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1. A tornado erupts quickly and without warning.
This killer storm roared across Florida while people slept — taking lives, crushing homes and tearing up the landscape. One account says the person on duty with the weather service at that early hour turned in his chair to look at something else, and when he looked back the cell had formed. That may be an exaggeration, but the series of three cells that made up this killer storm moved from Sumter County across Florida to the East Coast in a little more than an hour. It all happened in the early morning hours from 3:19 a.m. to 4:27 a.m. Most people had no warning, which accounts for some of the loss of life. In the aftermath of all of this, the installation of warning sirens is being debated, with good arguments for and against installation.
2. A tornado's path is very unpredictable.
We were awakened about 3:45 a.m. We looked outside and, seeing nothing unusual, turned on the television set. That turned out to be the best news coverage, because an experienced meteorologist was showing and describing what we were seeing on weather radar. The path of the storm was so unpredictable that as he moved to different modes of the radar, he kept going back to look for wind shear, which was the best indication of where the cells were located, so he could issue warnings and the all-clear.
From later photos of the damage and from what I have seen in my travels, he was right on target. If this had happened at another hour of the day, the loss of life may have been different.
3. There is a lot of noise, but when you hear it, it is too late.
Some people in the path of the storm reported sounds like a rushing train. On hearing this, one survivor was told by her husband to get out of the house; she grabbed one of her children and ran to their vehicle, the vehicle would not start so she ran away on foot. Unfortunately, her husband and the other child were killed in the ruins of the house. The news kept advising people to get to the center of their houses and get as many walls as possible between them and the outside, but that is not the answer in a mobile home — even some homes made from concrete block were totally destroyed. The only safe place to be is someplace away from the storm.
4. Tornado damage is often more intense, but it is not as widespread as a hurricane.
At this time the damage is reported at more than 1,500 homes damaged or destroyed, with a loss of about $68 million dollars. There have been twenty people killed, but a very small number injured.
Unlike a hurricane, a tornado does not destroy the infrastructure, and — for the most part — medical, fire, police and communication services are still intact. As noted before, this killer storm struck between 3:00 a.m and 4:00 a.m. on a Friday morning. By 10:00 a.m. the next morning, shelters had been set up and electric power had been restored to about a third of the customers. By afternoon, police command centers were set up in the three counties. The search and rescue portion was completed before noon on Sunday, and I attended a meeting Sunday afternoon with about twenty different cooperative agencies planning the work of long-term recovery.
5. There is a very different response from the survivors.
The tornado first struck in Sumter County, in an area of mostly upscale housing, and then moved across more open country to dirt roads and homes with no insurance and fewer possessions. Many of the latter group did not have the high dollar loss of the first group, but they lost all they had, with little hope for replacement. As plans are made for recovery, there will need to be allowance for the different reaction people will have to outside help. There were several shelters opened to provide meals and overnight care. Surprisingly, there were few takers for either. Most survivors preferred to stay with family or friends, or would stay in a damaged home. Sometimes food was taken to the shelter or to a command center and never used. It has been shown many times before, and in several types of disasters, that if people want to help — and if the church is going to help — some of the most effective ways are to send money or to volunteer personally. Persons respond in different ways, but in all cases money and volunteers work with all.
Volunteer — Call the PDA call center to register your team: (866) 732-6121
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