Althouse: "I don't know how anyone survived."

April 28, 2011

"I don't know how anyone survived."

"We're used to tornadoes here in Tuscaloosa. It's part of growing up. But when you look at the path of destruction that's likely 5 to 7 miles long in an area half a mile to a mile wide ... it's an amazing scene. There's parts of the city I don't recognize, and that's someone that's lived here his entire life."

18 comments:

Freeman Hunt said...: It's horrible. I can't believe the photos I've seen.; 4/28/11, 2:56 PM
Shanna said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/28/11, 3:16 PM
Shanna said...: I feel like I've been living storms and tornados for two weeks, and in all of that, I'm just thanking god this one didn't hit us. It's awful and I feel so sorry for everyone in alabama. I am going to have to look at the pictures later.; 4/28/11, 3:27 PM
vbspurs said...: I read a few moments ago that the death count is 285, so far. How is this NOT getting Katrina coverage? Wassamatter, is the hue of the victims's skin too light? Where is Sean Penn when you need him?; 4/28/11, 3:28 PM
Firehand said...: When the F5 went through Oklahoma in '99, the areas it went through... well, the only difference between what you saw after and what an artillery barrage would've done was the arty would've broken up the foundations.

Street after street of bare slabs or walls surrounded by rubble. That's what the big ones leave behind.; 4/28/11, 3:31 PM
MadisonMan said...: I see that Alabama has cancelled classes and maybe even finals, and postponed Commencement.

Obama is visiting soon, I'm sure.

@vbspurs, I suspect the difference in coverage arises from the spread-out nature of the deaths -- over many states -- vs. in one city.; 4/28/11, 3:53 PM
Shanna said...: I read a few moments ago that the death count is 285, so far. How is this NOT getting Katrina coverage?

Biloxi/Gulfport was FAR more wiped out by Katrina than NOLA, but they didn't get a tenth of the coverage. Nobody cares about poor rednecks in the south. That's the long and the short of it.; 4/28/11, 3:56 PM
vbspurs said...: Madison Man, I think Shanna indirectly responded and debunked what you said. Katrina devastated many States, but only NOLA got the coverage. Why?; 4/28/11, 4:03 PM
MadisonMan said...: The press was playing up the Katrina hit for several days before it happened. That's where they all were -- and they couldn't get east along Hwy 90 or I-10 to Biloxi and Guffport. So with Katrina, they were there.

In this case, when a tornado destroys a town -- Rainsville, AL, for example, population 4500 -- killing almost 40 (!) -- how long does it take (1) for the information to percolate out that a disaster has happened and (2) for News People to get there?

I've seen tons of coverage on this outbreak. My fb newsfeed is all about it.; 4/28/11, 4:31 PM
Shanna said...: I'm sorry, MM, but I don't buy that explanation. Reporters can't throw it to the locals? Report on another town that they aren't physically in? How do they manage to report on anything at all. That's nonsense. They acted for days like the ONLY thing going on was NOLA.; 4/28/11, 5:21 PM
PaulV said...: MadisonMan said...
The press was playing up the Katrina hit for several days before it happened. That's where they all were -- and they couldn't get east along Hwy 90 or I-10 to Biloxi and Guffport. So with Katrina, they were there.
4/28/11 4:31 PM

True,MadisonMan, So why did media blame Bush when by law the responsibility was Blanco's and Nagin's? They were warned by weather service.; 4/28/11, 7:11 PM
ken in tx said...: I grew up in Tuscaloosa. We had tornadoes almost every year. I had nightmares about them, sucking me out of my house, over and over. The Wizard of Oz was not a fantasy to me. It was totally believable—to be taken away to another land by a tornado. It was a routine thing for my family to donate beds, clothing, and furniture to people who had lost everything to a tornado. It could be us next year.; 4/28/11, 8:02 PM
MadisonMan said...: Once when I was feeling morbid, I examined death statistics from tornadoes. Compressional asphyxiation is up there as a death cause -- something falls on you, and you can't breathe -- as was multiple blunt force trauma. I saw a picture today of concrete steps that lead nowhere -- the mobile home they served was a field away. The three people who lived there? Dead. The mobile home disintegrated as it rolled. It's very sobering to think how 250 people who were alive and happy yesterday morning were killed by the weather. Ponder how much worse it could have been with no warning system.; 4/28/11, 8:22 PM
HT said...: As a native, to me it doesn't matter at all that it's not getting coverage. Tornadoes are different TV, and that's just the reality. I don't care. The challenge is going to be psychological. (Just reading the other comments - no, I do not at all believe that no one doesn't care about poor rednecks in the South. (Southerners don't like pity.))

The greatest challenge is going to be psychological.

There was warning, but even so...

I thank God that my nephew was not in T'town at the time.

I've had other conversations with God today too (or tried to), like why.; 4/28/11, 8:53 PM
Luke Lea said...: Twenty died around Chattanooga, where I live.; 4/28/11, 9:35 PM
YoungHegelian said...: I spent a good part of Wednesday on the phone with my 83 year old mother in Decatur, AL (north central, AL, SW of Huntsville). I was watching the streaming video on the web of the weathermen at WHNT (channel 19 Huntsville) from my office in DC and reporting it back to her after she lost power. I told her to go hide in the bathroom three times as funnel clouds flew over Decatur.

The weather reporters were nothing short of heroic, reporting with a flashlight in hand until the generator kicked in. At one point they were tracking five tornadoes on the ground in their viewing area. Amazing technology they have now.

Luckily, no tornadoes touched down in Decatur. For some reason, the town is meterologically blessed, and gets missed by tornadoes as it was on April 3, 1974. The tornadoes crossed the Tennessee river towards Madison and Huntsville, and then touched down. They ought to just put a sign on I-565 "Tornadoes --- This Way!".

I remember April 3, 1974, and hiding under the dinner table for three hours. For over two hours the thunder never stopped, as the lightning flashes kept coming and coming.; 4/28/11, 9:35 PM
MadisonMan said...: And the death toll is up to 305. Most since the Jumbo Outbreak of 1974.

Huge coverage in the local paper today.; 4/29/11, 8:02 AM
Roux said...: I'm in Orange Beach, AL on vacation. We watched the weather in horror.

IMO The news stations over hype weather. They kept calling for hail storms here on the coast but I'm watching the live radar and seeing nothing. Dear weather people, don't try and scare us, just tell us the truth.; 4/29/11, 4:36 PM