# Devastador Tornado EF5 em Greensburg/Kansas  - 4 Maio 2007



## Brigantia (5 Mai 2007 às 21:48)

Pelo menos sete pessoas morreram e 50 ficaram feridas na noite passada devido à passagem de um tornado por uma pequena cidade do Texas, Greensburg, segundo as autoridades estaduais citadas pela CNN. 
Três dezenas de pacientes tiveram de ser retirados de um hospital que ficou praticamente destruído pela violência do tornado. 

De acordo com as estações locais de televisão, ficaram destruídas ou danificadas 75% das casas de Greensburg, localidade de cerca de 1.600 habitantes situada 200 quilómetros a oeste de Wichita. 

O tornado, muito violento, abateu-se sobre a cidade cerca das 21:45 locais (03:45 em Lisboa). 

Segundo os serviços nacionais de meteorologia, a força do tornado oscilou entre F3 (severa) e F4 (muito severa) numa escala de seis níveis. Um tornado de força F3 é acompanhado por ventos de entre 252 e 330 km/h, sendo um tornado F4 acompanhado de ventos de entre 331 e 416 km/h. 

Greensburg ficou totalmente privada de electricidade e de meios de comunicação. As estradas de acesso à cidade foram cortadas ao trânsito para permitir a circulação dos veículos de emergência. Imagens captadas na cidade mostram um cenário de desolação, com casas arrasadas, automóveis virados e árvores arrancadas. 

Fonte: Diário Digital/Lusa


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## Brigantia (5 Mai 2007 às 21:52)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

(CNN) -- A massive tornado killed at least nine people in southwestern Kansas on Friday night and destroyed nearly everything in its path.

"My town is gone," Greensburg, Kansas, City Administrator Steve Hewitt said after surveying the wreckage.

"I believe 95 percent of the homes are gone," Hewitt said. "Downtown buildings are gone, my home is gone, and we've got to find a way to make this work and get this town back on its feet."

By Saturday morning, the town was empty and structural engineers and the National Weather Service were assessing damage. Hundreds of residents were taken to shelters in schools and other facilities in nearby towns, the Red Cross said.

"We will not reopen the town until we know it's safe for the residents to come back," Hewitt said.

Storm chaser Darin Brunin told CNN he saw people in the streets walking "in shock, not even knowing what was going on." Many homes were leveled, limping dogs wandered aimlessly, and injured cattle were scattered across a highway, he said. (Watch an aerial view of the devastation )

"It wasn't a pleasant sight to see at all, very horrible," Brunin said.

Another storm chaser, Marty Logan, estimated the twister was at least a half-mile wide. Two smaller tornadoes followed the larger twister, and they swept northward into Greensburg, he said.

The Red Cross said about 90 percent of the town, which has a population of less than 2,000, was destroyed or heavily damaged. The central business district, City Hall and high school were destroyed, but the courthouse remained standing, witnesses said. (Watch homes turned into piles of bricks and splintered wood )

The weather service reported a tornado in Greensburg about 9:30 p.m. Friday. CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf said warning sirens alerted most residents to take shelter.

Katie White told The Associated Press she was driving through Greensburg when she heard the tornado warning. She drove into a convenience store parking lot, and the store owner pulled her and a dozen other people into a large walk-in freezer for safety, the AP said.

When they came out, White said, the store was gone.

On Saturday afternoon, meteorologists were still trying to determine the path of Friday night's storms, Wolf said. He said the storm system moved into parts of neighboring Nebraska and the Dakotas. (Watch a tornado bear down on an Oklahoma storm chaser )

Weather forecasters said central Kansas may face another severe weather outbreak Saturday afternoon and overnight. 

Red Cross spokeswoman Andrea Anglin said Greensburg had no electricity, gas or running water, and at least 400 residents were in shelters -- in Haviland to the east and Mullinville and Bucklin to the south.

The organization was able to use school and charter buses to transport residents.

Rescue, recovery efforts
State emergency management officials said the Kansas National Guard dispatched 40 members to Greensburg to help with security, and a hazardous-materials team planned to examine several overturned railcars.

Kansas Highway Patrol Sgt. Ron Knoefel said the National Guard conducted house-to-house searches for people trapped under rubble.

Search-and-rescue teams have made two initial sweeps of the city and might do more later, Kansas Emergency Management Incident Commander Terry David said.

Rescue crews have pulled some people alive from the rubble, and more are expected to be found in upcoming days, Hewitt said. He did not give an exact number of those found Saturday. (Watch tornado survivors climb out of damaged building )

Rescue efforts were hampered by debris, some of which has caused flat tires. Knoefel said many of the first responders "are in shock" and are dealing with the mental toll of having lost homes themselves.

Communication lines were down and cell phone service was intermittent, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said.

About 100 Red Cross officials rushed to the town, and some of the volunteers planned to work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency "to assess how many families were affected and to what extent," Anglin said.

"This was an unbelievable event that occurred last night. You have to see it in person to really understand it, but it's devastating," Hewitt said.

Despite the major setbacks the storm has caused for the city, Hewitt said the town would prevail and be rebuilt.

How? "We're going to have to pull ourselves up by our boots and do it ourselves," he said.

