Silver Lining Tours vans rolled in Kansas

[Robert Edmonds]

Imagine they have sought legal if they took issue with being rolled and injured. From there they’ve been told to hush if they want to have a case. Imagine we will now enter a period of absolute silence until the first suit is filed - if there is one.

On the flip side (haha), no one has posted something to the effect of, 'check out how extreme my chase was when we flipped the van!'

 

[Skip Talbot]

I'm looking for anyone who would like to contribute shots of the May 28, 2019 Overbrook/Lone Star, KS EF2, Lawrence EF4, and parent supercell for an educational safety video. I wasn’t going to, and was really hoping not to, but now think it’s necessary. Please email or PM me and I’ll follow up with you. It may be a few days before I actually get to it, but I’d like to start gathering some preliminary info. Thanks to all who have already offered to contribute shots.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Actually think Roger would come down to this level and grace us with his commentary?

Absolutely not. He made a pot shot on Facebook apparently asking "Is that place still around?"

Besides, he'd be stupid to keep talking about the incident.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Just saw a new ad for Chevrolet trucks featuring Roger. They did a really nice job on the graphics. Hope Chevy will not kill the project in light of the accident.

 

[Shane Adams]

Yeah, I found the timing of this very interesting. Maybe it was in the works and it just worked out the way it did, or perhaps it's an attempt to divert attention away from the accident and back to the standard "we're the most famous chasers on earth" narrative.

 

[JamesCaruso]

Absolutely not. He made a pot shot on Facebook apparently asking "Is that place still around?"

I’m glad you shared that. I always felt there was some level of arrogance there and looking down on us commoners on ST. I never wanted to actually say that but this seems to confirm it. OT I know but it just irks me to no end that all these veteran chasers only use FB. I think FB sucks for this stuff as it’s not codified in any way. I get it, there may be some desire to use FB for your own site, and it’s more accessible to the public. But at least contribute here also, instead of somehow implying ST members are all second-class citizens and you don’t want to cross to the other side of the tracks.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Look at it in reverse, these idiots are too scared to be 'commoners' and put themselves out there for discussion from any person interested in chasing be it a newbie or someone chasing 25+ years. That 'too good' mentality sucks. I will say, facebook was an easy platform to get involved in, as well as the derelict status of stormtrack for many years in the mid '10s, that membership fell off here, but it's obviously seriously active now and some very interesting threads.

 

[Randy Denzer]

I have lost a lot of respect for Jon Davies. The, "they did everything right" excuse mentality will cost lives in the future. By finding and proving that the storm did something rarely ever seen, and somehow this was the storms fault. then to go on that It was no fault of the tour company being in the Bears Cage.

EVERYONE knows that storms are unpredictable. Just ask Tim, Paul, and Carl (the safest chasers ever). I would have thought that loosing them would have taught lessons that would keep chasers, and especially tour companies, out of the bears cage on an expanding supercell. I learned from it!

Bottom line: One of these tour companies is going to kill a bunch of folks in the near future. No matter how much writing there is in the Liability release (Waiver), the "Tourists" never really know the reality of just how much danger they are in when they are in the bears cage in a high profile passenger van. They are also told the companies are the "Safest" out there. They are sold that these tour guides are all knowing and are safe. Yet, they admit that, "These Things happen" and storms are, "unpredictable".

At what cost will some defend the actions of a storm chase tour company when something bad happens? We shall see.

 

[Jamie Winterstern]

Perhaps someone has commented on this. But how has no videos popped up from inside the van yet? I have to believe everyone in that van had their cameras (smart phones) rolling as we all do? Maybe it’s a lawsuit hush hush thing, but I have to believe 1 or 2 of the passengers leaked something by now.

 

[James K]

Perhaps someone has commented on this. But how has no videos popped up from inside the van yet?

Probably is something where they have been told not to post.
Another that could the same could be questioned is video from the 2 other vans that didn't get rolled.
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I also wonder if YouTube is censoring videos related to this: If you do a search of kansas tornado tour van or kansas tornado rolled vans and in either case, then go back up to 'filters' and sort by upload date.....you suddenly get no results at all! I find that very odd/interesting.

 

[Warren Faidley]

No doubt someone will make a good chunk of change if they are the first to release the footage and market it right. These stories are both short-and-long fuse. Some make it into the news cycle fast while others develop over time. The longer it takes, the better for Roger. It's also possible no one on the tour was shooting at the time, except for the owners. I seriously doubt that footage will be released unless the case goes to court, which is very unlikely. Talking about censorship.... TWC never made mention of this story as far as I know.

 

[Alex Elmore]

Here's an article by one of the tour members that just came out: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weat...t-gonna-be-no-rematch/?utm_term=.22ee0d324626

 

[Warren Faidley]

Any chance of stopping these click bait / subscription links to the Washington Post? They are trying to sell subscriptions to view stories. It might be easier to just post a synopsis of the story for those of us who do not want to subscribe.

 

[Alex Elmore]

Any chance of stopping these click bait / subscription links to the Washington Post? They are trying to sell subscriptions to view stories. It might be easier to just post a synopsis of the story for those of us who do not want to subscribe.

Sorry, I guess because I don't view the website much, I still had free views. It's a pretty lengthy article with a lot of fluff, so here are the more important parts.

"We didn't see it coming. It announced its arrival in a swirling cloud of leaves and twigs that sliced through the rain on the right side of the van. Within seconds, an ominous gray shadow pierced the falling debris and — in less time than it took me to blurt out an appropriate expletive — it exploded into a blinding curtain of rain and wind.
Our tour guide, a respected veteran storm chaser, didn’t waver in his assessment of our situation: “Tornado, right here! You’re in a tornado!”
I ducked for cover.
Our paths had intersected on a quiet stretch of road in a rural community south of Lawrence, Kan., at 6:03 p.m. on May 28. This was my fifth storm chasing tour. Before leaving home, I told my friend Rick, a fellow weather junkie who had joined me on my first tour in 2010, that I hoped to see a Kansas tornado.

The outside of a Kansas tornado.
Two of the four vans in my tour group were hit. My vehicle, a 15-passenger van weighing more than two-and-a-half tons, was knocked over and blown across the road. We rolled three times. I didn’t count. I was too busy hanging on and pondering whether this trip might not have been such a good idea.

As a child growing up far from Tornado Alley, I considered tornadoes my “monsters under the bed.” They terrified and, later, fascinated me. Today, on this quiet country road, “terrified” seemed more apropos.
We landed upside-down in a drainage ditch off the road. The second van tumbled about 100 feet before settling onto its side in the front yard of a farmhouse. Seat belts and air bags did their job, and everyone was able to climb out of the vans. Most of the injuries were minor — cuts, scrapes, bruises and sprains. Other than a few small cuts on my hand, I was fine.
We were lucky. Very lucky."

....skipping 75% of the article....

"I accept full responsibility for the choices I made that led me to that road. I understood and accepted the risks in my quest to learn more about severe weather. And, as in previous years, I came home with a deeper understanding and appreciation of the power and majesty of nature. An understanding I couldn’t glean from a textbook or video.
So, no regrets. I haven’t seen it all — far from it — but I’ve seen a lot. I’ve learned so much, I’ve met so many interesting people who shared my passion, and I’ve been overwhelmed by a sense of awe. The same awe I still feel every time a meteor soars across the sky. But now that I’ve survived a trip inside a tornado, I plan to move on to gentler pursuits."

 

[Warren Faidley]

Thanks so much for the information! Sounds like everyone escaped without serious injuries. That is good news.