By Jana Foggan
[HAMMOND]-As howling winds calm down and silence fills the moist,
southern air, adrenaline runs through peoples’ veins as their hearts nearly
beat out of their chests once the storm has passed. Slowly, they come out
of their safe places only to discover the damage that has been done around them
which suddenly sends a feeling of shock and sadness through them. When
something as tragic as a tornado takes place, these feelings and so much more
can be described as being a part of one thing: the tornado aftermath.
Within the past year, tornadoes have
been quite frequent not only in Tornado Alley but throughout the United
States. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
a total of 2,192 tornadoes were reported which is almost double the ten-year
average of storms. During the beginning of 2008, 87 tornadoes occurred
within the Super Tuesday primary elections. During the Super Tuesday
Outbreak, Louisiana had its fair share tornadoes, especially the one in the
freshest memory in the minds of several people in Independence.
On February 13, 2008, strong
thunderstorms moved through the Hammond area and a few miles down the road,
action was catching the attention of residents of Independence. Mike
Lane, an eyewitness who happened to be visiting family, had a gut feeling as
the skies grew darker and began changing colors. “All I could do was hope
that nothing was going to drop out of the sky as I was on the highway because
it was like a scene from a movie,” Lane said. Lane was not too far away
from the Lallie Kemp Regional Medical Center as the dark clouds began to swirl
and extend downwards.
“The second the tornado touched the
ground, it was heading straight towards the hospital, and I couldn’t help but
think if everyone was alright. It didn’t look good at all,” Lane said.
While the tornado was weak, the damage that it left behind was one for the
record books. Lane said, “After it passed, I was a bit shaken up, but
when I passed the hospital, it looked like a war zone. There were police
sirens, medical teams and glass just about everywhere you looked.”
As a result of the storm, one person lost her life after being caught up into the funnel and then slammed into a
vehicle nearby. The tornado also created minor structural damage and toppled
a few trees. Even though it was a minor storm, the unfortunate loss of
life was major enough to catch the attention of locals as well as the country.
The increase in tornadoes continued
this year with violent storms breaking out sporadically in Dixie Alley and
Tornado Alley. On June 21, Extreme Weather Storm Chasing storm chaser Forrest
Lambert and his team were caught in a few minutes of fury 60 miles from Grand
Rapids, Iowa. “My first thoughts were, ‘are we going to see
strong tornadoes and damaging winds from the storm?’” Lambert said.
Although the tornado was on the ground
a few minutes, Lambert reported a shed with damage done to a side wall and a few trees were down but there was no loss of life in the area. “Emotions
run higher after the storm because you never know if anyone has died in the
storm after it strikes, and storm chasers are normally first to arrive after a
storm has hit a town,” Lambert stated.
Tornadoes are very frightening to
experience but what people see after the storms strike is the scariest scene of
all. Trees can be snapped in two, houses can be completely moved from
their foundations and due to not taking safety measures, loss of life can
occur. “Before finding out about the woman at the hospital, I felt this
sense of worry because I had no idea what happened, but at the same time, I was
glad I was in a safe enough distance to be alright,” Lane says of his
experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment