They are digging through an elementary school that was directly in the path of this mile-wide tornado. No reports on killed or injured, at least as far as I've seen.
A massive tornado ripped through the southern suburbs of Oklahoma City, Monday afternoon, killing at least 51 people, according to the state medical examiner's office.
As usual, you can text-donate to the Red Cross. Text either "DONATE" or "REDCROSS" to 90999 to donate $10. There are rumors that the "DONATE" version bumps it to $25, but when I did it, it only took $10.
Living in the UK some American explained to myself that a good storm shelter costs like $3,000 and above. Which is a shame, Oklahoma has been hit before, right? Regardless, $3,000 does not seem too much.
While the number of deaths and amount of damage caused by a huge tornado that tore through Moore, Okla., on Monday remain high, state officials announced just after 9 a.m. ET Tuesday that fewer people than feared may have lost their lives.
After beginning the day with word that at least 51 people had been killed and that the number of dead might top 90, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner's office said that the official death toll was 24 — a figure that could still change. The fatalities included at least 7 children. The spokeswoman, Amy Elliott, told NPR and other news outlets that the initial may have included some victims who were counted twice.
Last night, the toll was thought to be 51, including 20 children. Now it is 24, with 7 children.
wildswan said:
The media was reporting that the coroner's office had forty more fatalities on the way to the morgue. Why do they get it so wrong in these instances?
I'm trying to figure out why state officials are releasing numbers that are just so...wrong. How can they say they have an official, confirmed number, yet be so wrong? Did they count everyone twice? Were they just guessing? Why couldn't they just wait and say "we don't know at the moment"?
wildswan said:
The media was reporting that the coroner's office had forty more fatalities on the way to the morgue. Why do they get it so wrong in these instances?
I'm trying to figure out why state officials are releasing numbers that are just so...wrong. How can they say they have an official, confirmed number, yet be so wrong? Did they count everyone twice? Were they just guessing? Why couldn't they just wait and say "we don't know at the moment"?
as with any natural disaster you have multiple agencies working together and no one agency working independently. so you may have 3 individuals on one location that all call in the same casualties to their respective supervisors. who then try and confer with the supervisors from other organizations to confirm actual numbers. but many agencies are unprepared, or poorly trained when it comes to real world implementation of action for natural disasters. they went through the same thing when a tornado wiped out Joplin year before last.
CoyoteMike
Iowa City, IA
May 2006
MAY 20, 2013 03:14 PM