Greensburg is best known for having the world's largest hand-dug well and being home to a 1,000-pound pallasite meteorite.

Treating the injured
The Greensburg storm collapsed one of the wings of the Kiowa County Memorial Hospital, trapping 30 people who were later rescued with minor injuries, said Sharon Watson of the Kansas Emergency Management Agency .

At least 55 injured people initially were evacuated about 30 miles east to Pratt Regional Medical Center for treatment, according to hospital spokeswoman Kim Stivers. The injuries ranged from cuts and scrapes to more severe injuries, she said.

Some of the 55 were then transferred to other hospitals.

Western Plains Medical Complex in Dodge City treated and released eight injured patients, CEO John Walker said. Two remained hospitalized Saturday morning due to more "more serious conditions."

Five patients were taken to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, spokeswoman Helen Thomas said. Two were in intensive care, and three were listed in serious condition.

Four people were hospitalized for multiple injuries at Via Christi Saint Francis Hospital in Wichita. Spokeswoman Joy Mock told CNN two were in fair condition and two were in critical condition in the intensive care unit after facing "pretty significant" traumas.


copyright © CNN


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## Brigantia (5 Mai 2007 às 22:27)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

At least seven people have died and dozens more were injured as a series of tornadoes ripped through Kansas.
Rescuers pulled about 30 people from a partially collapsed hospital and searched with dogs for others believed trapped in crumbled buildings in the city of Greensburg.

A damaged shop in GreensburgDazed residents could be seen walking the streets, looking for loved ones among the crumbled buildings and smashed cars.

Greensburg's injured were taken to surrounding hospitals, where one fatality was confirmed. 

At least 50 people were taken to hospitals, with 16 said to be in critical condition.

The tornado damaged about 90% of the town, which is in the south-west of the central US state.

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"It's much more likely that you would see damaged buildings than anything that has not been impacted," a spokeswoman said. 

"Seventy-five percent is a minimum amount of damage that the city sustained."

The storm front also spawned numerous smaller tornadoes across the state.

Two tornadoes struck Oklahoma and damaged some buildings but did not cause any injuries.

Three small tornadoes also touched down in rural southwestern Illinois, but officials said there were no reports of injury or damage


copyright © Sky News


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## Brigantia (5 Mai 2007 às 22:30)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

Tornado flattens town in Kansas  

Most of Greensburg now lies in ruins


A tornado has killed at least seven people and flattened much of a small town in southern Kansas, officials say. 
More than 60 people were injured when the tornado - said to be up to a mile wide - hit the town of Greensburg. 

More than 90% of the 1,600-population town has been destroyed, including the hospital and schools as well as homes, Red Cross officials said. 

Meteorological officials are warning of more severe weather to come for America's mid-west on Saturday. 

A tornado warning has been issued for Nebraska, north of Kansas. 

Greensburg, around 120 miles (200km) west of Wichita, received a direct hit by the tornado late on Friday. 


Aftermath of tornado  

Residents are being evacuated and the National Guard brought in to provide security as rescue efforts continue. 

Many people are feared to be still trapped in basement shelters, City Administrator Steve Hewitt said. He warned the death toll could rise. 

"This is a huge catastrophe for this small town," he told a news conference. "My home's gone, my staff's homes are gone. 

"We've got to find a way to get this to work and come to work every day and get this thing back on its feet. It's going to be tough." 

Pulled from rubble 

Residents said warning sirens went off 20 minutes before the tornado struck, giving them a chance to get to storm shelters. 

The fierce storm ripped homes from their foundations and even damaged basement shelters. 



"You could hear the top half of our house start tearing up," one man said. "We were under a bed in the basement. We were just fine, but windows were breaking and smashing." 

One of the few buildings still standing is the courthouse. The city hall, schools, businesses as well as homes were destroyed. 

At least six people died in Kiowa County, where Greensburg is located, and one in a neighbouring county, Kansas officials said. 

Emergency teams from across Kansas raced to Greensburg to help the survivors. 

Thirty survivors were reported to have been pulled from the rubble of the town's partially-collapsed hospital. 

Red Cross officials were using school buses to take people to shelters in nearby towns. 

The National Weather Service described the tornado as a "wedge", a particularly wide formation carrying winds of up to 250mph (400km/h). 

Storm chaser Darin Brunin told CNN that the tornado appeared to be at least a mile wide. 

"A big tornado like that, that moves slower, it can tend to do a lot more damage because it's over an area for a longer amount of time," he said.

Fonte: BBC News


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## Brigantia (5 Mai 2007 às 22:33)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

ups...este tópico devia ser removido para a parte internacional do fórum...


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## Brigantia (5 Mai 2007 às 22:43)

*Re: Tornado nos Estados Unidos da América*

Massive tornado kills 9 in Kansas
Nine people are dead after a massive tornado wrecked a small town, crushing a hospital and levelling homes in the US state of Kansas.

Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for Kansas Emergency Management, said eight people were killed in Greensburg, southern Kansas, after the storm made a direct hit on the small prairie town.

She said another person was killed in nearby Stafford County by the storm late Friday (local time). 

