1 Don't forget the fires down here in Texas, too.  We've only one casualty so far, but the 1.2 + million acres are out of commission and it's not looking to get any better any time soon.


Thoughts and prayers to those lost and their families.

2 Obama did manage to call Gov. Beverly Purdue and get in his 64th round of golf.  And who said the man was incapable of multi-tasking!

3 I'm sorry but that dude videotaping the tornado was a frigging idiot.  I don't care if he is a former Marine and that he loves Jesus.  He could very well have been very close to meeting Jesus.  It sounded like he was on the phone with his mother the whole time too.  I don't think that was very nice to traumatize her with all that.

4 Have the global warming nuts chimed in yet?  I'm waiting for someone to blame all of this on light bulbs...

5

Oh, and I know this will come as a shocker to you all, but there is still no official statement about the tornadoes on the official WH website. 

I guess these tornadoes must only be affecting Whitey.  You know if Eric Holder's "people" were being harmed, the D.O.J. would be firing up some kind of legal action. 

6

Don't forget the fires down here in Texas, too. 

Yeh, my mom is in the middle of some of those. And dealing with smoke from fires in northern Mexico, too.

 

I hate living in tornado country. We were on the edge of one when we first moved here. Scary.

7 Global warming or something Bush did.  Take your pick. 

8 Global warming or something Bush did.  Take your pick.

Global warming caused by the "failed policies of the previous administration."

Why pick, when we can use both?

9 Jesus said, "thou shalt keep well clear of tornadoes, even if you're a Marine."

10 Barack Obama in

T H E   D A Y  A F T E R
T O M O R R O W ' S
B A C K
N I N E

11 Having survived one of these, (F-4 right by my house while I was in the crawlspace in May of 99,) this guy was not too bright. Yeah I give him props for hanging in there without panicking, but tornadoes are too inconsistent. When I checked my damage in '99, half of a metal shed was imbedded in the siding of my house. He easily could have gotten a 2x4 upside his head. You don't fuck with 200 mph winds.

12 Charlie Sheen is coming to Houston next week; he's sort of like a tornado filled with crack and dreams.

13

Downtown Raleigh Has some major damage. The one that cut though downtown looks to have touched down about 3-4 miles from my house.

I have a couple of friends that have some pretty major damage to their houses. No one I know was hurt... so I'm happy for that.

 

14 This pattern might continue too. Back in January, I think (no linky, I'm afraid) Joe Bastardi formerly of AccuWeather predicted a stormier than normal spring and the guy is usually right in his long range forecasts.

15 That tornado was lucky it didn't fuck with the Jesus-loving Marine.

16

I moved away from Alabama to get away from tornados.

I moved to Florida where we have hurricanes.

17

I moved away from Alabama to get away from tornados.

I moved to Florida where we have hurricanes.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at April 18, 2011 05:56 PM (d0Tfm)

Looks like your nic fits then.....

18

I wonder if that Marine ever did any tours.......something tells me that he has.

That's how I sound if I'm stuck in traffic but watching that come towards me?

19

.........by a guy who remained calm the whole time; he says he didn't fear because he's a Marine and he loves Jesus.

 

A tornado is Jesus telling you:  RUN!!  GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE, DUMBASS!!

20 That's OK, you get to clean and replace in that situation.

21 Obama, "This week there is was a tradety i Kansas.. 10,000 people died! An entire town destroyed.. " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjO8Qc5s1fY

22 I moved to Florida where we have hurricanes.

And plenty of tornadoes.

23

A tornado is Jesus telling you:  RUN!!  GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE, DUMBASS!!

Posted by: Soona at April 18, 2011 05:58 PM (CqARr)

You'd think.  Mysterious ways, etc.

24 I agree with the sentiment that this person was brave, but foolish. 

Like the honey badger, Mother Nature doesn't give a hoot if you are a Marine and a Christian;  This man got extremely lucky that he wasn't obliterated by the tornado. 

25 Dude must of had a tray full of Xanax brownies.

26
Like the honey badger, Mother Nature doesn't give a hoot if you are a Marine and a Christian;  This man got extremely lucky that he wasn't obliterated by the tornado. 

