3/1/07 DISC: GA/AL/MS/FL

[Jordan Hartley]

13 people confirmed dead in the state of Alabama today, which makes the death toll today 14 people All 14 caught off their guard. I dont understand the day and age we live in. I know 8 deaths for sure didnt have to happen and you can take that for what its worth it might not be appropriate for a Now thread but those kids should NOT have been let out early like that... period. But then again I thought we could trust the public school system to make the right decisions in situations where children are in danger. Guess myself and the rest of us were wrong.

 

[J Kinkaid]

I also don't understand how the 13 people in Bama died. They had at least 20 mins notice and sirens went off well in advance . This might be a post that should be moved to the lounge

 

[Scott A. Kampas]

Or taken to a gym. Students were trapped there for hours, apparently. Gyms are absolutely not the place to go, that needs to be drilled in. So many times I hear about people sent to gyms.

 

[Bobby Lang]

13 people confirmed dead in the state of Alabama today, which makes the death toll today 14 people All 14 caught off their guard. I dont understand the day and age we live in. I know 8 deaths for sure didnt have to happen and you can take that for what its worth it might not be appropriate for a Now thread but those kids should NOT have been let out early like that... period.

I heard 13 deaths also while listening to a radio station in Enterprise online. However, I thought I was hearing things . Another thing I heard online that was disturbing was one of the parents said she drove during the tornado to pick her kid up! While she was apparently not in the direct path of the tornado, the wind did manage to pick her car up off the ground. She should be thankful she wasn't one of those injured or even worse killed .

 

[Justin Bailey]

13 people confirmed dead in the state of Alabama today, which makes the death toll today 14 people All 14 caught off their guard. I dont understand the day and age we live in. I know 8 deaths for sure didnt have to happen and you can take that for what its worth it might not be appropriate for a Now thread but those kids should NOT have been let out early like that... period.

you say they shouldn't have been let out. i say that the school officials should've been aware of the situation at hand today and should've ended classes earlier. but this is a now thread...not the place for a debate.

 

[Jason A.C. Brock]

I heard a report from one of the local stations that some of the schools in Alabama were let out early at 12:30pm due to the threat for afternnoon storms....if so why wasnt this school done the same? I agreee with the gymnasium scenario....a few years back Holiday Texas gymnasium collapsed due to high winds.....someone is going to have some explaining to do for sure.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

I understand what your saying but one could also say that they are safer at the school then at home when their parents are still gone at work, many kids would be completely oblivious to the situation, at least at school they have adults monitoring the situation, well some seem to wonder if the adults were monitoring it, but I'm sure they were. Some things just happen. Tornadoes are powerful and unpredictable they have the power and ability to take lives even when one takes all precautions possible.

 

[Jason A.C. Brock]

Actually what disturbs me more is that they were taken to the gym. I did hear another report however that many of those who where killed were actually in a hallway which would make much more sense as far as being a safe place.....of course when you have something as large as a school roof come crashing down it is hard to not have serious even deadly injuries.

 

[cedwards]

This school had planned to let out early. The tornado hit about 20 minutes before they planned to let out.

You have to think of the logistics of letting kids out of school. It takes a while to get the buses there, then loaded, then where are the buses going to go? If they take the kids home on the normal rout, this could take even longer. They may be taking kids into the path of a tornado.

It is easy to say after the fact that the kids should have been let out, but the odds are, that they will probably be safer by staying in school and taking shelter. I am sure, when the school is rebuilt, that safe rooms will be implemented. Here in Shawnee, the middle school has reinforced rooms in the center of the building.

 

[Chad Ringley]

Great news. ALA officials revise death toll...7 total and 5 at Enterprise High via CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/03/01/severe.weather/index.html

 

[Brian Stertz]

Glad to hear that little bit "better" news..very odd they would feed the media such a high number, and then knock it back down considerably. Any tornado fatality is certainly a bad one, so when you consider a direct strike on a school and loss of life there, that leaves a huge mark on the Enterprise community. Any early guesses on intensity? I have not seen enough video yet that I can make a remark on that yet.

 

[Bill Hark]

For those who haven't seen the tornado video, see this link. The video segment shows damage (especially flipped cars), then some recovery and it ends with the tornado video. This is the same not so good video shown on CNN and TWC with the tornado mostly blocked by buildings. There is also a still of the tornado.
http://www.dothanfirst.com/

Nice still of the wedge tornado near Enterprise.
http://go.wsfa.com/gallery/albums/userpics/normal_Tornado_pic_large.jpg


Damage video
http://www.nbc15online.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=231917

Bill Hark

 

[Andrew Pritchard]

It is easy to say after the fact that the kids should have been let out, but the odds are, that they will probably be safer by staying in school and taking shelter. I am sure, when the school is rebuilt, that safe rooms will be implemented. Here in Shawnee, the middle school has reinforced rooms in the center of the building.

Exactly. Why send them out if they are already indoors and "safe"? I can think of at least two instances when I was in elementary school where we were kept almost an hour after our normal dismissal time because tornadoes were spotted in the area.

If you dismiss them, think about what you are doing. A handful of kids are walking down the streets to their house, another group is on school busses, some are waiting for parents to pick them up, while a few may be home in time. All the rest are doing the above situation while a tornado comes sweeping through the town. You might as well keep them all indoors in one place, but do something smart with them.

 

[Jordan Hartley]

So what happened to the tornado after it hit Enterprise?

Eyewitness reports talk of seeing multiple tornadoes as it struck the school(Multiple Vortex stage.) So did the tornado fall apart (which is what it would of had to do) right after it hit Enterprise to miss Fort Rucker completley? Shortly after the tornado struck Enterprise SPC issued a MD on that storm talking about a long tracking devestating tornado that was still on the ground yet no reports of damage. There is a huge media black out right now about Fort Rucker which if u look on a map had to of taken a hit. I do know that Cnn had a reporter there doing a story on the helicopter pilots who are trained there. He did a live report from Fort Rucker around 1pm. 20 minutes later the storm passed right over the base. The rotation never decreased as far as I could tell as the storm moved out of Enterprise. The storm passed right over Fort Rucker. Did the tornado go from the multi-vortex stage to falling appart in 5-7 miles, then reforming again after the storm passed over the base? I want to know if the tornado fell apart after it hit Enterprise which it would of had to do in order to completley miss the base. There is a total media black out about Fort Rucker right now.

 

[Brett Adair]

A friend of mine that works at a station tells me that we have multiple vortex video coming very soon. He says it was multi-vortex and violent. Looks like we may get an EF-4 or 3 rating judging the damage.