More than 50 people are reported to have been injured.

The American Red Cross is setting up 125 cots in a high school gym in Mullinville, Kansas. There are other shelters in nearby towns, but many residents are staying with family in other parts of the state. 

"There's a lot of shock and concern," said Ralph Rojas, a Red Cross volunteer. 

"There's a lot of concern for family members they can't locate." 

Thirty people were pulled from the rubble of Kiowa County Memorial Hospital in Greensburg as the storm ripped homes off their foundations and even damaged below-ground shelters, according to reports. 

The US National Weather Centre meanwhile warned of more severe weather in the US midwest Saturday (local time) and two new tornadoes were reported in Nebraska to the north. 

A tornado warning was issued for a huge swath of land touching seven states from northern Texas to South Dakota, the core of the country's 'Tornado Alley'.

The National Weather Service warned of "an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation" for central Nebraska due to the threat of severe tornadoes. 

City administrator Steve Hewitt said 90 per cent of local homes and buildings were destroyed in Greensburg, about 200 kilometres west of Wichita, and communications in the area were severely disrupted. 

"This is a huge catastrophe for this small town. My home's gone, my staff's homes are gone," he said in a press conference. 

The town's 1,400 residents were evacuated and ordered not to come back as emergency squads continued to examine the wreckage using tractors and dogs to see if any survivors remained. 

"The search and rescue continues. We want to make sure we can find everybody," Mr Hewitt said. 

Television images showed the town virtually levelled, with roofs shredded, branches sheared off trees and school buildings wrecked. 

"It sucked the door off of our storm shelter," Greensburg resident Kevin Hillhouse told Wichita television KAKE. 

Emergency workers said they were rushing to re-establish communications facilities after the storm wiped out both land line and mobile phone services. 

The massive wedge-shaped tornado, caught on film by self-styled 'storm chasers', struck at about 10pm (local time). 

People in the town said warning sirens went off about 20 minutes beforehand, giving most a chance to get into storm cellars. 

National weather reports put the tornado at between F3 (severe) and F4 (devastating) on a scale of F0 to F5. An F4 storm carries winds of 331-416 kilometres per hour. 

"We are definitely thinking a mile wide" Darin Brunin, one of the storm chasers told CNN about the extraordinary size of the storm. 

Fonte: ABC News


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## Rog (5 Mai 2007 às 22:44)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

Mta informação, mto bem  Qto tempo durou o turnado 
Qto ao local no forum, visto que no internacional não tem espaço para imprensa, este aqui tem servido para ambos em muitos tópicos aqui lançados..


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## Brigantia (6 Mai 2007 às 00:31)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

GREENSBURG, Kan. —  Jackie Robertson and her family spent Saturday afternoon picking through what was left of her home after a massive tornado swept through this southwest Kansas town, leaving most of it in ruin.

Robertson, her husband and a friend spent Friday night in a cellar as the storm raged outside, killing at least nine people and injuring scores more. On Saturday, she gathered what she could — some wedding photos, a wallet, a family quilt — and reflected on what was lost.

"My heart just aches for everyone," she said. "It is so surreal. This is where I live."


Greensburg, a town of 1,400 best known as the home of the world's largest hand-dug well, emerged Saturday to a nightmare landscape of splintered homes and smashed vehicles, the air redolent with the strong smell of sap from trees stripped of bark.

City Administrator Steve Hewitt estimated 95 percent of the town was destroyed and predicted rescue efforts could take days as many survivors may still be trapped in basements and under rubble.










copyright © foxnews


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## Brigantia (6 Mai 2007 às 00:34)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

GREENSBURG, Kan. -- Rescuers raced Saturday through the wreckage from a giant tornado that killed at least eight people and left little standing in this southwest Kansas town beyond the local pub.

City Administrator Steve Hewitt estimated 95 percent of the town of 1,400 was destroyed and predicted rescue efforts could take days as survivors could be trapped in basements and under rubble.

Among the only structures that survived was the Bar H Tavern, the town's only bar. It was briefly converted into a morgue.

Survivors of the storm, which was blamed for a ninth death in a nearby county, picked over the remnants of their homes and possessions, still dazed by the twister's strength and scope.

Jackie Robertson and her family spent Saturday afternoon collecting wedding photos, a wallet and other belongings from the debris that had been her home.

Robertson, her husband and a friend spent Friday night in a cellar when the violent weather struck the region.

"My heart just aches for everyone," she said. "It is so surreal. This is where I live."

The town, previously best known as the home of the world's largest hand-dug well -- 32 feet in diameter, 109 feet deep when it was finished in 1888 -- was a nightmare of splintered homes and smashed vehicles, the air redolent with the smell of sap from trees stripped of bark.

"We want everybody to know, and I plead to the American people as well as the people here in Kansas, this is a huge catastrophe that has happened to our small town," Hewitt said during a news conference. "All my downtown is gone. My home is gone. My staff's homes are gone. And we've got to find a way to get this to work and come to work every day and get this thing back on its feet. It's going to be tough."

Residents said they heard the tornado warning sirens -- a common feature of towns in "Tornado Alley" -- about 20 minutes before the storm hit.