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at April 18, 2011 06:00 PM (c0A3e)

Interesting.  Who is this "Mother Nature" person?

27

A tornado is Jesus telling you:  RUN!!  GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE, DUMBASS!!

Reminds me of this religious joke:

There was a flood in a village.

One man said to everyone, "I'll stay! God will save me!"

The flood got higher and a boat came and the man in it said "Come on mate, get in!"

"No" replied the man. God will save me!

The flood got very high now and the man had to stand on the roof of his house.

A helicopter soon came and the man offered him help."

No, God will save me!" he said

Eventually he died by drowning.

He got by the gates of heaven and he said to God "Why didn't you save me?"

God replied, "For goodness sake! I sent a boat and a helicopter. What more do you want!"

28 Clearly, the radiation leaking out of Japanese power plants has caused a disturbance in the atmosphere. This, coupled with accumulating man-cause global climate change conditions is creating an environment of chaos that is the cause of these tornadoes.

All of these factors, coupled with negative energy that flows out of Tea Party rallies and fed by right wing, violent rhetoric creates a recipe for doom. That would be bad enough on it's own, but we also must take into account the impact military movements and the excess carbon created by George Bush's illegal wars.

Thank goodness Obama is giving up his free time in between important Presidential duties, such as speeches and national security golf meetings, to bravely take trips to strategic locations and lower our oceans. Where it not for his heroic efforts, that he right wing tries to pass off as "vacations", we would be experiences much worse catastrophes.

~This perspective on our true reality was brought to you by the MSM global investigative stratergizing department and by viewers & listeners like you, who support PBS and NPR.

29 Interesting.  Who is this "Mother Nature" person?

Gaia a.k.a "manifestation of Satan". 

30

God replied, "For goodness sake! I sent a boat and a helicopter. What more do you want!"

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at April 18, 2011 06:01 PM (c0A3e)

We were available.

31 To those saying the Marine was stupid...

We don't know exactly how he came to be in that situation, but once the tornado is that close, they often move fast enough that running away isn't actually your best bet (not sure how fast that one was moving, though).  I think his point was, basically, "we've all gotta die sometime, why sweat it?"

Also, my Dad's a former marine- he'd probably do exactly the same thing.

32 Like the honey badger, Mother Nature doesn't give a hoot if you are a Marine and a Christian;  This man got extremely lucky that he wasn't obliterated by the tornado. 

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at April 18, 2011 06:00 PM (c0A3e)

 

A rock or piece of brick coming through the windshield at 200 mph would have blown his head off as easily as a .50 cal. bullet.

33 I stayed with a Kentucky couple who would always shelter in the dry laid basement of their huge 19th century Victorian/Gothic home when the sirens sounded.

I DID NOT wanted to be down in there if the house collapsed from a tornado.

I think the old fashioned tornado cellars are the best bet if you live in tornado alley.

34 I can hear it coming.....FORE!

Oh that was Prez Numbnuts responding to please for help.

35

God replied, "For goodness sake! I sent a boat and a helicopter. What more do you want!"

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at April 18, 2011 06:01 PM (c0A3e)

Shoulda seen what Barack did when I was handing out brains.

36 That's a pretty small tornado, but still, I believe I'd have fired up that Ford and fled.

37 please = pleas. 

I'm still hopeless today.

38 I'll bite. Where else was the guy going to go? He'd have been dead if he'd gotten out of his truck.

39 Posted by: Ed Anger at April 18, 2011 06:04 PM (7+pP9)

A lot of people in relatively modern housing haven't bothered to put in tornado shelters.  Or, you know, cellars of any kind.

Also, soil conditions can make it very difficult to put in a storm shelter.  The family farm has an external, above ground cellar (originally used for minor refrigeration- in the days before iceboxes) that works pretty well, though.

40

I moved away from Alabama to get away from tornados.

I moved to Florida where we have hurricanes.

