"BOOM", went the thundering sky as sirens wailed through the night. Static voices rumbled through the televisions, telling everyone about the tornado warning. The treacherous waves thrashed recklessly against the shoreline, sweeping the sand, pebbles, and shells further into the tide. Trees thudded as they fell to the ground. Tornado's were not common in Michigan, there hadn't been one in fifty years. But now, a tornado was wrecking the small town of Fernvillle, and the small union might never recover from this monstrous event.
Emma screamed wildly as her kayak thrashed back and forth in the angry and revengeful waters. Earlier, when the sun had been shining, Emma had headed out on a short kayak trip, and now she was clinging to the beach ropes, and it was practically impossible to get back to the shore. And then, out of nowhere, her saving grace whirred out of the thick blanket of grey clouds.
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A helicopter tried hard to steady itself as it dropped a knotted rope ladder, Emma quickly climbed up the dangling object leaving her brand new kayak behind.
The kind pilot dropped her off at her aunt's house and buzzed off. Emma pounded at the door until her mom, who was at her aunt's beach house with the rest of her family, opened it. Her family enveloped her in a series of cobra-tight hugs and french kisses until she was escorted by her father into the damp, dark, and musty basement. She crouched beneath the pale antique curtain in the corner of the room and changed from her wet and sticky bathing suit into a ill-fitting- if not 5 year old- sweat outfit that had been sitting in a storage box. Emma’s siblings and her cousins criss-cross apple-sauced in the center of the basement, covered in warm blankets and weeping uncontrollably, while their parents rushed around upstairs trying to collect necessities to survive during the
tornado. As Emma’s parents and aunt & uncle tripped down the steps and comforted the children, Emma’s darling 5-year-old sister, Honey, cried out in distress, “Mr.Crabby Pants!” “Mommy you forgot him, you promised you’d save him, you PROMISED!” As her parents tried to hold the wailing child back, June escaped their grip and ran up the stairs and her parents cried and sprinted after her. June unclasped the cage lock and looked one last look at her pet hermit crab before she was sucked into the eye of the tornado.
Although the tornado of 10 June 1938 has been known about, at least anecdotally, within the scientific community since it was brought to light in 1939 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, this potentially rich source of historic information has lain fallow. It is within this rich field of mobile, American thinking that we undertake this effort. A team of scientists with courage, brains, and even heart brought the resources to bear on the challenge.
On May 22nd, 2011 a massive tornado hit Joplin, Missouri killing 162 people and injuring 1150. With wind speeds of 322km/h, the tornado made a total cost of over $2 billion for the city. 8000 structures were destroyed, 2000 of which were homes. Many people were left homeless. The tornado held an incredible EF5 rating on the Fujita scale, measured from the amount of destruction. The tragic event lasted 38 minutes, from 5:34 pm to 6:12pm. Cool wind from the Rockies in Canada and warm wind from the gulf of Mexico formed into a supercell thunderstorm creating a tornado in Kansas. The tornado rapidly moved into Joplin and continued on its 35 km path.
A tornado struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011 at around 5:40 pm. With a population around 50,559, it killed 161 people and injured approximately 1,100 people. The cost was an estimated $2.8 billion in damage. The American taxpayers had to give about $500 million in recovery money. This made it the deadliest tornado since 1950, which was when modern recordkeeping began. Since it was an EF5 tornado, it destroyed everything in its path. The city was ruined with only piles of debris left. It was a half-mile wide when it hit Joplin and grew to three-quarters of a mile wide. It destroyed nearly 7,000 homes in Joplin and damaged hundreds more. It covered over 1,800 acres of land. The warnings that the Joplin residents received were through three different ways. The tornado warning that was sent out for Joplin’s county was from Jasper County Emergency Operations Center (JCEOC) and they claim that the first siren went off at 5:11 pm. Two other warnings for the Joplin residents was they saw the tornado heading their direction, and the media coverage which was all local electronic media switched to wall-to-wall coverage seeing live footage of the tornado.
Once she turned and looked toward the shore, toward she people she had left there. She had not gone any great distance – that is, what would have been a great distance for an experienced swimmer. But to her unaccustomed vision the stretch of water behind her assumed the aspect of a barrier which her unaided strength would never be able to overcome.
On May 11, 1953 in the town of Lorena Mclennan County in Central Texas this deadly disaster strikes and damage very thing in its path. This intense spinning of a tornado is partly the result of the updrafts and downdrafts in the thunderstorm interacting with the windshirt.
Tornadoes are devastating atmospheric events that affect the ecology and the lives of people in their paths. Tornadoes are defined as “a violently rotating column of air, in contact with the ground, either pendant from a cumuliform cloud or underneath a cumuliform cloud, and often (but not always) visible as a funnel cloud” (Glossary of Meteorology, 2011). The Tri-state tornado was the deadliest tornado in the United States. It stayed on the ground for a total of 219 miles through areas of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killed a total of 695 people, and an estimated $16.5 million in damages (National Weather Service, 2011). Luckily, the tornado’s path was largely rural farmland with scattered small towns between them.