National Weather Service meteorologist Larry Ruthi said the path of damage was 1.4 miles wide, estimating it would be classified a "upper F-4 or an F-5" tornado, the strongest possible.

Jose Peraza said he was driving his oil rig into town when he heard the siren and driving hail started pounding the area. He pulled over and hid with several other people in a convenience store freezer.

He said the storm ripped the side off the freezer, and when he came out he found the twister had thrown his truck -- weighed down by 40,000 pounds of oil -- "like nothing."

The dead included eight in Kiowa County, where Greensburg is located, and one in nearby Stafford County, said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General's Department.

Hewitt said there were fears that the death toll could rise.

"We continue to find folks and this will go on for a good couple days -- the rescue itself," Hewitt said. "I mean, the debris is just unbelievable. Even if you are in a basement, I mean your home is collapsed, and we've got to find a way to get to you."

State Rep. Dennis McKinney, the Kansas House minority leader, said he and his daughter kid in the basement while the storm destroyed his home. Then he helped search homes for survivors but noted "the inspections didn't take that long because in the western part of town, there weren't many homes left to inspect."

A mandatory evacuation was ordered, he said. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius declared a disaster emergency for Kiowa County, said her spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran. The state sent 40 National Guard soldiers to help.

The White House said President Bush was briefed on the situation. Federal Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Dawn Kinsey said FEMA was preparing to help once Kansas officials request assistance. "We've been in contact with them since the beginning," Kinsey said.

Scores of injured people were sent to hospitals as far away as Wichita, 110 miles away. More than 70 went to Pratt Regional Medical Center about 30 minutes away, with all but 14 treated and released, said hospital spokeswoman Kim Stivers. Rescuers pulled about 30 people from the basement of a partially collapsed hospital early Saturday, but most of them had minor injuries, Watson said.

The twister was part of a storm front that spawned tornadoes along a line stretching northeast from Greensburg through central Kansas. Three small tornadoes touched down in rural southwestern Illinois, but no damage was reported. Three more struck in Oklahoma and South Dakota, damaging some structures, officials said.

Yet another twister struck Saturday in central Nebraska, damaging outbuildings and power lines, officials said.

No injuries were reported in any of those twisters. 



Copyright © 2007, The Associated Press 



Fonte: chicagotribune


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## Brigantia (6 Mai 2007 às 00:38)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) -- Rescuers raced Saturday through the wreckage from a giant tornado that killed at least eight people and left little standing in this southwest Kansas town beyond the local pub. Forecasters issued a fresh tornado warning Saturday evening in the region, where Friday's weather was blamed for nine deaths, a figure authorities feared could rise.






City Administrator Steve Hewitt estimated 95 percent of the town of 1,500 was destroyed and predicted rescue efforts could take days as survivors could be trapped in basements and under rubble.

Among the only structures that survived was the Bar H Tavern, the town's only bar. It was briefly converted into a morgue.

Survivors of the storm picked over the remnants of their homes and possessions, still dazed by the twister's strength and scope.

Jackie Robertson and her family spent Saturday afternoon collecting wedding photos, a wallet and other belongings from the debris that had been her home.

Robertson, her husband and a friend spent Friday night in a cellar when the storms struck the area.

''My heart just aches for everyone,'' she said. ''It is so surreal. This is where I live.''

The town, previously best known as the home of the world's largest hand-dug well -- 32 feet in diameter, 109 feet deep when it was finished in 1888 -- was a nightmare of splintered homes and smashed vehicles, the air redolent with the smell of sap from trees stripped of bark.

''We want everybody to know, and I plead to the American people as well as the people here in Kansas, this is a huge catastrophe that has happened to our small town,'' Hewitt said during a news conference. ''All my downtown is gone. My home is gone. My staff's homes are gone. And we've got to find a way to get this to work and come to work every day and get this thing back on its feet. It's going to be tough.''

Residents said they heard the tornado warning sirens -- a common feature of towns in ''Tornado Alley'' -- about 20 minutes before the storm hit.

National Weather Service meteorologist Larry Ruthi said the path of damage was 1.4 miles wide, estimating it would be classified a ''upper F-4 or an F-5'' tornado, the strongest possible.

Jose Peraza said he was driving his oil rig into town when he heard the siren and driving hail started pounding the area. He pulled over and hid with several other people in a convenience store freezer.

He said the storm ripped the side off the freezer, and when he came out he found the twister had thrown his truck -- weighed down by 40,000 pounds of oil -- ''like nothing.''

The dead included eight in Kiowa County, where Greensburg is located, and one in nearby Stafford County, said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General's Department.

''We continue to find folks and this will go on for a good couple days -- the rescue itself,'' Hewitt said. ''I mean, the debris is just unbelievable. Even if you are in a basement, I mean your home is collapsed, and we've got to find a way to get to you.''

State Rep. Dennis McKinney, the Kansas House minority leader, said he and his daughter kid in the basement while the storm destroyed his home. Then he helped search homes for survivors but noted ''the inspections didn't take that long because in the western part of town, there weren't many homes left to inspect.''

A mandatory evacuation was ordered, he said. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius declared a disaster emergency for Kiowa County, said her spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran. The state sent 40 National Guard soldiers to help.

