just seen on the news in the uk a twister has hit southern maryland causing lots of damage, hope everythings ok over there now and everyones ok.

That town (or what's left of it) is about an hour from me. While we had no tornadoes in my area, it was an "interesting" evening weather-wise. Looking at the aerial photos of the devastation, it's amazing there were only several fatalities, two of which were apparently from heart attacks.

We get one or two tornadoes in the region each year during the summer, but most are the "touch-and-go" variety and not the roving monstrosity we saw last weekend.

after seeing the footage it will be a long time before i complain about the english weather :(

I'm originally from Silver Spring, MD, and when I heard the news I was in shock. Not exactly the kind of weather we were used to. When I was a kid I lived near Kansas City (in Kansas), and remember a number of tornadoes. What devastation. The pictures of the MD twister were unbelievable!

DC101's Flounder was in La Plata today, offering "relief" through free KFC meals :rolleyes:

It did not affect me, since that's far away from Silver Spring; the one that hit College Park a few months back was a bit closer to home. In all my 20 years living in this area tornadoes were a midwest thing, and now two big ones occur in one year!

A twister hit about an hour south of me too, near Canton Ohio. Left a lot of houses damaged. Good thing is though, that no one was killed. The town has been declared a disaster area due to all the buildings down right now. I think the one that in Ohio was an F2, while the one that hit maryland was either an F3 or and F4.

Originally posted by inogenius
the one that hit maryland was either an F3 or and F4.

Sadly, it's been ruled an F5.

In my part of Texas we see quite a few tornadoes each year. Most are F2 and F3. Several years back, a F5 went through a small town called Jerril. The tornado actually pulled the concrete slabs that the houses were built out of the ground! The scary thing about the last two bbig tornadoes near me, were that they touched down during rush hour traffic.

<rant>
What I don't get is why people continue to live in areas that are prone to such weather problems. I mean like they get there houses basically moved from one state to another by a twister, and they just bring it back and try again, like its never going to happen again.
</rant>

Originally posted by Haze
<rant>
What I don't get is why people continue to live in areas that are prone to such weather problems. I mean like they get there houses basically moved from one state to another by a twister, and they just bring it back and try again, like its never going to happen again.
</rant>

Maryland isn't exactly known as Tornado Alley, as far as I know...

Originally posted by Zorbs


Maryland isn't exactly known as Tornado Alley, as far as I know...

I wasn't actually reffering to Maryland.. sorry to confuse.

Originally posted by Haze
<rant>
What I don't get is why people continue to live in areas that are prone to such weather problems. I mean like they get there houses basically moved from one state to another by a twister, and they just bring it back and try again, like its never going to happen again.
</rant>

Realisticly though, the chance of your home being destroyed by a tornado are probably pretty slim, though we have had a string of pretty bad ones in recent years ( Oklahoma City :( ). Plus it's less expensive to live in the southern US then anywhere else ( in the US ) and the weather is generally excellent. I'd move to Texas anyday.

Why do people live in California with the large earthquake risk?

Originally posted by BrianF
Why do people live in California with the large earthquake risk?

Because the beaches are full of scantily clad humans, and the weather is generally nice...

As far as natural disasters are concerned, Maryland and the surrounding area is fairly tame. No threat of earthquakes, tornadoes aren't a way of life, no tidal waves, volcanoes, runaway forest fires, what have you. The major threats to life and limb are motorists with lethal attitudes and the occasional corrupt politician, but that's hardly unique.

Originally posted by Lain
It did not affect me, since that's far away from Silver Spring; the one that hit College Park a few months back was a bit closer to home. In all my 20 years living in this area tornadoes were a midwest thing, and now two big ones occur in one year! Wow! I forgot about the College Park twister. Unbelievable! I don't recall any tornadoes in all the years I lived in the DC area ('74 - '85), and all of a sudden two big ones.

You're right about the midwest. I mentioned before that I lived near KC years ago ('52 - '61). My dad filmed (on 8mm!) the aftermath of one nasty twister that hit an area called Ruskin Heights. It left an empty swath of nothing but bathroom walls. All the homes were demolished, nothing was left but a few bathroom walls. Bathroom walls often survive because the shape and size of a bathroom makes this part of the house sturdier. There was a picture of a school that had the entire top ripped off and scattered through the neighborhood. Nasty!

I can't think of anything much scarier that that black finger descending from the sky. We didn't have a basement, and everytime there was a tornadoe warning, we'd pack up the car and head over to friends that did. It was all pretty scary. I remember it to this day and I was just a little kid back then.