in Lancaster, where around 300 homes were destroyed, television helicopters panned over exposed homes without roofs and flattened buildings. Broken sheets of plywood blanketed lawns and covered rooftops.
A pastor at one Lancaster church saw debris swirling in the wind, then herded more than 30 children, some as young as newborns, into a windowless room to ride out the storm. Nearby at the church's school, about 60 more children hid in another windowless room near the women's bathroom.
An entire wall of Cedar Valley Christian Academy wound up being taken out in the storm. Pastor Glenn Young said he didn't know when the school might re-open.
'I'm a little concerned,' Young said. 'This is our livelihood.'
Residents could be seen walking down the street with firefighters and peering into homes, looking at the damage after the storm passed.
Devlin Norwood said he was at his Lancaster home when he heard the storm sirens. He said he made a quick trip to a nearby store when he saw the funnel-shaped tornado lower, kick up debris and head toward his neighborhood.
'I didn't see any damage until I got back home. We had trees destroyed, fences down, boards down, boards penetrating the roof and the house, shingles damaged,' said Norwood, 50, an accountant and graduate student.
Homeowners survey the damage of their house in Kennedal which has been severely damaged as have two cars which were flung against the property like toy:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-127537CF000005DC-254_964x576.jpg[/image]
A rescue worker is visibly shocked by the damage caused to the Dallas suburb of Lancaster where over 300 homes were damaged by the powerful storms:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-12751897000005DC-696_964x641.jpg[/image]
Hundreds of people in Lancaster have been left homeless and 10 people have been injured by the devastating storms:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-12752514000005DC-927_964x592.jpg[/image]
Officer Paul Beck said 10 people were injured in the suburb.
He says two of those injuries are severe but did not have further details.
Assistant Arlington fire chief Jim Self says three people suffered minor injuries there, including two residents of a nursing home who were taken to a hospital after swirling winds clipped the building. Around 50 homes were damaged in the area.
'Of course the windows were flying out, and my sister is paralyzed, so I had to get someone to help me get her in a wheelchair to get her out of the room'" said Joy Johnston, who was visiting her 79-year-old sister at the Green Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. "It was terribly loud."
At the nearby Omni Mandalay Las Colinas hotel, tornado sirens sounded, alerting guests to get to safety.
'The hotel has not been evacuated but we do have guests under cover,' said a telephone receptionist at 421-room hotel.
The storm is believed to have leveled several homes, and tens of thousands of others are without power.
Personal belongings are scattered outside a house damaged in Kennedale:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-127523E1000005DC-677_964x590.jpg[/image]
Emergency response: A firefighter strides past a damaged house after a tornado tore through Lancaster:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-1274B99B000005DC-462_964x597.jpg[/image]
Ravaged: Debris is scattered on the streets of Arlington after at least two incredibly large tornadoes roared through the city:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-127490EC000005DC-475_964x637.jpg[/image]
National Weather Service meteorologist Amber Elliott confirmed that two separate tornadoes had touched down, one in Arlington, Texas and another in Dallas.
Nine separate tornado warnings have been issued by the weather service for the Dallas area so far on Tuesday, she said.
Hail ranging from pea-sized to as large as baseballs pounded Dallas and Fort Worth, the nation's fourth-most-populous metropolitan area with 6.3 million people.
Multiple news outlets reported homes with their roofs violently torn off.
In Arlington, NBC DFW reporter Mola Lenghi told the network: 'There's lots of 18-wheelers. I've never seen this before'.
This house in Lancaster appears to have been flattened by the powerful funnel which moved through the area:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-1274D7FC000005DC-313_964x618.jpg[/image]
Devastation: Two men clean up outside a damaged house after a tornado moved through in Lancaster:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-1274DA5F000005DC-46_964x651.jpg[/image]
People take in the damage done to their home in Lancaster after multiple tornados broke out across the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-1274D8CC000005DC-263_964x547.jpg[/image]
Crumpled orange tractor trailers were later visible in a Dallas County parking lot, as well as flattened trailers along the sides of highways and access roads.
TORNADO TWEETS
Reality TV star Khloe Kardashian Odom: 'OMG another tornado!!!! What???'
Sherri Story: 'I feel like I've been hit by a tornado. Oh, yeah, I have. 12 of them in Texas. One of them, right where I work. :/'
Unbleh: 'Very large tornado on ground just south of Greenville, Texas heading northeast. Take shelter now!'
Reed Timmer: 'Confirmed tornado RIGHT NOW just northeast of Sulphur Springs, TX. That is the storm we should be on any second.'
Charlie B; 'Im SCR**ED! if ur seeing this it will be my last tweet for a while power is out its dark black outside Frm the tornado 1% battery love u bye'
Asia Garner: 'Tornado's everywhere!! Its raining, hailing, sirens going off. It done got pitch black!'
In Lancaster, south of Dallas, local television footage showed homes without roofs while other buildings were flattened.
Plywood was strewn on the grass and on top of buildings. Residents could be seen walking down the street with firefighters and peering into homes, looking at the damage after the storm passed.
The storm pushed cars into fences and toppled trees.
Branches and limbs were scattered across lawns and in the streets. A tow-behind RV was torn apart and crumpled in a driveway where part of a roof of the home was torn off.
The weather service said 'considerable damage' also was reported near Cleburne, south of Fort Worth, and Lancaster, south of Dallas.
The Forth Worth Star-Telegram reported that officials at DFW International Airport have warned anyone in the airport to retreat to terminal storm shelters and to stay away from windows.