The White House said President Bush was briefed on the situation. Federal Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Dawn Kinsey said FEMA was preparing to help once Kansas officials request assistance. ''We've been in contact with them since the beginning,'' Kinsey said.

Scores of injured people were sent to hospitals as far away as Wichita, 110 miles away. More than 70 went to Pratt Regional Medical Center about 30 minutes away, with all but 14 treated and released, said hospital spokeswoman Kim Stivers.

Rescuers pulled about 30 people from the basement of a partially collapsed hospital early Saturday, but most of them had minor injuries, Watson said.

The twister was part of a storm front that spawned tornadoes along a line stretching northeast from Greensburg through central Kansas. Three small tornadoes touched down in rural southwestern Illinois, but no damage was reported. Two more struck in Oklahoma and another in South Dakota, damaging some structures, officials said.

Yet another twister struck Saturday in central Nebraska, damaging outbuildings and power lines, officials said.

No injuries were reported in any of those states. 


copyright © The New York Times


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## Brigantia (6 Mai 2007 às 00:54)

*Re: Tornado nos Estados Unidos da América*




























Nine confirmed dead; Roberts vows quick federal aid
BY TIM POTTER, BRENT WISTROM, P.J. GRIEKSPOOR AND HURST LAVIANA
The Wichita Eagle

Jaime Oppenheimer/The Wichita Eagle 
An aerial view looking down one of Greensburg's streets. 

Updated forecasts, radars, watches and warnings 
Find loved ones on Red Cross registration site 
Map of the tornado 
Most of Greensburg is gone 
'There's just not a lot down there' 
Photos from the tornado-devastated area 
GREENSBURG - Two more bodies have been found in Kiowa County, bringing the death toll from last night's devastating tornadoes in western Kansas to nine.

Eight of the victims were from Kiowa County, including the county seat, Greensburg. One was a sheriff's deputy killed in Stafford County.

Scores of others were injured; relief officials said they didn't know how many. About a dozen are in hospitals in Wichita, including at least two men in critical condition at Via Christi-St. Francis.

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts and U.S. Reps. Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt were on the ground in Greensburg to survey the damage and work with survivors.

The three said that they, along with Sen. Sam Brownback, had sent a joint letter to President Bush asking him to declare a federal disaster area, making federal emergency funds available.

"This will not be any Katrina kind of disaster," Roberts said. "We will take care of the people and we will take care of the cleanup."

Greensburg has been devastated. The hospital, the 911 center, the high school and the grade school were destroyed, as were much of the town's residential and commercial areas. The town has about 1,800 residents.

Tod Bunting, adjutant general of the Kansas National Guard, said relief efforts focused on finding people in the rubble, keeping people from drinking tap water and trying to restore power.

The town will be under a curfew from 8 p.m. tonight until 8 a.m. tomorrow.

Traffic into and out of town remains restricted. Traffic westbound on U.S. 54 is being diverted at Pratt.

Roberts said state and national leaders were all engaged in coordinating relief efforts. He said Brownback and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius would be on the ground in Greensburg tomorrow.

The public is being asked not to attempt to bring supplies to the disaster zone. Anyone wishing to help can contact the American Red Cross in Pratt to learn what is needed and how it can be delivered. The phone number is 620-672-3651.

The tornado that hit Greensburg, about 110 miles west of Wichita, was one of several spawned by a supercell thunderstorm that traveled through western and central Kansas.

"We'll rebuild," said Greensburg City Administrator Steve Hewitt, who lost his home. "It'll take time, but we'll rebuild this city. It's a scary thought, the number of homes that were destroyed."

Utilities -- water, electric and gas -- are all shut off, and Hewitt did not know when they would be back on.

Vicki Weaver sat at the county's only bar, candles flickering and a camping lantern illuminating the spider-webbed windows. Then the medics came in. They said they needed to use the Bar H Tavern as a makeshift morgue.

They didn't know how many bodies might be found among the splintered remains of this town. Then came the first, unloaded from an ambulance and laid alongside a pool table in a room that had been mostly cleared in expectation of the worst.

Weaver sat in disbelief in front of a line of half-empty drinks--some perhaps from earlier in the evening, others non-alcoholic ones to refuel the thirsty.

"Everybody came here for a good time," the short-haired 54-year-old bartender said. "Now for it to be turned into a morgue is hard to fathom."

Almost all of Greensburg was hard to fathom for residents who wandered the littered streets in shock as flashing lights and spotlights illuminated mashed two-by-fours and crumbled concrete.

Ted Lesperance and Tammy Wittig, brother and sister, sat on a corner just a few blocks down form the bar-turned-morgue petting their dogs.

Lesperance was hustling to get Wittig down to the cellar as the sirens blared and the tornado neared. He dived on to Harley, the rottweiler, Wittig said.

As she explained, Dusty Herring rolled up on his minivan cab. He'd already taken three loads of seven about 15 miles east to the Haviland High School gym, where the American Red Cross set up cots and began collecting names to help family members find each other.

"We do what we can," said Herring, who drives for Stagecoach Taxi out of Dodge City.

