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Old 12-13-2021, 12:27 PM
 
Location: Tippecanoe County, Indiana
26,374 posts, read 46,217,550 times
Reputation: 19454

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Quote:
Originally Posted by ohioaninsc View Post
My thoughts are with everyone that was affected by this extreme storm...that goes for the people in Edwardsville, IL as well.

Regarding the candle factory, my mind keeps going back to the Wrangler Jean factory that was flattened by an EF-5 tornado in Alabama a decade or so ago. Only 1 person died there because they had the forethought to shut down and send everyone home w/ the threat that was ongoing that day. Had the management of the factory put employee's lives first over profits and production levels. they would have done the same thing...NWS earlier in the day stated that this could be a very violent night of storms. To me they should have shut down. Candles can wait. Now, w/ the devastation that occurred, maybe it wouldn't have saved many lives...but it very well could have. Either way, this is a very sad situation.
Exactly, there should be a mandatory evacuation threshold for larger businesses in advance if a warned tornado has ground confirmation and is stronger than an EF-1 or EF-2.
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Old 12-13-2021, 12:42 PM
 
17,264 posts, read 11,091,067 times
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It's very easy to make assumptions about what should have been done, and to start to point fingers. Information right now is sparse about actual facts on the ground.
The facility in question is said to have a storm safe room or area. The large majority of the workers there did survive. Perhaps some may have been worse off if they were at home and not at work, we don't know right now.
Let's not assume things. We don't have all the facts.
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Old 12-13-2021, 01:16 PM
 
Location: Chisago Lakes, Minnesota
3,810 posts, read 6,393,190 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GraniteStater View Post
Exactly, there should be a mandatory evacuation threshold for larger businesses in advance if a warned tornado has ground confirmation and is stronger than an EF-1 or EF-2.
The strength determinations aren't made until after the tornado has passed and any resulting damage has been assessed. That said, the NWS pinpointed the time frame, the region and the potential intensity forecasts for this event well ahead of its arrival, so I absolutely cannot believe places like that candle factory were operating within the window for that level of severe weather. A hospital or something essential, yeah - but a candle making business? This was not just a ho-hum thunderstorm forecast, they knew it was going to be very bad far enough ahead that those people should have been hunkering down at home. Easy to say in hindsight? Well yeah, but it would have been just as easy to heed the warnings and not pack hundreds of people into buildings until the system was beyond the area. They're very fortunate more weren't injured or killed.
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Old 12-13-2021, 01:24 PM
 
Location: Brackenwood
9,880 posts, read 5,543,460 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyryztoll View Post
The strength determinations aren't made until after the tornado has passed and any resulting damage has been assessed. That said, the NWS pinpointed the time frame, the region and the potential intensity forecasts for this event well ahead of its arrival, so I absolutely cannot believe places like that candle factory were operating within the window for that level of severe weather. A hospital or something essential, yeah - but a candle making business? This was not just a ho-hum thunderstorm forecast, they knew it was going to be very bad far enough ahead that those people should have been hunkering down at home. Easy to say in hindsight? Well yeah, but it would have been just as easy to heed the warnings and not pack hundreds of people into buildings until the system was beyond the area. They're very fortunate more weren't injured or killed.
It might also be easier said for those of us who live in part of the country where tornados are so much a part of life you think to yourself, "whatever, I'll go in the basement if the wind starts picking up" when you hear the tornado siren. For us it seems obvious when the weatherman says "oh hey there, thought you'd like to know a giant-ass tornado with a debris column a mile wide and 4 miles high is coming your way" that the last structure type you want to be in is in a huge concrete-sided light industrial building with a massive flat roof and no underground shelter. If you live some place where this is uncommon, you might think to yourself "well, the building has emergency shelters, I guess we'll be okay."


Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. In-Between View Post
Yeah, as more and more news comes in, this is shaping up to be one of the most powerful tornados in history. EF5 damage and radar-indicated winds, longest continuous track of a tornado ever recorded, first tornado to hit 4 states (that surprised me; i would have thought the Panhandle would have had that happen a number of times), a debris cloud over 30,000 feet in altitude, a debris field that extended 75 miles down range...
And it just barely missed the southern tip of Indiana to make it 5.

