Sever Weather Potential - Sat (4/14) - HIGH RISK

[Ixiah]

For any that lost high value items - you can decuct them on your tax return with form 4684 (Casualty loss) and your losses act like an itemized deduction. Insurance received reduces the loss deductable. If Obama declares this a federal disaster area special (very beneficial) rules apply.

http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i4684/ch01.html#d0e151

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4684.pdf

Hope this helps someone,

Ix

[SB Shock]

From what little I've seen of damage, it looks minimal and low-end, maybe EF1 or 2. Now the stuff around Spirit looks a bit more impressive. But they arent allowing anybody, media included, into some of the harder hit areas. Was hoping to see some aerial footage by now to see the extent of it but none whatsoever.

My perception was looking at the couplets, this tornado was much stronger as it was crossing te Kansas and ok border near Anthony and as it was getting close to Clearwater. Then it weakened substantially an Wichita dodged a major bullet. Will be interesting to see what the survey yields.

[twister17e]

The tornado that hit southeast Wichita has been given a preliminary rating of EF-3. Also, the tornado near Kanapolis Lake in Ellsworth County has been preliminary rated an EF-4. This was according to Hallie Shulman (Kake) Twitter feed.

[wsushox1]

That is correct twister17e.

Here is an aerial photo album from the Wichita Eagle and Mike Hutmacher

http://www.kansas.com/2012/04/15/2297609/aerial-photos-of-storm-damage.html

[ShockerFever]

My perception was looking at the couplets, this tornado was much stronger as it was crossing te Kansas and ok border near Anthony and as it was getting close to Clearwater. Then it weakened substantially an Wichita dodged a major bullet. Will be interesting to see what the survey yields.

Totally agree. There were some impressive radar signatures south of Wichita, specifically in Woodward County, which video showed a pretty healthy stovepipe on the ground at the time, Harper, and Sumner Counties. We are very lucky that this tight circulation remained over open country for the most part. Definitely weakened some and the tornado seemed to hop and skip by the time it went through the southeast side of the metro area, almost going on a carbon copy path of the 4/26/91 tornado.

[ShockerFever]

That is correct twister17e.

Here is an aerial photo album from the Wichita Eagle and Mike Hutmacher

http://www.kansas.com/2012/04/15/229...rm-damage.html

Thanks for the link. Definitely a bit more impressive from the air than from what they've been showing on the ground all day. Definitely see some EF3 damage in there. Also, the Spirit/Boeing plants seemed to have some pretty strong EF2 or EF3 damage with those major structures sustaining some pretty good damage.

All in all, pretty amazed at the low amount of injuries and no deaths in Kansas. Overall, only 5 deaths, all in Woodward, OK, for the over 100 preliminary reports of tornadoes across the heartland. The warning and hype definitely helped people pay attention. It also helped that the more significant tornadoes remained pretty much over open country. The ones in Rice, Ellsworth, and Saline counties were very impressive, as wsushox's youtube clip alluded to. If that would have hit a populated area, then we would have been talking about a different story in terms of devastation and injuries/fatalities. Again, we dodged a bullet there.

Haven't looked more than a week out, but it looks like things will calm down a bit as we hit the heart of severe weather season in Kansas - late April - May.

[ShockerFever]

Great info here on the NWS Wichita site:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=ict&storyid=81890&source=0

Looks to be updates as info comes in. Some great radar grabs and pictures of each tornado in each link at the top.

[ShockerFever]

Absolutely incredible footage from the Saline County tornado. Definitely a violent tornado. Make sure you watch the whole thing, especially towards the last half, where livestock are airborne..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6uoM_z333Q&feature=related

[KC Shox]

This is what makes my job bitter sweet. As an insurance professional, incidents such as these keep my industry going and my job safe. However, I hate catastrophic events such as these. Give me a simple hail storm, screw the tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes and wildfires.

I feel sorry for the people who are affected by this stuff.