About 30 minutes earlier, people had been coming by the busload to the gym in Haviland.

Bernard Taylor, a 74-year-old wearing a blood-stained shirt, sat on the bleachers holding a baby. The blood came from his roommate, who was struck in the head but wasn't seriously injured.

"At least we lived through it," he said.

He, the woman he lives with and her two daughters had scrambled to the basement once the wind started ripping unusually hard.

"All of a sudden it felt like my eardrums were going to blow out of my head," he said.

He heard his house being torn apart.

When he came out of his house at 324 Oak St., "it looked like a war zone," he said.

The National Weather Service in Dodge City said the area from Greensburg to the northeast was hit my multiple tornadoes spawned by the same supercell thunderstorm.

"It was one of those classic, cyclic supercells," said Michael Lacy, a weather service meteorologist in Dodge City. "One tornado would develop, mature, and then bend to the north as it weakened" and then another tornado would develop.

"That happened over and over."

School buses lined up in town to take people to shelters the Red Cross set up in Haviland, about 12 miles to the east.

Emergency medical crews, law enforcement personnel and search and rescue teams from throughout southwest Kansas raced toward Greensburg after the twister struck.

"I can't believe the destruction I'm seeing," Sedgwick County Fire Marshal Tim Millspaugh said shortly after arriving in Greensburg to help search for people trapped in a hospital. "It's every bit as bad at the 1991 Andover tornado and the 1999 Haysville tornado."



copyright © kansas.com


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## Rog (6 Mai 2007 às 16:18)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*



> Onda de tornados castiga a região central dos EUA
> 
> 
> Um tornado deixou rastro de mais de um quilômetro de destruição
> ...


 
Serão mesmo alertas de furacão 
Um fenómeno não tem nada a ver com o outro, mas estamos a falar em  velocidades de vento muito idênticas (muito mais localizadas num tornada e numa área muito restrita, obviamente)...
Por isto, será correcto aplicar o termo "alerta de furacão"? Falo nisto, porque já não é a primeira vez que vejo em notícias sobre tornados esta do "alerta de furacão"... 
Na minha opinião não se deviam confundir estes termos de tornados e furacões... além do que, ambos os fenómenos têm escalas diferentes: a escala Fujita nos turnados, e a escala de Saffir-Simpson nos furacões...


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## Dan (6 Mai 2007 às 17:33)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

Não será apenas um erro de quem fez a tradução ou notícia? Provavelmente a noticia original até utilizava o termo correcto.


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## Rog (6 Mai 2007 às 17:38)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*



Dan disse:


> Não será apenas um erro de quem fez a tradução ou notícia? Provavelmente a noticia original até utilizava o termo correcto.



Não sei... como disse, não é a primeira vez que tal se vê nos media... 
mas ainda que todos o afirmassem, se não é correcto não passará a ser verdade só porque muitos o afirmam... 
já agora a fonte: BBC BRasil


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## Vince (6 Mai 2007 às 18:32)

*Re: Tornado nos Estados Unidos da América*



Brigantia disse:


>



Imagens crueis... Que devastação ! 

Imagem do Radar, mostrando a reflectividade em gancho típica dum forte tornado.





Animação Radar (1Mb)



> ...
> It will take a long time for Greensburg to recover from Friday's tornado. To get an idea of the scale of devastation, see the aerial photos posted by the Wichita Eagle. Damage surveys are not yet complete on the tornado, but photos *I've seen of the destruction show damage consistent with EF4 winds(168-199 mph). It is possible the storm was an EF5 (winds more than 200 mph)*. The nine deaths from the tornado bring the U.S. tornado death toll to 68 so far this year, two more than the toll for all of last year.
> Jeff Master
> ...
> ...


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## Brigantia (6 Mai 2007 às 18:53)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

Aqui ficam os vídeos do radar e da destruição do tornado:


[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x25fpY5vx4Q[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLXfKb06lvY[/YOUTUBE]


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## Mago (7 Mai 2007 às 17:16)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*



> *A passagem de um tornado pelo Kansas destruiu a pequena cidade de Greensburg, causando pelo menos dez mortos e cerca de 50 feridos. O Presidente George W. Bush declarou Greensburg zona de calamidade pública.
> A pequena cidade de Greensburg foi, na passada sexta-feira, surpreendida pela passagem de um violento tornado que causou a morte de pelo menos dez pessoas e ainda cerca de 50 feridos, sendo que uma dezena estão ainda em estado grave. *
> Greensburg, a cidade mais atingida pelo tornado que passou pelo Kansas, ficou praticamente destruída. As autoridades calculam que 95 por cento desta pequena cidade tenha ficado destruída. Apenas algumas casas, o tribunal e o único bar da cidade resistiram. Segundo os serviços de meteorologia, a potência do tornado oscilava entre F3 (ventos entre 252 e 330 km/h) e F4 (ventos entre 331 e 416 km/h), numa escala que vai até F5, o que justifica a destruição da cidade.
> 
> ...



