Children Pulled from Rubble After Massive Oklahoma Tornado
A monstrous tornado at least a half-mile wide roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds up to 200 mph. At least 51 people were killed, and officials said the death toll was expected to rise.
The storm laid waste to scores of buildings in Moore, Okla., a community of 41,000 people about 10 miles south of the city. Block after block lay in ruins. Homes were crushed into piles of broken wood. Cars and trucks were left crumpled on the roadside.
The National Weather Service issued an initial finding that the tornado was an EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale, the second most-powerful type of twister.
More than 140 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 70 children. And search-and-rescue efforts were to continue throughout the night.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers.
Fallin also spoke with President Barack Obama, who offered the nation's help and gave Fallin a direct line to his office.
Many landlines to stricken areas were down, and cellphone networks were congested. The storm was so massive that it will take time to establish communications between rescuers and state officials, the governor said.
In video of the storm, the dark funnel cloud could be seen marching slowly across the green landscape. As it churned through the community, the twister scattered shards of wood, awnings and glass all over the streets.School Hit
At Plaza Towers Elementary School, the storm tore off the roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal.
Rescuers launched a desperate rescue effort at the school, pulling children from heaps of debris and carrying them to a triage center. Children from the school were among the dead, but several students were pulled alive from the rubble. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain to the triage center in the parking lot.
James Rushing, who lives across the street from the school, heard reports of the approaching twister and ran to the school, where his 5-year-old foster son, Aiden, attends classes. Rushing believed he would be safer there.
"About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart," he said.
The students were sent into the restroom.Dusk Falls
As dusk began to fall, heavy equipment was rolled up to the school, and emergency workers wearing yellow crawled among the ruins, searching for survivors.
Because the ground was muddy, bulldozers and front-end loaders were getting stuck. Crews used jackhammers and sledgehammers to tear away concrete, and chunks were being thrown to the side as the workers dug.
Douglas Sherman drove two blocks from his home to help.
"Just having those kids trapped in that school, that really turns the table on a lot of things," he said.
A map provided by the National Weather Service showed that the storm began west of Newcastle and crossed the Canadian River into Oklahoma City's rural far southwestern side about 3 p.m. When it reached Moore, the twister cut a path through the center of town before lifting back into the sky at Lake Stanley Draper.
Oklahoma City Police Capt. Dexter Nelson said downed power lines and open gas lines posed a risk in the aftermath of the system.
http://www.youtube.com/user/robinb4life?feature=mhee
I will not calm down until I will put one cheek of a tyrant on the ground and the other under my feet, and for the poor and weak, I will put my cheek on the ground. - Umar ibn khattab(Ra)
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
Last night I has listen that news about Oklahoma City tornado attracted again them. According to press reporter a powerful tornado was struck the outskirts of Oklahoma City in the US, hitting at least two schools and destroying countless homes.
The tornadoes in the plains states are a part of the natural weather pattern. They pretty much follow the same paths and hit the same areas every few years. Moore has been hit numerous times.
Sadly the areas that are "Tornado Alley" have low cost real estate. People rush in to buy bargain priced housing.
In a few years this latest Tornado will be forgotten, people will buy up the destroyed houses at bargain prices, rebuild and within 10 years the next tornado will hit.
Living in tornado alley is a hazard, like living on the side of a volcano. You know disaster will strike, but you don't think it will be in your life time.
Sort of like living in North Dakota. You know that every year their will be major blizzards and there will people who will not survive them. But, you do your best to be among those prepared for the Blizzards.
Oklahoma is pretty much in the center of Tornado Alley,
While no state is immune to a twister's violent winds, there are places where they touch down more often. The highest concentration of tornadoes is in Oklahoma and Texas, and in Florida. Frequent thunderstorms in western Florida contribute significantly to the number of twisters. Most Florida tornadoes, however, are weak.
True, the death count was extremely low though compared to other reports.
I still can't understand why they build wooden houses there.