Posted by: BackwardsBoy at April 18, 2011 05:56 PM (d0Tfm)

Who's concerned about hurricanes when you have chicks sunning their hooter's on the intracoastal? 

41 I love Jesus too, but I'm not trying to cut in line to meet Him.

42 Keep screwing around with tornados and he'll get to meet Jesus real soon.

43 While I understand that, at a certain point, the man couldn't do anything, you still don't take chances like that. Though I can't say that some of the people in Tornado Alley* or here along the Gulf Coast (Houston) are any better when it comes to storms, and we see them much more often.

*I've lived in OK and Central & East TX

44 Say, when is the Earth going to heal and the oceans drop?  Tornadoes are not allowed in Obama's world, are they?  Unless they kill 10,000 in Kansas?

45

Who's concerned about hurricanes when you have chicks sunning their hooter's on the intracoastal? 

Posted by: Fish the Impaler at April 18, 2011 06:07 PM (ZHsNw)

Florabama, baybee!

46 Also, my Dad's a former marine- he'd probably do exactly the same thing.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at April 18, 2011 06:04 PM (8y9MW)

God Bless the guy but that was NOT a smart thing to do. The last place you want to be is in a vehicle. Running to a ditch or culvert is the better option and there's usually plenty of them in a flat area for flood abatement.

But as you said maybe he just didn't give a fuck.

47 I'll bite. Where else was the guy going to go? He'd have been dead if he'd gotten out of his truck.

Posted by: Techie at April 18, 2011 06:06 PM (gfg//)

 

I think the whole video was about 4 to 5 minutes long.  Plenty of time to unass the AO and be down the road at least a mile.

48 I think the old fashioned tornado cellars are the best bet if you live in tornado alley.
Posted by: Ed Anger at April 18, 2011 06:04 PM

We have a storm cellar that has an entrance inside a closet.  We cleared all the stuff out of the closet once last year, but ended up not going down there.

49

We don't know exactly how he came to be in that situation, but once the tornado is that close, they often move fast enough that running away isn't actually your best bet (not sure how fast that one was moving, though). 

You should at least try.

50 Did we give up after Katrina bombed Pearl Harbor?  NOOOOO!

51 I was a Marine?  WTF does that have to do with being an idiot?  This is the sort of guy who thinks he Jim Cantore on storm stories.

I can guarantee you that if this dumb fuck's car had been rolled over, I'd say he was 20 feet away from that happening, it wouldn't be his fault.
The more his video is shown, the more other dumb fucks will try the same shit.  Someone said, "if life bores you, risk it".  This guy obviously has a pretty fucking boring life.

Better to highlight the Lowe's manager that got 100 people into the safe area of the store, before it was destroyed.  He is a hero, not this "jackass 4".

52 Barry, when you come down to see the destruction, swing by, we're still open.

53 Better to highlight the Lowe's manager that got 100 people into the safe area of the store, before it was destroyed.  He is a hero, not this "jackass 4".

Posted by: Kemp at April 18, 2011 06:11 PM (JpFM9)

Word. That's textbook on what you should do when a tornado is bearing down on you and you have about two minutes until it shreds everything.

54 Right now, Oklahoma City would welcome a tornado if it meant we'd get some rain.

55

At least we know when hurricanes are approaching.

Back in '04 when Central FL was going through the streak of hurricanes, one spawned tornado went down the street where I was living. Thankfully, I was over at B'Gal's house at the time. The house had a screen enclosure over the pool, it looked like God took His hand and just pushed it down to the ground.

I had to laugh at the movie about the tornado hunters with Bill Paxton and some cute little blonde, can't remember the name. They kept showing parts of buildings left over from a tornado. In North Alabama, those things only left foundations. No green skies or nothing, you could tell that movie was made by people who had never seen one or been in one.

The are not to be dismissed.

56 Had a metal shed from a neighbor's backyard picked up and thrown into the giant oak tree in my front yard once. Weirdly, all the tools stayed in the backyard, I think the shed acted like a wing or something. The shed just ended up wrapped around the giant oak about 25 feet up.

