Death toll at 15 now for Alabama high school hit by tornado

[Seen the light]

Don't know how much you're keeping up with this. That's devastating in every sense of the word. Please keep these poor people in your thoughts/prayers.

[blueinindiana]

1. No doubt fundies wil blame it on evolution.

[DebJ]

2. I can't imagine. Devastating. Send your child to school then....

[malaise]

7. Neither can I

So much pain.

[mzmolly]

3. How sad.

What strange weather we're seeing all over the place. In Minnesota there is thunder and lightening with a friggen blizzard. I've never seen anything like it.

[Elwood P Dowd]

4. Seems like almost everyone east of the Mississippi is affected

by this monster.

[mzmolly]

11. My husband flew in from Phoenix today and just as his plane was supposed to land

I heard a crash of thunder and lightening lit the sky. Imagine that in a blizzard with little visibility? My husbands plane landed safely thank goodness, but now I'm concerned about his drive home. UGH.

I heard the Minnesota DNR actually closed the roads today. That doesn't happen often here.

A friend of the family drove to the twin cities from the Mayo in Rochester today. He said that the visibility was zero and he wasn't sure if he was even on the road anymore at one point while he was driving. And, of course you cant see to pull over and you don't dare stop in a situation like that. :scared:

I just looked out on the porch that was cleared of snow yesterday, and there appears to be another foot of snow, not sure I can even open my door?

Sorry to blather, it's just bizarre to see the diverse impact that this weather has had from state to state.

:hi:

[Breeze54]

17. Thunder Snow!

Why is there sometimes thunder in a snowstorm?
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/students/scienceqa/archive/990118b.html

----------------------------------

These tornadoes are terrible and it's very sad for the families who lost their children.
I can't imagine and so many....really a sad day for them.

[mzmolly]

20. Interesting. I guess it's more common on the coast?

And, I'm not anywhere near an ocean. ;) It was quite eerie. I love thunderstorms in the summer, but in the winter?

Thanks for sharing. :hi:

[Breeze54]

21. I live near

the east coast and it's scary when it happens, although it's rare here too!
It's kinda freaky!!

:hi:

[cboy4]

5. Gee....I wonder if this is a sign God is pissed off at all of the

right wing fundamentalist Christian conservatives who love Bush and love war.

I can tell you the parents of Iraqi children who have been blown to bits don't give a rat's ass about this tornado or praying for these red state victims....you know, the ones who drive all over town with Bush/Cheney '04 and yellow ribbons on their cars and support the "surge."

[Seen the light]

6. They're dead high schoolers

Dead high schoolers.

[cboy4]

12. Sounds like you're drawing conclusions that I don't

feel sad about that.

I am sad.

But I'm sure there are far more high school students who have died in the war over in Iraq.

Yet I have to listen to a Republican lawmaker from Southern Alabama beg for people to pray for the community....and he supports the war.

That's ironic. Sorry.

And I'm sure that there are Republicans down there who are the same way.

[AlCzervik]

10. come on now, please.

[cboy4]

14. I'm being a little facetious in the sense that people like Pat

Robertson and other so-called Christians pull the same crap.

God was responsible for 9/11 because he was sending a message.

God gave the gays AIDS because he's angry at them.

You're missing my point...of course I'm sad about the tornado.

edit: typo

[Jacobin]

8. Oh man

very sad.

That was a powerful tornado

[AlCzervik]

9. beyond horrible, i can't even begin to imagine the grief.

[LanternWaste]

13. I can't wrap my brain around this.

I can't wrap my brain around the concept that 15 teenagers were killed today. There's a sense of unreality I'm getting about it right now. I can't understand that 15 terrified teens were suddenly... not alive anymore.

I feel very, very small right now.

[w8liftinglady]

15. I feel bad for their families.It's totally out of their control

I've been through quite a few tornados-2 of this magnitude..it is a totally helpless feeling

[tnlefty]

16. I saw that on the last update on the weather channel, also, many

frantic parents who don't know where their children are as some were transported to hospitals, so they don't know if their kids are alive or dead and if they're alive which hospital to go to be with them. A nightmare.

[uppityperson]

18. picture of the tornado itself. Incredible, how sad.

It is just really really really bad and I feel really bad for the people there.

[Breeze54]

19. Some students are still missing, trapped under debris

19 Die in Storms in Alabama and Missouri

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/02/us/02tornado.html?hp

By BRENDA GOODMAN
Published: March 2, 2007

ATLANTA, March 1 —

A storm system that stretched nearly 1,000 miles from the Midwest to the Southeast on Thursday
killed at least 19 people in two states, including 15 who died when an apparent tornado caused
the roof to collapse at a high school in Enterprise, Ala., officials said.

Some students remained unaccounted for late Thursday and could be trapped inside the building,
said Larry Walker, deputy director of the Emergency Management Agency in Coffee County, in southeastern Alabama.

Steven Carter, 16, a junior, said he was in the science wing when the lights went out.

“It happened fast,” Steven said. “There wasn’t much warning.”

He said he could smell methane leaking from the Bunsen burners in the classrooms.

“A lot of kids were trapped,” Steven said.

Steven said he saw science teachers tending to some of the wounded with first-aid kits salvaged
from the wrecked classrooms.

Toni J. Kaminski, a spokeswoman for Medical Center Enterprise, said the hospital treated 50 to 60 people.

“We have seen a myriad of injuries, including a ruptured spleen, head trauma, chest trauma,
broken bones,” Ms. Kaminski said.

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