Posted 7:40 PM CST: Tornadoes touch down in Joplin leaving a path of destruction throughout the city.
Power lines and phone lines are down. Communications are difficult.
Starting at 20th and Rangeline a tornado destroyed countless buildings throughout the area.
At the 15th and Rangeline Walmart ambulances lined the street as emergency rescue officials across the Four-States have responded to rescue hundreds of residents trapped inside the building.
St. John's hospital was also hit hard by the tornado. One resident living nearly 45-miles away from the hospital says his yard is now full of debris from the hospital-- medical supplies and x-rays.
Officials say the hospital is severely damaged. Chunks of the building were taken out and windows were blown out.
Eastbound and westbound I-44 is closed at mile marker 18 near Joplin due to overturned tractor trailers during severe weather.
More updates will be posted as we confirm information.
Here is an amazing video compiled by NOAA http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/imageoftheday.php It includes Monday nights storms, up until last nights.
I'm also finding lots of good aerial photos on the web. I'll try to locate on Google Earth for before and after. In the mean time, here is a Weather Channel video showing before and after http://www.weather.com/outlook/videos/before-and-after-photos-in-tuscaloosa-20468?from=video_email
The latest information, is that the tornado was so powerful it was shooting out other tornadoes spinning sideways! The huge tornado may have carved a path from downtown Tuscaloosa to downtown Birmingham, about 60 miles apart! The tornado appears to have been mile wide and may have been on the ground for more than two hours!
These huge tornadoes are spinning so fast that some of that spin is shed, spawning sidekicks. The sideways funnel clouds are fleeting, lasting maybe 20 seconds before dissolving, as the video shows. This video is buzzing, but worth it to watch until the end. It WILL give you chills! Truly frightening!
The official death count from last nights southern states tornadoes storm front is at 270. That number will surly rise as more people are discovered missing, and dead. The area of destruction from only 1 of the tornadoes was a mile wide and 8 miles long.
I believe Obamas key words in this short speech are about "CONTROL". He, and his speech writer, are actively covering up the fact that these storms ARE able to be controlled and very likely the result of practicing such "control". He then goes on to offer to capitalize on the unprecedented tragic destruction.
Aerial photos released today show a horrible zig zaging path of wreckage where the tornado touched down in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Were the Alabama Tornadoes TRYING to hit so many cities in a straight line?
The state of Alabama has been injected with a massive storm system, that has produced dozens of tornadoes and the damage has been devastating. In particular, the city of Tuscaloosa has been hit by a storm of catastrophic and epic proportions.
Tuscaloosa’s mayor, Walter Maddox, appeared on The Weather Channel shortly after the storm plowed through his city, and said that the “devastation is ‘catastrophic’ and parts of city ‘have been obliterated’.” Maddox added “please pray for us.”
On his Twitter feed, Aaron Suttles, Senior Recruiting Analyst for the Alabama Rivals site, TideSports.com, wrote that “I don’t mean to overstate, but it looks like bombs went off. Nothing left standing. Complete rubble. Cars upside down and caved in.”
Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News wrote on his Twitter feed simply: “Scale of destruction in Tuscaloosa is very bad.” *****
Various reports from Twitter indicate there is massive damage to 15th Street and McFarland Boulevard. Sports writer Aaron Suttles reports via Twitter that the CVS at 15th Street and MacFarland has been destroyed, among many other businesses and apartment buildings.
Other reports state complete devastation along 15h Street heading to MacFarland.
Alabama Power reported at 8 p.m. there are 375,000 Alabama residents without power. As of 6 p.m. in the city of Tuscaloosa, 50,295 customers are without power. In the western division of Alabama Power as of 8 p.m., there are 146,000 customers without power. This comes from spokesman Freddy Padilla.
Damage has also been reported to DCH Medical Center and the University Mall. Staff writer Wayne Grayson is reporting via Twitter that the Central High School football field was hit. The roof of the press box was ripped up along with bleachers.
The mayor of Tuscaloosa is asking for people to pray for his city after a massive, mile-wide tornado left death and destruction there. TUSCALOOSA, Alabama - The tornado roared through the city just after 5:00pm Wednesday evening.
Alabama's Emergency Management Agency confirms as many as 25 people have been confirmed dead in Alabama. Three of those in Tuscaloosa.
Another 33 tornado sightings were reported from Oklahoma to Ohio from Tuesday night through Wednesday morning. Accompanied by baseball sized hail in some areas. GOOGLE NEWS
Dutchsinse CALLED IT! These vortexes were triggered by weather modification equipment noticed to be active shortly before this new round of tornadoes.