[Aargh]

I just got internet, phone and cable working this afternoon. I live north-east of Pawnee and Rock. My house is dead-center with the National Weather Services tornado track:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ict/?n=april14th_sgTrack

I have no damage. My neighbor south of me had a 30' branch decorating his deck. Across the street to the east, everybody has 3' - 4' piles of branches. I could pick up my pile of branches with one hand. Apartment building 100 yards west of me has roof damage and parts may be uninhabitable. Not many cars there.

There is no access to Rock Road between Harry and Pawnee. There's about a mile and a half of downed power lines. Poles either fell over or were snapped in half. Cedar tree with an 18" diameter trunk is twisted off at ground level at Rock and Bluestem. Lots of fences blown down. About 200 yards northeast of my house, there are a bunch of houses with tarps nailed onto their roofs.

I was out Saturday night and had to leave my car on the west side of Rock. It was a 5-mile trip Sunday (had to go to Kellogg and Greenwich) to cross Rock Sunday.

The only two utility poles that didn't blow down at Pawnee and Rock are the ones that take power across Rock into my neighborhood. Lights were out Saturday night, but working Sunday morning. Oddly enough, the power comes from the west, but the west side of Rock had no power, while the east side had power. After the power crosses Rock, everything in the residential area is underground. Then there are lines that go back across Rock that provide power to the west side of Rock. When the poles on the east side went down, they fell east, which broke the lines that provide power to the west side.

The damage in this area is considered EF-1. I've been in a couple of known 80 mph storms. This was clearly worse. I've been in an estimated 100 mph storm, and I think the damage around here is in that range in most of the damaged areas, but I'd say up to 120 mph in some spots. There are cedar trees laying flat on the ground with about 8' of roots up in the air that got pulled out of the ground.

[WSUwatcher]

Thank you, God -- I seem to be one of the lucky ones. I've heard the sirens more times than I can remember, used to work in an office building that was hit by a tornado after I went home for the evening, had friends who suffered tornado damage, and seen lots of tornado aftermaths and rubble -- but in 35+ years in Wichita, I've never seen so much as a funnel cloud live and in person.

When the warnings come, hope that I'm close by (and that my Tornado Alley odds don't catch up with me).

[ShockerFever]

I'd just like to point out that I'm really happy that nobody was seriously injured or killed, unlike what was inaccurately being reported in this thread Saturday night. Hopefully people don't jump to such serious conclusions next time in the heat of the moment unless those reports are concrete in nature.

[SubGod22]

I'd just like to point out that I'm really happy that nobody was seriously injured or killed, unlike what was inaccurately being reported in this thread Saturday night. Hopefully people don't jump to such serious conclusions next time in the heat of the moment unless those reports are concrete in nature.

Shut up

[ShockBand]

I live just north of the line of damage down near Harry and Webb. I got off VERY fortunate, as my roof repair estimate is all of $125 to replace a few shingles that got pulled loose. They didn't even come off the roof completely. Just a quarter mile south of me, holes were getting punched in the roofs of the apartment buildings. I'm grateful no lives were lost and there weren't any life-threatening injuries from what I've read and heard. You could really tell how serious the situation was by how jittery the TV meteorologists were. I was thinking we were about to hear an "I'm not f-ing around, take shelter now" from them. Even the NWS warnings have gotten more blunt in the aftermath of Joplin.

For my family, it was:
Tornado Watch: kept a close eye on the TV weather updates
Tornado Warning: went to the basement and got ready to go to the "deep shelter" under the stairs
Tornado Emergency (followed shortly by power outage): hunkered down in the "deep shelter"

BTW, ShockBand may be considering a steel door for the deep shelter instead of the hollow interior door that is on it now. If I ever am fortunate enough to build a house, I already know I will have an F5 rated shelter in my basement. You just never know.

[ShockerFever]

Shut up

You don't wanna go there.