David Magana, a spokesman for DFW International Airport, told NBC DFW: 'We are sheltering passengers at the moment'.
All flights into and out of the airport have been cancelled by the FAA.
The Star-Telegram reported that Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck signed a declaration of disaster today after the city 'determined that extraordinary measures must be taken to alleviate the suffering of people and to protect or rehabilitate property'.
Dallas Police spokeswoman Sherri Jeffrey said an apparent twister touched down and caused damage within the city's southern limits.
Reports of injuries were not immediately released by officials, but at least two people were hospitalised in Arlington after the victim was caught in a partial collapse of the Green Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
NBC News DFW reported that the roof of the facility was blown off and its residents were moved to a central and more stable part of the building.
A tornado touches down in Lancaster, Texas south of Dallas:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-1274D709000005DC-950_964x642.jpg[/image]
Arlington police officer Rick Stewart (L) and Tarrant County constable Clint C. Burgess (C) rescue a dog that belongs to David Lowe's (R) daughter after a tornado destroyed her home:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-1274D13F000005DC-609_964x612.jpg[/image]
James Cruthird, views the damages of his apartment in the Portofino apartment complex in Lancaster, which was directly hit by the tornado:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-1274CCAA000005DC-936_964x699.jpg[/image]
The weather service says the tornado south of Fort Worth caused 'considerable damage' near Cleburne.
The agency said in its warning: 'National Weather Service meteorologists confirmed a large and dangerous tornado near Hutchins. This is a dangerous situation ... seek shelter now!! This is a tornado emergency for Dallas and Hutchins!'
Local television footage shows a large funnel cloud on the ground near Interstate 35 south of Dallas.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE DEVASTATING TORNADO SWARMS:
The tornadoes that have devastated parts of Dallas and Fort Worth are vertical funnels of rapidly spinning air.
The giant tornadoes, believed in this case to be around 46-56,000 feet tall, have winds of up to 150 miles an hour.
They are the most violent of all atmospheric storms, and can cut a devastating pathway up to a mile wide and 50 miles long.
The most destructive twisters are formed from huge thunderstorms dubbed 'supercells'.
Occasionally, a single storm will produce more than one tornado, either simultaneously or in quick succession.
Multiple tornadoes produced by the same storm cell are referred to as a 'tornado family' or swarm.
If there is no break in activity, this is considered a tornado outbreak, and these can continue for several days, known as a tornado outbreak sequence.
A Tornado forms when changes in wind speed and direction create a horizontal spinning effect deep inside a storm cell.
Inner workings: This graphic from the National Severe Storms Laboratory shows how a tornado works:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/04/article-2124648-1274A6ED000005DC-820_949x657.jpg[/image]
This effect is then tipped vertical by rising air moving up through the thunderclouds.
People, cars, and even buildings can be ripped into the air, and most injuries and deaths are caused by flying debris.
The easily recognisable 'twisters' are formed in thunderstorms and are often accompanied by hail.
Pictures emerging from Dallas have already shown huge hailstorms hitting areas already ripped apart by the storms.
Although they occur around the world, the U.S. is a major hotspot with an estimated thousand tornadoes every year, causing 80 deaths and more than 1,500 injuries per year.
The most notorious area is so-called 'Tornado Alley,' a region that includes eastern South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, northern Texas, and eastern Colorado.
Last year was a record breaking one for the tornado in the U.S.
However, the biggest ever 'Super Outbreak' occurred on April 3-4, 1974 with more than 148 tornadoes that killed 330 people.
The weather service says the 'large and extremely dangerous' tornado was near Lancaster about 20 miles south of Dallas and moving north.
The weather service is also reporting other developing tornadoes as a band of severe storms moves through the area.
A tornado watch is in effect for most of the counties in north Texas.
The weather service said 'considerable damage' also was reported in a rural Johnson County, south of Fort Worth.
American Airlines canceled more than 450 arriving and departing flights at it hub airport by late Tuesday afternoon, and 37 other incoming flights had been diverted to different airports.
Spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said the airline also was pulling dozens of planes out of service to inspect them for hail damage.
DFW spokesman David Magana said there were no reports of damage to the airport itself. Magana said employees pulled passengers in the terminals away from glass windows during the storms and directed them to stairwells, stores and restaurants in the inside area of the airport.
Flights also were canceled at Dallas Love Field, which is a big base for Southwest Airlines. That airline canceled more than 45 flights in and out of the airport by Tuesday evening.
Magana said more than 110 planes have been damaged by hail.
Despair: Ten-year-old Ty Proctor looks for his missing dog after a tornado struck Arlington:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-1274AE4C000005DC-162_964x663.jpg[/image]
Destruction: Some homes were levelled by the storms as they pummeled Texas communities:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-12748276000005DC-387_964x581.jpg[/image]
Giant: A large tornado moves through the Dallas-Fort Worth area in this still image taken from video:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-127481FB000005DC-14_964x559.jpg[/image]
Wrath of the storm: 18-wheelers are overturned and destroyed in Texas after the devestating tornado swept through the region:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-127463F5000005DC-323_964x477.jpg[/image]
Nature's fury: Tractor trailers have been left ravaged after the massive storm tore through the area:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-127463F1000005DC-694_964x481.jpg[/image]
Damage: Several homes in Texas like this one were left unrecognisable by the tornado:
[image]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/03/article-2124648-12746F3D000005DC-697_964x508.jpg[/image]
Watch YouTube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxsxKi0WgxU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wezoNTrkzS0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_t4lgm0J1f8
Leo "Apollo11"
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