High Power Storms Hit the Midwest

Story first appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

More than 100 tornadoes were reported across the Midwest and Plains states, leaving at least five dead in Oklahoma and hundreds of thousands of families without electricity.

Residents searched Sunday through damaged homes for anything they could salvage. Emergency crews, meanwhile, were trying to repair downed power lines.

The National Weather Service said the storm systems were weakening and that additional tornadoes were unlikely. But forecasters warned that strong thunderstorms were expected as far east as Michigan.

Five people were killed -- three of them children -- and more than two dozen were injured when a suspected tornado ripped through Oklahoma. Many of the victims were in a mobile home park in Woodward, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Oklahoma City. Streets in the 12,000-resident town were left dotted with mangled vehicles, toppled power lines and leveled buildings.

A local retired firefighter said he spotted the tornado when it knocked down power lines, causing flashes of light, and saw a radio tower's blinking lights go black shortly after midnight. He later saw a man emerge from a twisted, wrecked sport utility vehicle that had been tossed along the side of the road.

Search teams were scouring rubble for trapped and injured as the sun came up. They're still going door to door and in some cases, there are piles of rubble and they are having to sift through the rubble.

In the tiny western Iowa town of Thurman, piles of toppled trees lined the streets in front of homes where missing walls and roofs exposed soaked living rooms.

The storms were part of an exceptionally strong system that the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, which specializes in tornado forecasting, had warned about for days.

The center took the unusual step of warning people more than 24 hours in advance of a possible "high-end, life-threatening event." Forecasters had worried the storms would hit overnight, when people are less likely to hear warning sirens and pay attention to weather reports.

At the storm's height, tornadoes popped up faster than they could be tallied. The center's spokesman, said that the weather service had received at least 120 reports of tornadoes by dawn Sunday.

He warned the threat wasn't over for those across several states in the nation's interior. Forecasters predicted the possibility for storms Sunday in a swath that stretched from southern Texas to northern Michigan.

The American Red Cross summoned volunteers to drive relief trucks from Oklahoma City to aid the rescue crews in and around Woodward he said were pressed to the limit by the immediate disaster response.

Numerous tornadoes were reported in Kansas, though mostly in rural parts of the western and central sections of the state.

A reported tornado in Wichita that struck late Saturday night caused damage at McConnell Air Force Base and the Spirit AeroSystems and Boeing plants. A mobile home park was heavily damaged in the city, although no injuries or deaths were reported.

The county where Wichita is located was declared a state of disaster and said preliminary estimates suggest damages could be as high as $283 million.

A hospital in Creston, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Des Moines, suffered roof damage and had some of its windows blown out by the storm, but patients and staff were not hurt. Medical center officials were calling other area hospitals to determine how many beds they had available in case they needed to move patients.
In Nebraska, large hail shattered windows and tore siding from houses in and around Petersburg, about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Omaha. In southeast Nebraska, an apparent tornado took down barns, large trees and some small rural structures.

For more national and worldwide related business news, visit the Peak News Room blog.
For healthcare and medical related news, visit the Healthcare and Medical blog.
For local and Michigan business related news, visit the Michigan Business News blog.
For law related news, visit the Nation of Law blog.
For real estate and home related news, visit the  Commercial and Residential Real Estate blog.
For technology and electronics related news, visit the Electronics America blog.
For organic SEO and web optimization related news, visit the SEO Done Right blog.

Tornados Pose Struggle for Businesses

First appeared in USA Today

Nick Shelton achieved a life-long ambition in August, when he opened his auto repair shop in Henryville, Ind., across U.S. 31 from the town's school complex.

Sheldon, 42, had so much business by late February that he was ready to hire one or two employees. Then his shop was reduced to rubble by a tornado.

Clark County Commissioner Ed Meyer said early estimates are that 580 businesses and homes were destroyed or seriously damaged in Clark County in the storms on Friday.

An estimated 30 tornadoes packing winds of more than 110 mph hit the Midwest and South, according to the National Weather Service. The storms left 40 dead across five states.

Businessmen who lost everything, like Shelton, were hoping to start over. Many faced the same challenges in West Liberty, Ky., where business remained at a standstill as crews worked to restore power and telephone lines.

Linda Oakley was taking stock at her workplace, All Occasion Flower Shop, a 20-year staple on Main Street where silk flowers garnished the sprawl of glass and debris across the showroom floor.

Oakley said the tornado capped a tough year for the store's owner, Cheryl McKenzie. McKenzie's husband died in April. She lost a brother two weeks ago, and the family dog recently ran away.

"She's been through a lot," Oakley said through tears. "She's lost so much."

The building may be condemned and some of the merchandise destroyed, but "we are going to try to set up business so that we can start bringing in normalcy," Oakley said.

