Storm update III.

[amethyst_hunter]

The death toll now stands at 8. 2 of those were from Michigan; the rest are from Illinois.

More aid information here.

Also, found out more about the accident that killed our former landlord's daughter: The driver - which was not her - had probably been drinking. :(

Comments

[amethyst_hunter]

This is the Wikipedia entry on it. They've vastly improved warnings with the help of technology; the Plainfield case (which I remember very well, having been in high school at the time and then living about 20 miles west of there, so we saw that classic black-sky-on-puke-green!) kinda became one of the standards they used to gauge whether or not to sound warnings after it was found that hesitation in issuing them may have been a factor in why so many people died that day. Meteorologists and forecasters are being highly credited right now for their coverage and reporting on Sunday's outbreak as a reason why there aren't nearly as many fatalities as you might see in a system like this. In other words, better safe than sorry!

I remember the original Fujita scale, which is still pretty close to the EF classification system they now use. A couple of years ago they refined it to encompass the scope of damage done and present a more articulated picture for research information, so now they use the EF scale, and it's fairly safe to say that

[amethyst_hunter]

And today, while looking at a state map, I figured out that I'm even luckier than I figured, because while the EF-4 that whacked Washington was further south of us than I'd thought, the EF-2 that took a swipe at Coal City was a LOT closer than I realized. Like, about 35 miles from us. O_o; If it hadn't been for the thing heading eastward and the system moving as fast as it did...!