TORNADO ALLEY
(has turned into a boulevard of destruction)

The recent spate of extremely violent tornados that have hit the Midwest, unlike the usual kind at this time of year, no longer seem confined to what is called – Tornado Alley –

Bad as these annual stormy rampages normally are, tearing through that “alley”, this year’s swarm broadened their reach right across the Deep South clear over to Atlanta, and on up into the Carolinas, and beyond. Tornado Alley has now become a boulevard of destruction across much of our Midwestern breadbasket.

One of the hardest and worst hit places has been Joplin, Missouri. Its scenes of devastation in the aftermath of that hit resemble those of Hiroshima, Japan, which I viewed only five years after that event. The resemblance is eerie.

We can only hope that Joplin will be able to recover sooner than that. After all, we Missourians are a resilient, strong, and tough breed (comes from hanging around mules, no doubt), so, one way or the other, Joplin will rise again, better and stronger than ever.

The terrible thing about tornados is that, unlike floods and hurricanes, they’re not only unpredictable, but are also extremely erratic and perverse in the way they move and strike. The pathways of their destructive forces can be as narrow as a few hundred feet to more than a mile wide, and go for either short or extended distances. Worse yet, they also can hop, skip, jump, and zigzag, all over the place with their points of impact on the ground. Thus, there are few defensive measures one can take against them beyond getting securely sheltered below ground….somewhere.

To that end in recent years there has evolved an early warning system of alarm sirens, mostly in urban areas, to try and give folks maybe a 15-20 minute time frame to seek such shelter. As for rural area folks, these are left largely on their own to depend mostly on native alertness and long conditioning to watch sky conditions and thunderstorm clouds very, very closely, and to head for their “storm cellars” at the first hint of danger. This has been the conventional means for that purpose. Unfortunately, while such storm cellars do give them some protection, they too often find themselves trapped under a pile of debris from the destroyed structure above them, waiting for search and rescue to get them out.

Even so, too many folks are injured and killed each year by these events, despite such measures to prevent that. So perhaps, in the wake of this year’s massive tornado swarms and strikes, it’s time to consider new standards and new way and means to protect people against such annual events.

Two things come to mind about that. The first is to require all reconstruction plans for either private, commercial, or public structures to include purpose-built below ground safety chambers appropriate in size to the type of structure involved, that these contain emergency supplies of food, water, and first aid, along with emergency power and communications means. But most importantly, that such safety chambers be connected to an underground emergency escape tunnel reaching out a minimum of ten yards from the perimeter footprint of any structure, with its exit point to be secured by a internally dogged hatchway (as found on ships’ bulkhead hatchways), along with a two way phone system to the outside above ground.

The second thing is to initiate concentrated research to improve the warning system. Perhaps by developing a new kind based on one that could react to changes in atmospheric pressures which come in front of an approaching storm cell carrying a tornado potential. Such a system would then trigger an alarm pulse transmitted through the local power grid to every structure connected to it, setting off alarm unit in these similar to a smoke detector. Something along these lines should significantly improve the time provided to get to safety.

These are some things to think about. Mother Nature can really be a nasty bitch at times, and when she throws those kinds of tantrums, there’s no reason to put up with them. Taking such measures might increase everyone’s chances of survival when she does so.

Meanwhile, besides offering our best thoughts and prayers to all those hit by these disasters, let’s all do what we can do to help them recover and get their lives back to normal as quickly as possible. If it’s righteous to help others in distress around this world….surely helping our own back here at home…. is even more so.

CENTURION