Springtime In Tornada Alley
The nightmare
of emergency planners in tornado alley is a powerful twister hitting a
metropolitan area like Dallas-Fort Worth during the afternoon rush hour
as thousands of motorists are stranded in a traffic jam.
Although strong
tornadoes rarely hit major cities, it has seemed to happen more frequently
in recent years. In May 1999, a swarm of tornadoes tore through Oklahoma
City, killing 36 people, and a year later a twister roared through downtown
Fort Worth just after the rush hour, taking five lives.
The strongest
of the tornadoes that hit Oklahoma City stayed on the ground for 37 miles,
destroyed 2,500 homes and other structures, and caused $1 billion in damage.
Wind speed was clocked at 318 mph at nearby Bridge Creek.
"On average
we have one F-5 tornado in the whole country a year so the probability
of that tornado hitting a major metropolitan area is quite small," said
Joe Schaefer, director of NOAA's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.
"Unfortunately in 1999, it happened."
An F-5 is the
strongest tornado on the Fugita scale, with wind speeds exceeding 261 mph.
In recent years,
tornadoes have hit Nashville and Little Rock and wind spouts, a tornado
on the water, have been reported in the Miami area.
More than 1,000
tornadoes are reported each year and relatively few of them hit metropolitan
areas, according to Schaefer. Most of them occur in rural areas, roaring
harmlessly across farmland, but they can be devastating to small towns.
A 1997 twister in Jarrell, Texas, killed 27 people.
With booming
areas like Dallas-Fort Worth in tornado alley the odds are increasing that
a twister will strike again in a heavily populated area. More than 5 million
people now live the North Texas Metroplex.
"Given enough
time, they do happen," said Scott Raye, a planner and data base administrator
for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. "As your cities grow,
it's a lot easier to hit them."
Raye conducted
a study in 2000 that imposed the path of the Oklahoma City twister on the
Dallas-Fort Worth area. In a worse case scenario, he found, there could
be as much as $4.7 billion in damage and more than 84,000 people affected
by such a devastating tornado.
His research
also examined the nightmare scenario of a big city where thousands of commuters
are caught on the road during the afternoon rush hour. His study found
as many as 87,000 people could be stranded on Dallas-Fort Worth roads in
the path of a tornado such as the one in Oklahoma City.
"You don't
want people parking under the overpasses and blocking everybody else,"
he said, which is a common problem when motorists seek protection from
a tornado or a hailstorm.
William Gross,
Dallas's emergency coordinator, said a tornado could create a dangerous
situation for motorists caught on a busy freeway like Interstate 635, which
crosses the northern part of the city.
"That would
be a real mess, not only because cars are not at an ideal place, but all
that would hinder our ability to get emergency folks up there to take care
of them," he said. "That is a real nightmare."
The Fort Worth
tornado struck downtown at 6:20 p.m. on March 28, 2000, shortly after most
workers had left for home, limiting the loss of life in the opinion of
many experts. Although there were millions of dollars in damage to high-rise
office buildings and other structures, only five lives were lost.
These weather
concerns are again on the minds of those who live in tornado alley, as
the 2002 storm season gets under way in the Plains States. Some of the
strongest tornadoes strike from late March through April, although they
are more frequent in May and June. They most commonly strike late in the
day or at night.
Schaefer, the
director of the storm prediction center, said now is the time for people
to begin paying attention to weather warnings on radio and television and
develop a plan of action.
"People should
be aware of the weather and have emergency plans so they will know what
to do," he said.
The Red Cross
has some tips:
-- Assemble
a disaster kit containing a first aid kit with essential medications, a
battery-powered radio with extra batteries, a can opener and canned food,
and bottled water for every family member.
-- Draw up
a home tornado plan with a place where the family can gather, away from
windows, in a basement or center hallway, bathroom or closet on the lowest
floor.
-- If caught
in a high-rise office building with no time to go the lowest floor, pick
a place in a hallway in the center of the building.
-- If outside
or in a car, seek shelter inside or lie flat in a ditch or low-lying area.
Special weather
alert radios can be purchased but Schaefer offered another simple tip he
learned recently from survivors of tornadoes that struck during the night.
"If there is
a tornado watch out and it's bedtime, just leave the TV on in your bedroom,"
he said. "If something happens, they usually make enough noise on the TV
that it will wake you up."
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Copyright 2002 by United
Press International.
All rights reserved.
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