Fonte SIC.pt


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## Vince (7 Mai 2007 às 20:23)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*



Mago disse:


> Fonte SIC.pt



A noticia da SIC não está 100% correcta.
O tornado foi classificado como EF5, pois agora vigora a nova escala EF (Enhanced Fujita Scale). É o 1º tornado EF5 desde a introdução da nova escala, e foi o tornado mais forte desde 1999. Na escala antiga seria um F4. A explicação tem a ver com os estragos, muito mais importante na nova escala do que propriamente os ventos. Há um tópico no forum sobre esta escala.

E os estragos foram o que se vê nas imagens já postadas.


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## Brigantia (7 Mai 2007 às 23:23)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

Twister rated as EF-5
In addition to the devastation in Greensburg, parts of Oklahoma were reeling from twisters that hit Saturday night. One person died from that storm in the northern town of Ottawa, Kansas.

The Oklahoma town of Sweetwater, about 225 miles south of Greensburg, was hit hard by a twister that severely damaged a high school and other buildings Saturday. (Watch a 360-degree look at the devastation that twisters left behind in Greensburg )

Larry Ruthi, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Dodge City, Kansas, told CNN on Sunday that the tornado that struck Greensburg on Friday night was an EF-5, the highest level in a classification system used by the National Weather Service, and had estimated winds of 205 mph (330 kph). 

The damage path at its widest point was about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers), and it tracked for 22 miles (35 kilometers). (Watch an aerial view of the devastation )

The tornado moved at an average speed of about 20 mph (32 kph) and took about 15 to 20 minutes to wipe out the town, he said.


copyright © CNN


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## Brigantia (7 Mai 2007 às 23:41)

*Re: Tornado nos Estados Unidos da América*

Two more victims have been found in a small town devastated by a huge tornado in the central US state of Kansas. 
The discovery of one body under rubble and another in a nearby lake takes the death toll to at least 10, officials in the town of Greensburg said. 

Rescue teams also found a survivor on Sunday and are continuing to search for anyone trapped since Friday's storm. 

Many residents have been allowed back for the first time to assess damage to their homes and retrieve possessions. 

They have been told they can only stay until dusk, when they must leave for the shelters where most are staying in nearby towns. 

The authorities have been checking residents' names in an attempt to find out whether more people may be missing. 

*An estimated 95% of homes and businesses in Greensburg, a town of about 1,500 people, have been damaged or destroyed. *

A further two people died elsewhere in the state in the course of a weekend of violent storms. 

Efforts 'handicapped' 

City administrator Steve Hewitt confirmed the discovery of two more bodies in Greensburg. 

"That's why we are continuing the search and recovery," he said. "We will continue this through today and tomorrow and hopefully we will find more folks alive." 


The search efforts were delayed on Monday by a leak of anhydrous ammonia, used as fertiliser by farmers, which meant rescue workers had to evacuate part of the town. 

Speaking on Sunday, US President George W Bush declared parts of Kansas a major disaster area and pledged federal aid for reconstruction. 

R David Paulison, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), is expected to tour the area on Monday. 

Fema is working to set up trailers to house families left homeless when winds of up to 205mph (330km/h) tore buildings from their foundations in Greensburg. 

Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius also visited the town, which lies about 120 miles (200km) west of Wichita in southern Kansas. 

She said the state's response would be negatively affected because emergency equipment such as trucks, tents and trailers had been sent to Iraq. 

"Not having the National Guard equipment, which used to be positioned in various parts of the state, to bring in immediately is really going to handicap this effort to rebuild," she said, the Associated Press news agency reports. 

Heavy equipment will be needed to move the large amounts of debris left by the tornado, which was classified by the National Weather Service as an F-5, the most powerful category. 

The tornado was described as a "wedge", a particularly wide formation said to be - in this instance - more than one mile in diameter. 

Flood risk 

There were confirmed reports of several more tornadoes in the state over the weekend. 

A man died in Ottawa County, 250 miles northeast of Greensburg, state officials said, and 11 people were injured in the town of Osborne when a tornado hit two restaurants. 

Several homes were damaged and one person was injured by a tornado in western Oklahoma. 

Heavy rain continued to sweep the central US on Monday, leading to flooding in areas including Topeka, capital of Kansas, and south-west Iowa. 

National Guard soldiers have been sent to the area to provide security and to start clearing the debris left by the storm. 

One of the few buildings still standing is the courthouse. The city hall, schools, businesses as well as homes were destroyed. 


copyright © BBC News


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## Vince (8 Mai 2007 às 09:35)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

Normalmente falamos dos mortos, e esquecemos os vivos. A pergunta que ainda ninguem fez aqui.

Como é que uma pequena cidade com 1500 habitantes desaparece do mapa e só houve 9 mortos ?

A resposta:

Por causa da tecnologia de radares. Mas sobretudo porque havia alguém atento a fazer o seu trabalho.

Chama-se Mike Umscheid, meteorologista do NWS, que atento ao radar percebeu no último instante uma alteração da trajectória fatal para a cidade de Greensburg. E conseguiu dar um alerta com 20m de antecipação que salvou provavelmente centenas de vidas.






