Just Checking In

[Tremontichik006]

hey dan nice to see u. we had 5 funnel clouds in michigan last night, none of them touched down but there was still a huge storm. btw dan i love your avatar

[hotforscott]

Good to hear from you Dan. They have been pretty bad in TN from what I have heard and also in the surrounding states. The family in Arkansas say that they spent all night in their storm shelter the other night and it ripped apart the town of Quitman, Ark. We are just now getting a taste of it here in TX, it is raining, lightening and hailing as we speak. It's freaky.

[PaulMcCoygirl]

Hey Dan, I'm glad you're alright! It's noce to see you post again!

[JulieCitySlicker]

This is the report from our local news on the storms that we had on Sunday


There were around 85 tornadoes reported in Missouri and Illinois I don't think there were tornadoes anywhere near St Louis but some areas were hit really hard Here is the report from local news.
Midwest confronts aftermath of deadly tornadoes
05/06/2003




(KMOV)
Pierce City, MO
PIERCE CITY, Mo. (AP) - Adrenalin-fueled cleanups of tornado damage moved ahead across the Midwest as the death toll in Missouri rose by one, and residents still shocked by widespread damage also are grappling with uncertainty about the future even whether to rebuild at all.


Residents and business owners said damage was so extensive some may never recover. The death toll in Missouri rose to at least 18, along with seven deaths in Kansas and 13 in Tennessee.


Lawrence County Sheriff Doug Seneker said Tuesday the body of a child, about two years old, was found in debris north of Monett. The county coroner, Don Lakin, said the child's name was Jacob Rueda.



Check this out
Streaming video of tornado

Photos of Missouri storm damage

Photos of lightning over St. Louis area

NWS report on Kansas City area tornadoes

Red Cross information on helping storm victims

KMOV.com weather

How do tornadoes form?

With its downtown gone, Stockton, Mo., regroups to rebuild after tornado

Victims of Sunday's tornadoes

FEMA to help victims of midwest tornadoes

Almost nothing left untouched as storm hits small Missouri city

Send us your weather photos

By noon in Pierce City, the list of missing had dropped to only one, said city spokeswoman Jaci McReynolds. It had listed 11 names just hours earlier, and all 10 accounted for were found alive and well.

The specter of storms also returned, as with tornado warnings in Missouri's Vernon, St. Clair, Hickory and Benton counties, and Kansas' Lyon County, expiring uneventfully Tuesday morning as thunderstorms rumbled across both states.


The priority Tuesday in Pierce City was inspecting what's left of the devastated buildings downtown, as well as area school buildings. Teams from the State Emergency Management Agency checked 40 buildings overnight for structural soundness, and "None of them is completely safe," McReynolds said.


Business owner Cindy Gitchel broke into sobs Monday and hugged visiting Gov. Bob Holden as he toured the town. She had dived under a desk when the tornado hit downtown Sunday evening.


"How can we save this?" she asked Holden, gesturing to the once-quaint architecture that had crumbled into heaps of rubble. "We have to try and save it. This town is 130 years old and you just don't find this anymore."


"The reason this town is 130 years old is because of people like you," the governor answered. "This town will be back."


Holden has asked the White House to declare a federal disaster in 39 counties. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius also declared disasters or emergencies in several counties.


Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael D. Brown arrived in Kansas on Tuesday morning to tour Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties, and he later toured Pierce City. The regional FEMA office has set up a command center to track damage reports from both states.


Brown said he expected federal authorities to declare several counties in both states disaster areas.


"This is the heart of the community and it's just gone," Brown said after a walk through Pierce City. "It's a war zone and it's absolutely amazing."


Holden also declared a state of emergency and directed about 170 Missouri National Guard soldiers to assist the communities badly damaged by tornadoes. The governor's office said as many as 50 counties may have suffered damages and said 15 shelters had been set up in affected areas.

[marlsy]

I'm glad your ok too!!! Wow how scarey!! I've had nightmares about tornados!! They scare me major!! I live in earthquake land so the thought of tornados terrify me!!

[hayley]

Shit i can't believe that killed so many people!

My house is RIGHT on a fault line, we get little tremmors. The occasional smack bang right there and then, but no damage is ever done.

There was like this guy on the radio a couple of monts ago, and it was in the newspaper too, it said that Wellingotn (the part of New Zealand i live in) is to expect a major earthquakue seriously damaging and maybe even killing people in the next 50 years.

[hayley]

Mother nature can be pretty damn scary

[creedfan47a]

Would you believe there was something in our paper today about earthquakes? Apparently, Adelaide is the Australian city most likely to get earthquakes, and we're kinda due for another big one. We get little ones (about 2 on the Richter scale) every now and then out in the country.

[JulieCitySlicker]

Yikes Hayley! I've never been in an earthquake before! That would be freaky I have been in a tornado though and that is really scary!

[hayley]

Yeah i could imagine...

And believe me, earthquakes are awful...there are like 2 types of them, one i like to call a "rolling" one, where you can hear the actuall earthquake coming from miles away, and then it just comes and gets closer and closer. I remember one time i was at the computer, and i heard a rumble, things in my room started to rattle just a little bit, so i jumped down on the ground and put my ear against the ground, and i swear to God, i could hear the rumbling deep down in the earth. It was so scary. Then the other one is the worst one, i like to call it the "jolt" it just comes with absolutley NO warning at all, and you just rock, like jolt. It doesn't even last 2 seconds. They are the worst.

The regular ones we get here usually measure here around 6.4, but the are really really deep down in the ground.

[Steve]

Nice to hear you are ok Dan.

Milwaukee, WI is pretty safe from all these disasterous weather conditions. We get a few major snow storms and a few major thunderstorms over the year... that's about it. Most tornados don't hit the city (they stay in the rural parts of the state), no earthquakes, etc.

[Dogstar]

Hey, Dan. So nice to see you! I'm soooo glad you and your family are safe and sound! I can't believe how devastating those tornadoes have been. That's just awful.

[creednmysoul]

Hey from Indiana, Dan Sure am glad your guardian angels were loking out for you and your family
We had really bad rain, thunder & lightning. My kids were so scared, they were all over me

[JulieCitySlicker]

We have some more severs weather coming Tonight, tomorrow, and Saturday we are supposed to get more bad storms in my area When is it gonna let up and give us a greak There was a whole town in Missouri that was demolished in Sundays storms and some other towns got hit pretty hard yesterday There were a couple schools hit yesterday by tornadoes that had people in them trying to stay safe from the storms

[Sheila63]

Hey Dan, I'm happy to hear you and your family are okay. I'm also happy to hear that everyone else living in the Mdwest and South are okay.

Tornados are really scary. There was one a few miles from where I live back in 1979. I'll never forget that day, it happened around 3:00 pm. I was home sick from school that day and it was so dark out, it looked like it was night time. I've also experienced a few earthquakes here in CT. Nothing real bad but enough that I felt my bed shake one morning and the sofa I was sitting on one other time vibrate!!