Storms in the United States

[Rad]

Have just seen the devastation hitting the southern states. Hope all our affected members and their families and friends

are safe and well. Hang in there people.

[Turtle]

This most recent front was nothing short of devastating. Thankfully, the Memphis area wasn't too badly affected by that one, but there were a lot of power outages. We've been getting a lot of severe weather all month long. Strong winds, hail, heavy rain, the works. It looks like the mighty Mississippi River will see some record level flooding. There are a few areas of town that already look to be under pretty serious flood threat. The winds we've been getting combined with the rain (and fairly wet winter) have caused a lot of trees to fall, crushing many homes... including mine. I had a tree fall on my house earlier this year, but it didn't do much damage. The one that fell earlier this month, though, really messed up my house. My kitchen, laundry/utility room, and bedroom all have to be rebuilt. The tree snapped about half of the roof joists, and my attic ended up on my bed. So it sucks. The good news is that no one was hurt and I get a new roof, kitchen, laundry, bedroom, refinished hardwoods throughout the house, new ceilings in a couple of other rooms, fresh paint all around, and some other little fixes here and there. My dogs were at home when the tree fell. Somehow, they were all completely fine, but now all three are terrified of storms. Seeing the damage and loss of life yesterday, I am thankful that my family is safe. I hope all fellow board members are doing ok and have gotten through this without harm.

Edited April 28, 2011 by Turtle

[Rad]

Wow, Turtle! I'm glad you're getting things sorted, but your heart must have sunk when you came home to that.

Hope this is the worst of it over with. Are these storms unseasonal?

[Turtle]

We normally get some rain and thunderstorms this time of year, but the severity is far beyond what we normally see. Here's a photo gallery of what we've been seeing in the area. The river flooding is a big concern for many. Memphis in May is a month-long series of festivities, most of which take place downtown right on the river. Music Fest is this weekend, and right now looks like it will be on schedule. Barbecue Fest, however, looks like it will be disrupted. For both events, putting thousands of drunk people right next to a flooding river just doesn't seem like a good idea.

[Trekker 42]

A tornado touched down in Clarkesville from what I heard. Not 15 minutes away from me. Strange thought how close my college was to disaster... thankfully the Lord provides and we are completely unaffected...

But Alabama... Oh Alabama...

[TM2 Dinobot]

Interestingly enough is why this happened. We have 90 degree weather right now. In Wisconsin at the other end of the country they're having ice and snow like crazy. So you have extremely cold air connecting with extremely hot, moist Gulf air. That ends up making the storm of the decade.

[Turtle]

It looks like the Mississippi River has finally crested here in Memphis. The river is normally only about .5 miles wide here. Right now it's about 3 miles wide. There is a smaller tributary, the Wold River, that comes out of the south and then kind of wraps around the north part of the city. It's causing a lot of flooding on the north and east parts of the city. It's pretty crazy, and it's expected to stay pretty high for a bit.