GREAT COPY from DUTCHSINSE: "4/20/2011 -- 24-48 hours from now = Tornadoes / Severe weather Dallas, TX to Detroit From: dutchsinse | Apr 20, 2011 | 5,625 views in the next 24-48 hours .. from Dallas Texas to Detroit Michigan.. the threat for tornadoes and severe weather based upon the "HAARP VLF UHF" rings appearing today.
I believe NEXRAD and X-band radar systems are being used in conjunction with VLF and UHF arrays based out of airports, prisons, reservoirs, quarries, and CEMETARIES!!! all have these stations nearby!
each of these locations has something else in common.
They all have NO FCC restrictions for their areas.. so limitless amounts of "frequency" can be used out of these locations.
I truely know and also "believe" that we are seeing the steering of storms using projected frequencies from the very same stations that also give us "radar" images.
Dual use facilities.
look at the locations on the VLF and Digisonde maps below.. all these locations have the "ring phenomenon" sever weather outbreaks and EARTHQUAKES!!
enjoy this first round of links.. let me know what you think.
dutch
chinese "haarp" type facility:
http://english.cssar.cas.cn/op/mp/
RADAR im showing on screen to view the "rings":
http://www.intellicast.com/Local/WxMapFull.aspx
DOPE and superDARN backscatter dopple RADAR:
http://replay.waybackmachine.org/19980211033937
http://ion.le.ac.uk/index.html
http://replay.waybackmachine.org/19980211035832
an ACTUAL program to plot these signatures!!!!!! :
Here is a bit of video and information about the Walmart that was destroyed by tornado in Tushka, Oklahoma. Looks like it followed highway 75 if it hit the Church and school in Tushka, and the Walmart in Atoka.
Tushka Fly Over
The Tushka Oklahoma tornado started as a wedge, morphed to a multivortex, then back to a wedge as it moved through the small town of Tushka. Unfortunately people lost their lives and were injured.
The severe weather is finally over as the monster system has played out. The atmosphere still looks to be held in a harmonic grid, but it is no longer being violently manipulated.
Approximatively 240 reported tornadoes over 3 days.
24 people have died.
Rest in peace.
Sunday, will be a day for the survivors to survey the horrendous damage from the worst tornado outbreak in memory.
New York Times has a good sumery here http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/04/17/us/tornado.html
Over that last 3 days, there have been a reported 206 TORNADOS!! Stretching from Oklahoma to the Virginias! There are still tornadoes touched down on the East Coast at this moment.
I'm kinda rushed and just phoning it in right now, but here are a few graphics..
An incredible amount of tornado activity is ripping through the southeast united states right now. I see more then 10 tornadoes at this moment. I am monitoring and I'll be updating this post live.
Latest Updates: [4:55 p.m. ET, 3:55 p.m. CT] A tornado was reported on the ground in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, near McFarland Mall at 3:44, the National Weather Service said.
[2:55 p.m. ET, 1:55 p.m. CT] The city of Clinton, Mississippi, suffered "extensive damage" from a tornado that struck Friday, the state Emergency Management Agency said.
[2:48 p.m. ET, 1:48 p.m. CT] A tornado emergency has been issued for towns of Geiger, Panola, New West Green, and Pleasant Ridge in Alabama. At 1:34 pm CDT, storm spotters were tracking a large and extremely dangerous tornado that was mile wide, the National Weather Service said. The tornado was located 23 miles northwest of Livingston moving east at 45 mph.
[1:24 p.m. ET, 12:24 p.m. CT] A tornado has touched down southeast of Linden, Alabama, the National Weather Service said. Tornadoes have also been reported in Melvin, Alabama, and in or near the cities of Loper, Madden, Mt. Sterling, Ludlow, Clinton and Jackson in Mississippi, according to authorities.
[12:49 p.m. ET, 11:49 a.m. CT] A tornado touched down near State Line, Mississippi, at 11:45 am CDT on Friday morning. The tornado was reported by emergency management officials, the National Weather Service said. There are no reports of injuries or damage at this time.
[12:44 p.m. ET, 11:44 a.m. CT] A 34-year-old woman and a 7-year-old child have been discovered dead inside a Little Rock, Arkansas, home after being struck by a falling tree during severe storms Thursday, the state Department of Emergency Management confirmed. The deaths bring to nine the number of people killed by storms in Arkansas and Oklahoma Thursday.
[12:37 p.m. ET, 11:37 a.m. ET] A tornado was reported on the ground 2 miles east-southeast of Melvin, Alabama, by emergency management officials Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service said. Damage to the Hunt Oil Refinery was reported.
9 died yesterday in the Arkansas and Oklahoma Tornados. Now there is an continuing ongoing Tornado outbreak in Mississippi, South East area of North America. Many MANY Tornados! Post edits to continue...