Last edited by Jedi_Mindset; 05-31-2013 at 12:16 PM.
http://www.youtube.com/user/robinb4life?feature=mhee
I will not calm down until I will put one cheek of a tyrant on the ground and the other under my feet, and for the poor and weak, I will put my cheek on the ground. - Umar ibn khattab(Ra)
Well from the mainstream media perspective destruction without death is boring.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
Probably it's a punishment for Americans or ppl that live in Oklahoma
I hope not.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
Well it could be b/c Allah swt sends calamities to places that are corrupt or reject the signs of Allah swt and other reasons
It's a warning
Or do you feel secure that He Who is in Heaven will not send against you a violent tornado (with showers of stones) so that you will know how (terrible) was My warning? (Al-Mulk, 67:17)
another translation
Or do you feel secure that He who [holds authority] in the heaven would not send against you a storm of stones? Then you would know how [severe] was My warning. Quarn 67:17
Someone said to the Prophet, "Pray to God against the idolaters and curse them." The Prophet replied, "I have been sent to show mercy and have not been sent to curse." (Muslim)
Those to whom hypocrites said, "Indeed, the people have gathered against you, so fear them." But it [merely] increased them in faith, and they said, "Sufficient for us is Allah , and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs."['Ali-'Imran:173]
Ibn ‘Abbas (May Allah be pleased with them) said: When (Prophet) Ibraheem was thrown into the fire, he said: “Allah (Alone) is sufficient for us, and, He is the Best Disposer of affairs.” So did Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (sal-lal-laahu-alaihi-wa-sallam), when he was told: “A great army of the pagans had gathered against him, so fear them”. But this (warning) only increased him and the Muslims in Faith and they said: “Allah (Alone) is sufficient for us, and He is the Best Disposer of affairs (for us)”. [Al-Bukhari].
In short you can recite: Hasbunallahu Wa Ni’mal Wakeel
Probably it's a punishment for Americans or ppl that live in Oklahoma
That is not for us to know. None of us can speak for Allaah(swt)
But we do know that the US plains have always had the most tornadoes of any place on earth. Predating any permanent buildings. The Native Americans in the region were Nomads that followed the buffalo (bison) herds as they traveled back and forth between Canada and Mexico. They had no permanent houses and the tents (Tee Pees) did not cause flying dangerous debris when hit by Tornadoes. As long as Oklahoma was open plains land with few people and no buildings the tornadoes posed no danger. But in the past 200 years settlers have moved in and built houses and other buildings. The number and strength of tornadoes in Oklahoma has not changed, but what has changed is the number of people living in houses there. The more houses that get built the more damage and deaths there will be each year. The First Nation Americans were wise enough to not build solid houses there. The deaths began when permanent houses began being built. Oklahoma was not a land compatible with permanent houses. The tornadoes were there long before any houses and there will continue to be tornadoes in Oklahoma. The more people who move into the path of tornadoes, the more death and destruction there will be.
Just as it is not wise to build your house on a train track, it is not wise to build your house on the regular track of tornadoes. So far no one has been able to build an affordable house that can withstand an F5 Tornado or even an F4 one. Concrete houses are much more dangerous than wood ones in a tornado zone. A flying concrete building will do much more damage than a flying woden one.
Here is the damage by an F4 tornado that hit Bossier City on Dec 3, 1978 at 2 in the morning. I did not make this video, but I was living near Bossier at the time and saw the Tornado as I was working that night very near were this area was. Nearly all of these buildings were made out of concrete and steel. Because the buildings were air tight they exploded like bombs from the outside drop in air pressure as the tornado passed by. Most of these buildings were not hit by the tornado, they exploded because the outside air pressure dropped rapidly.
Oklahoma was not a land compatible with permanent houses.
Neither is a good portion of Bangladesh - it's on a flood plain. Or more extremely the Maldives - almost the whole country is forecast to disappear under the waves altogether. Is this really the people's fault?
Neither is a good portion of Bangladesh - it's on a flood plain. Or more extremely the Maldives - almost the whole country is forecast to disappear under the waves altogether. Is this really the people's fault?
Errrrrrrrrrr.........some are tests I think and some disasters are a form of punishment from Allah swt for disobeying Allah
We sent against them a furious wind, for a long period of time of un-ending ill-luck, which tore people away as though they were trunks of uprooted and hollow palm trees”.Qur'an[54:19-21]
That's true but I think she's saying its a possibility.
I was looking at myself talking to myself and I realized this conversation...I was having with myself looking at myself was a conversation with myself that I needed to have with myself.
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