Titanic Twisters Kill 36 In U.S. Heartland By Ben Fenwick OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A series of titanic tornadoes ripped through the U.S. heartland Monday, killing at least 36 people, injuring hundreds and destroying thousands of homes. The massive storm system, described by weather forecasters as a ``super outbreak of tornadoes,'' swept across Oklahoma and Kansas in a deadly blow that spread destruction across hundreds of miles (km) and into dozens of communities, officials said. ``The magnitude of this is just unprecedented, hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage and literally hundreds and hundreds of homes destroyed. A lot of people (are) homeless tonight,'' Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating said. Hardest hit were the Oklahoma City area and Wichita, Kansas where entire neighborhoods were completely destroyed, officials. Television reports showed fields of twisted debris where homes once stood and cars tossed like broken toys along the side of the road. Fires broke out and were fed by broken natural gas lines. Officials said there were 30 known dead in the Oklahoma capital and surrounding suburbs and six confirmed dead in Wichita, 160 miles (260 km) to the north. Dramatic television videos showed the huge funnels lumbering through towns and open land, sending up whirling clouds of debris and showers of blue sparks as they snapped power lines in two. The death toll was likely to rise as rescuers, hampered by downed power lines and scattered debris, searched on foot through the devastated areas. Weather forecasters said the family of storms that hit the region were of F-5 strength capable of causing devastating damage. Forecasters said it was possible some areas could have been hit with a force of intensity F-6, considered catastrophic. ``There are a lot of communities we're getting information from highway patrol and sheriff's officers that have been literally obliterated,'' Gov. Keating said. ``We're going door to door to determine who's injured and who's not. We know about five or six deaths, and we'll probably find more as the sun rises,'' Wichita Fire Department chief Bob Thompson said. The wounded flooded local medical facilities, where doctors and nurses rushed to treat them. Sharla Findley, spokeswoman for Hillcrest Health Center in Oklahoma City, said the hospital was so full that patients were being treated in the hospital cafeteria. ``We've seen at least 150 patients...with injuries ranging from minor lacerations to extremely severe,'' she said. Oklahoma City police Capt. Charles Allen said the tornado tore through 13 miles (21 km) of the city, destroying everything in its path. ``Entire neighborhoods were destroyed. An entire residential area was flattened,'' Allen said. He estimated that 1,000 homes had been leveled. In the suburb of Del City, 750 homes were wiped away, Sgt. Jody Suit of the Del City police department said. Police cordoned off a 25-square-mile area in Oklahoma City, forbidding all traffic from entering from the south. In the suburb of Midwest City, officials declared martial law. Keating said the National Guard had been sent in to keep order and help search for victims. As many as four dozen tornadoes were spotted across the region, but more were springing up throughout the night as the storm marched across the two states and dipped down into north Texas. The tornadoes were massive and deadly, with black, swirling winds spreading a mile (1.6 km) across the land and stretching 10 miles (16 km) into the sky. ``These are some of the biggest tornadoes ever reported,'' Keating said. ``I watched from my house when the tornado crossed Oklahoma City. It was a monster, it was a monster, it was huge,'' Dave Imy, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in nearby Norman, told Reuters Tuesday. ``After the storm passed, I drove into the city and for 45 minutes all I heard was solid sirens,'' he said. Other witnesses said the tornadoes sounded like freight trains as they passed over. ``We could actually hear the train sound for a long time, then for about 30 seconds you hear the snapping and stuff blowing around,'' said Nelson Austin, a resident of the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, Okla. He ran into a basement with several neighbors, where they had to hold the door closed as the twister plowed over them. ``It was pretty intense,'' Austin said, ``This was like a bombing had happened -- people were bleeding and crying, telephone poles were down.'' Keating equated the destruction to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. As in that incident, he said people were ``rolling up their sleeves and helping their neighbors.'' But, he added, ''Unfortunately there are so many people impacted, literally thousands, it's going to be a real rough effort to get our arms around it.''

-- Rickjohn (rickjohn1@yahoo.com), May 04, 1999

Answers

Sorry about the crapy formating. it lookt better in the preview. Article is from yahoo.com.

-- Rickjohn (rickjohn1@yahoo.com), May 04, 1999.

Yes... Martial Law was declared... to stop the teens from looting and to help in the search and rescue. Seems like they were told to tag the dead, and continue the search for the living to try to save them.

-- (cannot-say@this.time), May 04, 1999.

Rickjohn,

To preserve paragraph breaks through this forum's posting software, you have to either:

(a) put a blank line between each, as here, or

(b) use HTML formatting commands throughout the _entire posting.

-- No Spam Please (No_Spam_Please@anon_ymous.com), May 04, 1999.

Martial law "was declared". There's that pesky passive voice again. Who made the declaration? Exactly which government does the declarant work for? Local, state, federal, United Nations? Which department? By what authority? This is really crappy reporting.

