MJW155

I don't blame them. I know if the town I grew up in got destroyed and 100+ people died, I'd get out too. The constant reminder would be too hard to deal with on a daily basis. I have friends that lived in Homestead during Andrew and moved up to Ft. Lauderdale/Coral Springs and have never been back to Homestead since.

Wasn't the HS graduation at the time of the tornado? That would account for why so many people weren't home when the tornado hit. It reminds me of how the highway in San Fran collasped but because of the World Series in 1989; traffic was light.

The picture is hilarious. Obviously this is a case for the Mythbusters to solve.

As others have said, you did a great job. There's only so much you can do when an EF-5 hits. How far do you live from the path?

Pets are the ****. They can survive anything.

Insane picture around 1:10 showing the house destroyed but the stereo system is still OK.

Damn, that doctor account is so bone chilling. Amazing he found flashlights, it had to be pitch black.

I wonder about the stuff inside. Like can someone go up and say "I have jewels in vault 1-B." and the bank manager says "Here you go!"

It was like that in the early 80's too. I remember giving a book report in 2nd grade about tornadoes. I still remember telling the class winds were over 500 mph. LOL. It was probably 1982 or 1983.

I'm surprised Central Florida isn't higher.

Sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you meant you were surprised that the hospital wasn't as damaged as other buildings nearby. I didn't realize you meant you were surprised both hospitals were so close together.

Hospitals are constructed differently from other buildings similar in size.

I've always been surprised when people ignore warnings. To me, I would take advantage of the break from my normal routine. It's not like it happens every day or even every week. I guess part of it is people are just too preoccupied w/ their own lives to take it seriously.

JoMo, Glad you are OK. Did you actually see the tornado or just hear it? Also, what do people there think of not being allowed to visit bodies in the morgue?

Yea to me this is a major red flag. I'm not sure if I buy the whole "he doesn't have access to the internet" thing. There's no use to speculating but hopefully we find out good news soon.

I think one of the Mets said in the other thread that the building wasn't hit directly by the tornado. He estimated the tornado was about a block away.

At around 2:20, an animal walks across the yard. The comments on the video say it's a cat but it's way too big to be a cat. I think it's a calf.

Yea I'm sure in some places people discuss whether to take the warning seriously or not. "There's a tornado warning? But I just looked outside. It's fine."

There was a school in Albany NY that got hit hard about 15-20 years ago.

Could population density in the area at the time of the tornado have anything to do with it? I don't mean population density of Joplin or Tuscaloosa, I mean a lot of people concentrated where the tornadoes hit. I know building codes are stricter today but does something like that mean anything if the material itself is ****ty? Also, hitting an apartment complex w/ 100 families is a lot worse than hitting a neighborhood w/ 20 families.

A bit off topic but did you see the program last night about the Alabama tornadoes? A guy 60 miles NE of Birmingham was watching on 2 different TVs the tornado that went throught Tuscaloosa/Birmingham and headed his way. He didn't seek shelter because he didn't think it would go near him. He ended up filming the inside of the tornado from his 3rd floor apartment. The tornado must have taken 2 hours to get there, he was watching it on TV, saw it outside and STILL didn't seek shelter. I doubt it ever occurred to him to seek shelter. Point is, there are people that just refuse to listen to warnings and there's not a thing you can do about it. BTW-I completely agree with you. A warning is a warning and seek shelter.

Hopefully JoMo is OK. This is going to be bad. Woman from Red Cross said on CNN 2 minutes ago she estimates 75% of the town is destroyed. TWC showed a fire out of control near the hospital.

Wouldn't it be the relatives that are reporting them missing? I mean somone is putting the missing people on a list. I know there tends to be a lot of confusion in these situations, so hopefully that is the case.