Tornadoes, South and Midwest

[Cheerful]

Thinking of all affected after a horrible night of weather events.

[AmLitHist]

It was wild here in the StL/metro last night. After watching the weather on t.v. all evening, I finally went to bed around 10:30, when it seemed everything was past us.  Just as I got settled, all hell broke loose--roaring winds, sheets of rain, hail (or something) hitting the house.  It lasted a couple of minutes, but we then learned a tornado had developed right over our heads, then sped off to the east.

Kid #1 rents a farmhouse about 10 miles north of us. A tornado passed over the farmland northwest of her and over the small town about 4 miles from the house.

Kid #1 used to work at the Amazon warehouse that got hit. So far, 2 confirmed dead, and an unknown number still trapped/missing. That's the part that's rattled me; I was always worried when both she and ALHS worked in warehouses, for this very reason (and also, someone coming in with a gun). Kid went through a number of tornado warnings while at work, and NEVER were workers warned to take cover (and the sirens couldn't be heard in the buildings). She also got disciplined for clocking out and going home during one of those warnings:  after having gone off-site during lunch break and hearing that bad weather was near, they notified managers that tornadoes were in the area and got told to get back to work; when they tried to tell a couple of colleagues, they were threatened with firing on the spot, and then clocked out and went home to safety. I'm so glad they left that job (later, for other reasons).

On local news today, someone said, "Well, the people at Amazon knew to take cover--everyone's phones were going off with NWS warnings all evening."  No, they didn't--having a cell phone on the work floor is a fire-on-the-spot offense.

Thinking about all those lost in all the storms, and those injured and still missing.

[mamselle]

I just emailed family members who do not live in the area (about 10 miles away from Mayfield, near Paducah) just to ask about the one family group that does.

I haven't seen a damage-track map yet, those will probably come later.

I suspect they're OK, but it just struck me that they were closer than I originally thought.

M.

ETA: Just found this live sighting last night near Hayti, MO:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqo73abwcGI

[Langue_doc]

Thinking about all those lost in all the storms, and those injured and still missing.

It's going to take a long time for the people, communities, and towns to recover. Hope the state and city officials know what to do and how to help the survivors who are probably traumatized.

[Ruralguy]

Thankfully, at least from what I can tell from reports, they are all trying pretty hard.

[Hegemony]

AmLitHist, yikes. So glad your kids are safe — but in general, yikes.

[AmLitHist]

AmLitHist, yikes. So glad your kids are safe — but in general, yikes.

Apparently others have similar stories--rather, I know they do, but they've started telling those stories.  The governor is demanding an examination and upgrading of codes for safety areas in warehouses (and the one that was hit is in an area filled with monstrously-large facilities, both Amazon's and others), and OSHA has been on the scene since Saturday morning.