57 He played golf yesterday, would have been the perfect opportunity to stop and wish everyone affected well.

wonder if Sarah will say anything. 

58 Right now, Oklahoma City would welcome a tornado if it meant we'd get some rain.

Posted by: Soona at April 18, 2011 06:16 PM (CqARr)

The dry line is moving towards Mississippi. I'll do a rain dance for you.

59 And neither are suntanned hooters.

60 Anyone have any info on how Apex, NC fared? It must have been in the path of the storm.

61 O/T:  HA has a headline that says Prosser has declared victory over Kloppy.  So there is some good news.

62 Last thing I saw on TV before the power went-out during Ike was Geraldo almost falling into Galveston Bay.

63 Tornado destroyed several homes on base at Camp Lejeune, and one child was critically injured.

64 tornados in the south are tuff.. but they are everywhere........ NC got hit hard. i have lived close to a few places that got blew away here in Ga. over the years. people i went to high school with and their homes were gone........... i would rather fight a Honey Badger than go through one.........  i might pull out a knife or gun and kill the Badger, not a tornado.

65 What the heck was the guy supposed to do?  I didn't see any huge deep ditches (keep your mind out of the gutter ) he could have ran to.

He was probably running home, couldn't make it, and decided his truck was the safest place to be.

My heart goes out to the family of the mom and kids that died in their trailer when a tree fell.  Broke my heart.

We live in an old true 4 x 4 oak built house with the house on top of our garage.  We have our shelter (batteries, water, flashlights, radio, blankets, chairs) under the garage steps leading to the house. 

A few weeks ago one came 3 miles from our house and it sounded like it was right on top of us.

It really scared the shit out of me.

66

A ditch or culvert is only a choice if he had time to get there. If he couldn't run to one in time and there wasn't a reasonable building (i.e., one *without* solid glass walls), then he may as well hang in the car. I probably would have ducked, though.

I think he is crediting being a Jesus-loving Marine for why he wasn't whimpering in a fetal position (like that kid in Hempfield) as opposed to thinking it was some sort of talisman against injury.

67

This is a Tornado -

http://preview.tinyurl.com/44zh68p

68 Anyone have any info on how Apex, NC fared? It must have been in the path of the storm.

Posted by: Otis Criblecoblis at April 18, 2011 06:23 PM (fjoLg)

Hail and severe damage but no injuries. My tinyurl-fu is weak right now.

69 Tornado destroyed several homes on base at Camp Lejeune




My nephew was sheltered in one of the buildings that (I think) lost an outer wall.  He say it was wicked (and he's been to Asscrackastan!)

70 To paraphrase Ron White, being a Marine doesn't really help when you've got a Yield sign stuck in your spleen.

71 I'm in Raleigh, a few miles from downtown.  We were spared but three people died a mile away.  Power lines and HUGE old oak trees down everywhere, downtown and the suburbs.  It was terrifying.  Mr Choksondik and I spent yesterday driving around taking pics of the storm damage and helping move a couple of trees when it was needed.  People were out cleaning up, helping each other and very friendly. I have to say, local utilities were on it fast afterward and most power has been restored.  My insurance company called today to see if we were ok and if we had any damage.  It's all been very surprising and heartening in a dark time.

72

A ditch or culvert is only a choice if he had time to get there. If he couldn't run to one in time and there wasn't a reasonable building (i.e., one *without* solid glass walls), then he may as well hang in the car. I probably would have ducked, though.

Posted by: Ella at April 18, 2011 06:27 PM (tFgYp)

It's better to lie flat on the ground, even a low depression, than to be in a vehicle. Horizontal wind will get underneath the chassis and throw the vehicle. You'll probably get your ass kicked outside but it's a little more difficult for a tornado to suck you up when you're flat on the ground.

73 Didn't see one cow in that tornado. How bad could it have been?

74 74 Didn't see one cow in that tornado. How bad could it have been?

Posted by: Helen umm Hunt at April 18, 2011 06:34 PM (YyGIN)

 

Someone on the news said one of his horses was sucked up and others were missing.

75

even a low depression

Even better, a low depression, etc.

