As you already know if you’re a Drudge reader (or a news watcher generally), the town of Greensburg, Kansas was completely wiped out by a half-mile-wide tornado Friday night. The aerial photos are incredible. For example:
Something like 95% of the town’s structures were damaged or destroyed, and eight people (out of 1,574) died. Alan Sullivan echoes my sentiments: “It’s amazing the death toll wasn’t higher  people in Kansas know what to do when the big one is bearing down.” That, and I guess they all have basements.
No official estimate of the twister’s strength has yet been announced, but Dr. Jeff Masters says, “[P]hotos I’ve seen of the destruction show damage consistent with EF4 winds (168-199 mph). It is possible the storm was an EF5 (winds more than 200 mph).” The Weather Channel’s Dr. Stu Ostro has more.
Also, here’s a YouTube storm chaser video from a different tornado caused by the same system earlier on Friday:
In other weather news, Brian Neudorff looks at the possibility of Subtropical Storm Andrea forming next week. Technically, hurricane season doesn’t start until June 1, but a storm in May would hardly be unprecedented.
UPDATE: The Greensburg tornado was officially an F-5 (or, to be technical, EF-5) and was a mile-and-a-half wide. Holy crap.
May 6th, 2007 at 12:52:51 pm
I doubt that a lot of those structures had basements. I’ve read that a lot of people were just riding it out under mattresses and in bathtubs.
May 6th, 2007 at 1:20:12 pm
Wow, that’s one of the best videos of a tornado I’ve ever seen!
May 6th, 2007 at 1:25:28 pm
I’d seen some TV reports but those Photos are astounding. My God. / It’s a cliche of course but the place Truly looks like it got Nuked. / “It is possible the storm was an EF5 (winds more than 200 mph).” Shudder. / That’s a big Grain elevator still standing, there, right?
May 6th, 2007 at 1:27:00 pm
Yeah - the people who built that grain elevator have to be feeling pretty good about their construction techniques!
May 6th, 2007 at 1:31:25 pm
P.S. The highest recorded wind speed in a tornado was 318 miles per hour in a 1999 twister in Oklahoma.
May 6th, 2007 at 4:49:32 pm
The tornado was A MILE AND A HALF WIDE, traveled 22 miles and is now being labeled an F-5.
http://kansas.com/625/story/63289.html
May 6th, 2007 at 6:16:23 pm
Wow. Just wow. I can’t believe that the toll was as little as eight. Here’s hoping that we’re not proved wrong, of course. I’ve long admired the ease and accuracy of the tornado early warning system at work in the US. Without it, the toll would probably have been in the hundreds.
May 7th, 2007 at 1:39:49 pm
One thing’s for certain: After that tornado came through, we can conclude Dorothy certainly ain’t in Kansas no more.
That, and the town looks more like Brownsburg to me.