Dust Devil Fatality

[Boris Konon]

Noticed this in the June 2008 issue of Storm Data:

http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwevent~ShowEvent~712739

Near Casper WY 6/18/08:
A 34-year-old woman was killed when a dust devil flipped a small scorer's shed next to a team dugout at a youth ball field complex. The woman apparently sought shelter from the dust devil by positioning herself behind the shed. The shed was flipped one-half revolution, crushing her on the first flip and then rolling off of her. The woman was found about 10 minutes later as teams begin arriving for their evening games. Resuscitation efforts failed and she was declared dead at the scene.

Thunderstorms firing over the higher terrain of central Wyoming strengthened as they moved into a more unstable and moist environment in Johnson and Natrona counties.

This is only the second documented case of a dust devil causing a fatality,
as far as I know. The other is from Maine in May 2003.

http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwevent~ShowEvent~499035

 

[Boris Konon]

MODS: Please change the title of this post to "Dust Devil Fatality". Argh!

 

[Simon Timm]

Wow

Rarely do you see something like this happen. It would be interesting to know of the dust devil's intensity. I know of one cases were a dust devil killed a man in Maine. Some dust devils, to my understanding, have severely damaged some poorly made structures. I feel terrible for the family and friends of the women, and I send my thoughts and prayers to them.

 

[George Kourounis]

We actually had a guest with us on Cloud 9 Tours a few years ago who was from Australia and he had a relative who was killed by a dust devil. They were in a tool shed or some other flimsy building when the dust devil hit and collapsed the shed. The person died from their injuries.

It was the first time I've ever heard of a fatality from a dust devil.

George Kourounis
www.stormchaser.ca