Officials in West Liberty were focused on restoring power to Lion Apparel, a clothing manufacturer and the town's largest employer with about 220 workers. Business was likely to resume there early next week.

"I don't know of anything that made it," West Libery Mayor Jim Rupe said. "Every business in town is down."

The New Washington State Bank branch in Henryville didn't have electricity, but around 10 a.m. employees opened the doors and began cashing checks and handling withdrawals, bank President Pat Glotzbach said.

Interest-free loans of up to 90 days also were available to those awaiting their insurance checks, Glotzbach said.

"The bank needs to be open," Glotzbach said. Transactions were being written down and taken to another branch to be entered into the bank's computer system, he said.

Linda Carpenter, 66, a Henryville resident, returned to work Monday at Tanner's, a retailer selling food, hardware, bait and other items. Carpenter said she mostly cleaned up the store to get it open.

Over the weekend, with no grocery store open in town, banks closed and ATMs down because electricity was out, she drove 7 miles to Charlestown for cash and food. She enjoyed the trip, despite its inconvenience, she said, because it was "nice not to have to see all the damage" in Henryville.

Storm Shelter Sales Surge After Recent Tornadoes

A surge of tornadoes that hit across the United States Thursday through Saturday resulted the deaths of at least 46 people, and it is forecasted for more severe weather today. Due to the recent tornado activity suppliers of storm shelters have seen a record number of inquiries about their products.

Granger Plastics of Middletown, which makes in-ground storm shelters, reports that it received a record breaking number of website inquires on Sunday and the phones were ringing off the hook on Monday. The company’s most popular product is a five-person shelter that cost $5,000-$6,000 plus cost of installation. Consumer reactions show that the costs do not seem to be a concern. The Granger shelters, just over 5 feet high and 5 feet across and designed to be buried underground, fit five adults or more in a real emergency. They take half a day to install.

StormSafeRooms.com in Collinsville, Oklahoma, started receiving waves of calls starting on Thursday when the tornado squall line started hitting Oklahoma. Their biggest-selling shelter is a five-person, 4-by-6-foot steel room that can be installed in a garage and costs between $4,000 and $6,000, depending on location.

Buyers should look for a seal from the National Storm Shelter Association, based at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. NSSA certifies that a shelter conforms to safety standards.

Storm shelter businesses have also been getting calls for safe rooms for companies looking to protect their employees. After losing a building last Thursday to a tornado, the Tushka, Oklahoma school district is putting out a bid for 150 person safe room.

With more storms predicted, the storm shelter business is expected to continue its increase in business.

Tornado Debris Poses Boating Danger
Story from the Huntsville Times

Tornado deposits items in Waterfront, South Sauty areas

A home security alarm system bleated as the scent of fresh pine wafted across the south shore of South Sauty Creek where a tornado had devastated the area Friday.

The National Weather Service classified it as an F-2 on the Fujita scale with 130-mph winds. Official touchdown was 3:06 p.m. at Waterfront Cove on Alabama 79, where trees were toppled in the aluminum boat dock parking lot and houses were destroyed before it crossed the lake to Langston and South Sauty.

Davey Lance of Huntsville and Tim Gillispie of Fyffe were on the lake practicing for a bass tournament when they decided to tie up at the South Sauty store boat slips. The area is just upriver from Church House Slough.

"We tied up the boat and got inside the store, and the sirens went off," Lance said. "I figured the boat was a goner."

Gillispie said the storm moved quickly.

"They said it was eight minutes away," he said, "but it was nearly on top of us when we heard that."

The boat slips are only covered by a roof. Although homes on one side and an RV camper park on the other were severely damaged, the boat docks and watercraft tied up in them appeared to be fine.

"There wasn't a bit of debris in the boat," Lance said.

But there still is plenty of debris in the water.

The Alabama Marine Police is patrolling the areas 24 hours to provide security. Boaters are advised to stay away during the cleanup and exercise caution in the areas.

In the South Sauty cove, an aluminum V-hull boat was wrapped around a tree and a second boat was tossed several yards inland. Boat docks and boat houses were splintered. Channel marker buoys ripped from their anchors in South Sauty Creek on the main lake floated at the shore.

The jagged end of a 2-by-4 stuck up near the campground, either impaled in the lake bottom or as part of a larger piece of submerged debris. Chunks of wooden boat docks floated along with life jackets, lawn furniture, swimming floats, tree limbs, appliances, mangled sheets of tin and other items.

Fishing guide Mike Gerry is among those picking up the pieces after his home in Waterfront Cove was destroyed.

"It looks like when the tornado hit it just sucked everything from the top down," he said. "The boathouse is all messed up. We spent all day (Saturday) with the adjuster trying to figure out where to start."