-- Prometheus (fire@for.man), May 04, 1999.

Yes, THis is probably some reporter's short hand for the following series of events. As soon as the governor figures out hoew to start talking through the shock,and can say something printable, he declares a state of emergency, puts a shaky signature onthe declaration, issues orders to the National Guard to begin operations, in it's state role, to secure the areas hit for the property owners and to assist the releif agencies in providing relief. Next step is to make the call to the fornicator in Chief and ask for a federal declaration of emergency for the federal level assistance. By this time, if he's normally a fairly well wrapped guy, the governor can walk and talk in a semblance of normalcy, but he'll NEVER be the same as he was yeterday morning since deep shock leaves deep scars.

Chuck

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), May 04, 1999.

And declaring a state of emergency due to severe damage, injury and loss of life due to a tornado has what to do with Y2K?

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), May 04, 1999.

Doesn't anyone see, the tornado was created by the gov't to help get practice for the National Guard when Clinton does declare Martial Law. This is just one more step in the process, first the increase regulations on guns, and now the practice for military officers.

-- Pat (BAMECW@aol.com), May 04, 1999.

Craig,

If you stop and *think* for a moment, you'll realize, the lesson has to do with how public officials react in an emergency situation.

Then, extrapolate, to how public officials might react in an emergency situation related to Y2K.

Get it?

Simply be prepared.

Now is also the time to decide how you'll might react in a similar emergency situation. (Hint: you still have time to sign up for Red Cross classes).

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 04, 1999.

Diane, the tornados were a act of God, they could not be forseen ahead of time, and thus had to have strong actions set into place after the devestation of the storms. But Y2K is has been on the American mindset now for years for many, and in the recent 18 months for many others.

Comparing a computer that goes down to tornados tearing apart the general landscape of a city are hard to compare.

-- Pat (BAMECW@aol.com), May 04, 1999.

When the computers go down the people will tear up the landscape.
The fields & trees don't use guns and go on rampages but people do.
Opportunistic terrorism is the catchword.

Y2K may be worse because all sorts of deadly unpleasant stuff will simultaneously go down globally.

Less than 8 months until we get an inkling of what will trans/expire.

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxx

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), May 04, 1999.

Y2k effects may appear just as suddenly.

Also, people do not become angry at tornados and earthquakes; they tend to band together and help each other (certain exceptions of course). Could be different with Y2k problems - esp. if preparation had been poo-pooed.

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), May 04, 1999.

8% of all Y2000 rollover problems will occur at the stroke of midnight, and that is taking into account all glitches. This is the estimate from the Gartner group, many would consider them a leading authority on Y2K.

Speculation that "people" will riot is just speculation, and guessing that "terrorists" will strike at the stroke of midnight is anyones guess. Does anyone have a internal memo from a terrorist group that they will be striking?

The whole "riot" theory proposed by Gary North, Ed Yourdon, Ect are just just, theory. When World War 2 began, did people Riot because they couldn't have the luxuries that once were common? Did Star Wars fans kill one another on Sunday night to get the newest merchandise to line the pockets of George Lucas(which I plan on doing when I get some extra money, lol)?

-- Pat (BAMECW@aol.com), May 04, 1999.

Debbie Spence, you are absolutely right; the psychology of Y2K is much different than natural disasters. Righteous anger, lashing out, feeling 'entitled' to register protest & disgust, venting vengeance at the ridiculing betrayal, rebellious riots at the deceit, and the drunken fury of opportunists waiting for their broken window of chance to act out their MadMaxiManias. Hoping against hope that good prevails and Y2K does not turn into Code Blue/99.

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), May 04, 1999.

Rickjohn,

I post this only FYI, not to offened. When a Gov. of a state calls out the National Guard in a state of emergency, it is in no way, I repete, no way connected to Matial Law. I know times are strained but do not let the sight of a State National Guardsman helping after a massive tornadoe outbreak upset you. I am a GI and have been planning for some time and I think every one should be doing so.

If you are really interested in knowing about Martial Law (I do not think it hurts anyone to know about could happen if things go bad) you really need to find out what martial law is and how it can be used. Don't let everything that happens in the next few months make you see a boogie man behind every tree, there are enough real ones to worry about. If you try to worry about all the maybe boogie men, you may just end up in a rubber room. Get the facts son, only the facts. You will sleep better.

-- sigmund (sometimesacigarisjusta@cigar.com), May 05, 1999.

If you have serious concerns read this thread "Afew facts on Martial Law" at

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000NKQ

Chuck

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), May 05, 1999.

PS Hardliner, and a few of us have pretty much exhausted the subject at the above thread.

(Yelling "NO NO NO" DOES NOT stop the submit, even when you have the security pop-up box for a second "return" to think through!!!!)

CR

-- chuck, a Night Driver (rienzoo@en.com), May 05, 1999.