Podem ver aqui uma entrevista de Mike Umscheid à televisão ABC: (video no canto superior direito)
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3146565&page=1<br

Ou podem visitar o site e blog pessoal do Mike Umscheid, onde partilha os seus textos e previsões, bem como muitas fotografias de storm chasing.
http://www.underthemeso.com/blog/



> A "career" storm… from a radar operator standpoint.  It’s 3:00am, I’m still up, but should be going to bed, but I’m just too darned keyed up.  Where do I begin?  The storm of the day erupted at the southernmost end of a cluster of pseudo-organized right and left members to its immediate north.  But the far southern storm that erupted out of nowhere just had that shape.  Not 2 minutes after I issued SVR again for eastern Clark Co for that storm I issued TOR… I didn’t have to wait for strong 0.5 convergence/couplet, whatever.  It took it awhile to get going… about Protection or so… but when it did… it went on to produce a fantastic velocity signature 0.5/0.9 slices north of Protection.  The couplet was tracking more northeast… missing Coldwater to the northwest and approaching highway 183 about 7 SSW of Greensburg.  Velocity rotational couplets were topping out at around 150 knots total shear over about a 1-2 mile radius.  I was just thanking the lord that it appeared to be taking a course to miss Greensburg to the southeast.  The next couple slices, though, frightened me.  The damn couplet was bending to the left…and the next scan was even more to the left… and I didn’t even really give it thought…  the "…tornado emergency for Greensburg…" in my next SVS… it was like instinct - just did it.  Those few minutes after watching one of the most incredible velocity couplets go directly over one of your good sized communities in your CWA… I was just too anxious.  Then the message was sent out… a plea from Greensburg dispatch… "Ford County communications this is Greensburg… we just took a direct hit…".. that came no more than about 3 or 4 minutes after the couplet passed over.  I then immediately sent out another SVS indicating that Greensburg likely took a direct hit.
> 
> Thereafter… the steady-state cycling of tornado cyclone…tornado…left turn…. next cycle… tornado, left (north) turn…. next cycle… it was routine… the most steady-state cyclic significant tornadic supercell I had ever seen, let alone work the warnings on radar.  I don’t think that there was 1 minute from the time of the first tornado near Protection….to the time it exited our CWA and headed into the Ellinwood area…that there wasn’t a significant tornado tearing $h1t up….over that 100 mile stretch.  100 miles of steady-state tornado production… I’m not sure how many members there were in this wedge-family.  Just to see hours on end of velocity signatures like this is something I’ll never forget.  Inbounds of 120 knots and higher at times… inbounds only!  Several times throughout the life!  I think the highest we saw was about 150 knots that actually looked like legit data… as in properly aliased.
> 
> ...


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## Angelstorm (8 Mai 2007 às 22:47)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

Hoje de manhã, nas noticias da RTP, disseram que tinham sido vários furacões...  

Será que os jornalistas portugueses nunca mais aprendem?


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## Vince (14 Mai 2007 às 12:15)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

Mais algumas fotos:





Mike (c) Theiss / UltimateChase.com





Mike (c) Theiss / UltimateChase.com





Mike (c) Theiss / UltimateChase.com





Mike (c) Theiss / UltimateChase.com





Mike (c) Theiss / UltimateChase.com





Mike (c) Theiss / UltimateChase.com





Mike (c) Theiss / UltimateChase.com





Mike (c) Theiss / UltimateChase.com





Mike (c) Theiss / UltimateChase.com


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## Brigantia (14 Mai 2007 às 23:36)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

As imagens são todas elas impressionantes...

Aqui ficam mais alguns vídeos que mostram bem o grau de destruição...relembro que cerca de 95% de Greensburg no Kansas desapareceu...





[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj9Y6_Ri4v0[/YOUTUBE]


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## Brigantia (14 Mai 2007 às 23:39)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12rRUIUhPv0[/YOUTUBE]



[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuQGcdgrajA[/YOUTUBE]


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## Vince (7 Jun 2007 às 13:10)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*

Um bom artigo espanhol para ler sobre o Tornado de Greensburg:



> *El monstruo de Greensburg*
> Este es un reportaje acerca del mayor tornado registrado en EEUU en ocho años, el EF5 de Greensburg, Texas. La pequeña ciudad, que ya no existe, tenía unos 2.000 habitantes, y fue destruida el pasado 4 de Mayo, viernes noche, por un monstruo de 2,7 Km. de ancho que, además de llevarse por delante el 95% de las construcciones, se llevó también 12 vidas.
> http://www.tiemposevero.es/ver-reportaje.php?id=133


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## Brigantia (7 Jun 2007 às 14:30)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*



Vince disse:


> Um bom artigo espanhol para ler sobre o Tornado de Greensburg:





Excelente reportagem do maior tornado dos últimos 8 anos nos EUA.


Administradores do fórum, acho que deviam alterar o nome deste tópico para *Tornado EF5 de Greensburg no Kansas_2007-05-04*


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## Minho (7 Jun 2007 às 21:52)

*Re: Tornado faz sete mortos e 50 feridos no Texas*



Brigantia disse:


> Excelente reportagem do maior tornado dos últimos 8 anos nos EUA.
> 
> 
> Administradores do fórum, acho que deviam alterar o nome deste tópico para *Tornado EF5 de Greensburg no Kansas_2007-05-04*




Título alterado!


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