Why do I even bother?

76 Hail and severe damage but no injuries.

Thanks, ErikW. My Dad is buried there, but my brother moved away, so we have to take care of Dad's grave long-distance.

77 A few weeks ago one came 3 miles from our house and it sounded like it was right on top of us.

It really scared the shit out of me.

Posted by: momma at April 18, 2011 06:26 PM (penCf)

a couple years ago one came about 3 miles from my house........ it killed 4 people. it had me thinking so fast i really didnt have time toget scared...........  i was thinking..........  RF what the fuck are you going todo.........  got a beer out of the fridge and got under the house.

78 Thanks, ErikW. My Dad is buried there, but my brother moved away, so we have to take care of Dad's grave long-distance.

Posted by: Otis Criblecoblis at April 18, 2011 06:38 PM (fjoLg)

There might be some branches laying around but it shouldn't be too bad.

79 I drove along the boundaries of that front on Saturday afternoon. I left Kiawah thinking that there were thunderstorms ahead, only to hear tornado warnings once I was 2/3 of the way home to Raleigh. At that point is was "screw it...full steam ahead." There was no damage chez Wodeshed, thank goodness. the biggest hazard was extreme rainfall and people inexplicably coming to a complete stop in the middle of the highway. Still, I've never seen sky so black as it was over Raleigh on Saturday afternoon.

80 Last thing I saw on TV before the power went-out during Ike was Geraldo almost falling into Galveston Bay.

Were you rooting for him to fall in? I would have been.

81

Are the riots over yet?

Anyone screaming and asking where the check is?

82 Tornado destroyed several homes on base at Camp Lejeune, and one child was critically injured.

Also took out part of a primary school on the base. Must be one stupid tornado to mess with the Marines, though.

83 A Marine and a fan of Jesus...good for him. The fucking idiot.

84 82 Were you rooting for him to fall in? I would have been.

Yes, and so was my family and some of my friends. Some of these reporters are absolutely reckless in their drive to get news, and he's certainly one of the worst. I'll never forget what he did RE those troops movements, either. Disgusting.

85 So has the MFM blamed Obama yet? I mean even excluding Katrina they blamed every other natural disaster on Bush because Kyoto wasn't signed and there was no cap and trade and those things still haven't happened so it must be Obama's fault just as much as it was Bush's.

86 I used to shop at the Lowe's they show in Sanford that was hit.. haven't in about three years since I do not live in NC anymore.

87 We live in Newport, about 30 miles from Camp Lejeune...a twister touched down on the other side of Havelock (where MCAS Cherry Point is), too. Took off a bunch of roofs, completely obliterated a brick home and caused some major, major damage. Also, in Bertie County - they got slammed as well, I've seen video on the local news and it looks like a war zone.

88 What is President Bush doing for these people?  Why hasn't he said anything yet?  He must hate people!

89 iPad spammers are putting African-Americans out of work!

90 Great ad for Ford

91

@Otis:

Apex\Holly Springs area had some damage. I remember seeing pictures on WRAL's website.

 

92

They will blame this on GLOBAL WARMING and that crack-pot wacko JAMES LOVELOCK will use this GAIAS REVENGE bull kaka horse poo twaddle to explane this since LOVELOCK,GORE,SUZUKI,STRONG and the various eco-wackos are all out of their minds

93 Yeah, Saturday was a little nuts around here.  I live in Durham so I wasn't in the path of any of the tornadoes, but the straight-line winds in advance of them dropped a small tree on my car and house (not much damage).

At least four of the tornadoes out of this outbreak were classed as EF3 at some point in their path, that's estimated winds of 140-160 mph.  Judging by the pictures of the damage, I don't doubt it.  The Sanford/Raleigh tornado was on the ground for 63 miles; a second one that hit further south and tore up Benson, Dunn, and Smithfield was down for 65 miles.  That's really long for around here.

My wife's dad lived very close to the path of the Raleigh storm (he lives outside of Apex) but got no damage, just a good scare.  Houses a few hundred yards from him weren't quite so lucky.