Her first dive into the sea connects to her finally taking a plunge towards spiritual freedom, and furthers pulls out the defiance toward the status quo. Once connected to her inner demons, she listens less to her husband and does more of what she wants, such as not answering to callers of the house who come to visit.
In the story “The Kayak” by Debbie Spring Teresa
Planet Earth is under attack by the very entities charged with its protection. Human beings are systematically destroying the planet and are deaf to its, so far, relatively subtle warnings. When temperatures rise by just a fraction of a degree, or yearly precipitation amounts increase by just an inch or two, these changes can be imperceptible. However, when these small changes accumulate after a period of years they can result in natural disasters that are uncommon to certain geographic areas. Ocean temperatures have steadily been on the rise for years. These changing temperatures have the potential to irrevocably change weather patterns for the entire world. In August of 2011, Hurricane Irene gave much of the east coast of the United States a taste of what changes in global weather patterns can do. The hurricane showed many communities how vastly underprepared, and unequipped they are to deal with such a storm, and it served as a wake up call to the human race, to take better care of the planet. A case study of these realizations can be viewed through the prism of severe weather related events at the Humane Society of Ocean City.
"Tornado Victim Upset over Storm Chasing Company." United Press International. 10 June 2013: n. pag. Print.
For nearly ten years, Miami has not seen hurricane landfall. This fact may be troubling to those who are inclined to believe, whether through superstition or scientific knowledge, that one is bound to occur anytime now It may be pleasing news for those who have not had to suffer the destruction of these weather-beasts in ten years. Nostalgia, however, is my overwhelming reaction to the topic of hurricanes. I am taken back to candle-lit evenings tinged a mixture two parts electric fear one part mystic coziness.
For centuries, tornadoes have been a destructive force of nature that possesses the power to destroy cities and take people’s lives. Recently, a new epidemic of tornadoes has been ravaging America which draws the question, is global warming to blame? With up to 300 mile per hour winds and damage paths can go up to one mile wide and 50 miles long, they truly are Mother Nature’s weapon of mass destruction.
Tornadoes are one of the deadliest and most unpredictable villains mankind will ever face. There is no rhyme or reason, no rhythm to it’s madness. Tornados are one of the most terrifying natural events that occur, destroying homes and ending lives every year. April 29th, 1995, a calm, muggy, spring night I may never forget. Jason, a buddy I grew up with, just agreed to travel across state with me so we could visit a friend in Lubbock. Jason and I were admiring the beautiful blue bonnets, which traveled for miles like little blue birds flying close to the ground. The warm breeze brushed across the tips of the blue bonnets and allowed them to dance under the perfectly clear blue sky. In the distance, however, we could see darkness. A rumbling sky was quickly approaching.
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that extends from a thunderstorm cloud to the earth’s surface. They are sometimes nicknamed twisters because of their shape and because of what they do. The winds in the tornadoes are usually 100mph or less. In +F4's they can exceed 250mph. They usually stay on a track of a few miles or less and are less than 100 yds. wide. For the development of tornadoes there are a few conditions required. An abundant low-level of moisture and unstable atmosphere is required not only for the tornado, but for a thunderstorm also. A “trigger”, which is a cold front or low level zone of converging winds, is needed to lift the moisture and the air. When the air rises , it becomes saturated and continue to rise higher and higher. They then form in areas where winds at all levels of the atmosphere are strong and turn clockwise with height.Some tornadoes appear as a funnel shape and some have a churning smoky look . Some contain multiple vortices , which are small individual tornadoes rotating around a common center. Some can be invisible , with only swirling dust or debris at ground level as the only indication of the tornado’s presence. Tornadoes can occur at any time of the year, and anywhere in the world. The unique geography of the US is what helps us produce some of the most violent tornadoes because of the favorable condition’s for their development . The months with the greatest amount of tornadoes are April, May and June .
Our topic is precautions and actions in case of a tornado. According to http://www.homefacts.com/tornadoes/Illinois/Dekalb-County/Dekalb.html the last tornado in DeKalb was in May 2, 2011 and the force was a F1. It lasted for 26 miles and there were zero number of deaths. The worst tornado documented in DeKalb history was in 1990 the force was a F5. It lasted for 30 miles, killed 29 people, and injured 350 people. The F1-F5 stands for the Fujita Scale or “F scale” which measures the intensity of a tornado based on the amount of damage done by a passing tornado over an area. Our problem statement or why it is important to research our paper is most people are unaware of the proper protocol in case of a tornado. Our goal is to protect our fellow classmates, and the citizens of DeKalb County. The objective is to explain what to do before, during, and after a tornado. Overall Illinois has a low risk of tornadoes compared to other states, but with severe weather we receive there is always a possibility for one to occur.