To ...

[Guest guest]

Let us know if you and your properties are okay please.

Administrator

[Guest guest]

Yesterday one of my relatives in Missouri had to take shelter during a phone

call. Hid in the bathtub, ironically, because they do not have a cellar. Tornado

hit 4 miles away from them but did no damage to their own property.

Adminsitrator

Anyway, tomorrow is going to be another rough one. It is looking much like the

last big cell that came through here and was dangerous.

[Guest guest]

I talked with the folks in Alabama today. They're alright and no serious damage around my place or their homes. The storms were pretty severe though no tornadoes were produced in the immediate area.

That's good to hear.

However, they knew people up in the affected areas. They know a couple of people who's houses were either damaged or destroyed. In Tuscaloosa, the neighborhood where one of their sons lived with at UA was leveled. The son of one of their friends had done a couple of tours in Iraq since he is in the army. He said the Tuscaloosa area was as bad or worse than anything he saw in Iraq. Injured people with broken bones and bleedings wounds were wandering around in the streets not knowing what to do or where to go and large sections of the city were in ruins. Many other small towns were also hit and badly damaged.

Having never been there, perhaps I should refrain from commenting on this, but I often think that the National Guard ought to be put on alert when the watches are issued and BEFORE the warnings go out.

Up here where it snows heavy in the winter, the snowplow drivers are usually put on stormwatch notice 24 hours before the snow hits. If the snow looks to be a sure thing, they report to work and they stay there no matter how bad the storm is.

Given that many of the state national guards are serving overseas, that might not be possible these days, but, let's face it, when we're not in wartime, most people who haven't served in the military think the National Guard is like the boy scouts. Many people wonder why their taxes are paying for these people to even exist. So why not use them? Get them ready after the watches go up but before the warnings hit, and then disperse immediately after the damage has been done. First Aid would be the priority.

I just get tired of hearing sometimes that the Red Cross shows up before the FEMA and the National Guard do.

The death toll has already exceeded 200 and is still climbing.

It's near 300 now and is still going higher.

More alerts here in Virginia. The watches are still on here though I think the worst has passed us by. One front that I thought was going to hit here had a slight northerly jog so I think all but maybe a little of the edge will miss us. All the same, I'm going to be glad when all of this mess is gone in another couple of hours.

Hope everything turned out okay for you.

Administrator