What amazes me is this thing ripped right over the Mississippi River like it was a ditch. Didn't slow it down one bit.
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Old 12-13-2021, 02:12 PM
 
Location: Chisago Lakes, Minnesota
3,810 posts, read 6,393,190 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bitey View Post
It might also be easier said for those of us who live in part of the country where tornados are so much a part of life you think to yourself, "whatever, I'll go in the basement if the wind starts picking up" when you hear the tornado siren. For us it seems obvious when the weatherman says "oh hey there, thought you'd like to know a giant-ass tornado with a debris column a mile wide and 4 miles high is coming your way" that the last structure type you want to be in is in a huge concrete-sided light industrial building with a massive flat roof and no underground shelter. If you live some place where this is uncommon, you might think to yourself "well, the building has emergency shelters, I guess we'll be okay."
Let me put it like this - Considering the enhanced threat level that was accurately predicted by the NWS, allowing people to be packed into one of those buildings during the actual event made about as much sense as that high school in Michigan allowing that kid back around its students after the obvious threat had been identified. In such cases, when such an imminent threat exists, the logical action is to take steps to mitigate the situation, not exacerbate it.

I.E., Kentucky...

Scenario 1- The NWS has issued an advisory for an enhanced threat of severe weather that will likely include strong, long tracked tornadoes in our region, so let's make sure our employees are released in time that they can get home safely to ride out the storm with their families. MITIGATION.

Scenario 2 - The NWS has issued an advisory for an enhanced threat of severe weather that will likely include strong, long tracked tornadoes in our region, so let's keep our employees working in our flimsy building, detached from their families, while the event unfolds. EXACERBATION.

Quote:
What amazes me is this thing ripped right over the Mississippi River like it was a ditch. Didn't slow it down one bit.
Rivers of any size are not going to slow a storm of that intensity. Neither will most inland lakes.

Last edited by Oldhag1; 12-13-2021 at 06:20 PM.. Reason: Off topic
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Old 12-13-2021, 03:22 PM
 
26,116 posts, read 48,720,528 times
Reputation: 31507
Bloomberg financial website is reporting that the destroyed candle-making factory in Mayfield, KY was a supplier to the Bath & Body Works stores seen in many shopping malls.

Excerpt: The candle factory destroyed by a deadly tornado in Mayfield, KY, was a supplier for Bath & Body Works, which has pledged to support the community. "The Bath & Body Works team is devastated by the loss of life at the Mayfield Consumer Products factory, a long-standing partner of ours,” the statement reads. The company has “reached out to the factory owners to identify how we can directly support MCP associates and their families, as well as to determine other resources that would be most helpful at this time and in the months to come.” The company is also making donations to tornado relief efforts through the American Red Cross and local KY agencies. Search efforts continue at the factory, which was flattened late on December 11 when the tornado ripped through the town. Of the 110 working in the factory at the time, eight employees are dead and fewer than 10 are still missing, the AP reports. KY Governor Andy Beshear said on Monday that there were 64 confirmed deaths with 11 still missing. Mayfield Consumer Products Chief Executive Officer Troy Propes told Fox News that 10 minutes before the storm hit factory managers got “almost all workers to the designated areas” to shelter from the storm, which were the bathrooms."
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Old 12-13-2021, 05:03 PM
 
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
11,974 posts, read 25,337,451 times
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Statewide death toll was revised downward after clarification on Mayfield candle factory numbers but has since climbed back up to 74 with quite a number still missing. I've also read a lot of meteorologist looking over radar data and it looks like at most the tornado only cycled once at TN KY border and it's possible it never cycled. Meaning the single longest tornado known to happen in world history. Begin path was near Greenfield Arkansas S of Jonesboro. End point is in either Ohio or Grayson counties in KY. Last continuous damaged seems to be right at Rough River Lake Dam on Grayson / Breckenridge line.

The scar left by the tornado can be seen from space and continuously goes from the TN line to NW of Leitchfield. Only a handful of tornadoes ever leave an scaring viewable on satellite.

http://kennedy.atmos.und.edu/tornado_track.png
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Old 12-13-2021, 06:58 PM
 
Location: In the Pearl of the Purchase, Ky
11,014 posts, read 17,385,947 times
Reputation: 44133
I'll see if I can find it on Facebook but I saw a news story talking to a man who survived the candle factory collapse. He said he looked out the door, saw the tornado coming and ran to get in the building's tornado protection site. But he was knocked down by debris and had a slab of concrete on his back. He came out with just scratches and bruises
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Old 12-13-2021, 07:05 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles
7,827 posts, read 2,690,121 times
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For a point of reference this is the fujita scale....it shows pictures of damage associated with the scale

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujita_scale

Once they gather all the data we should have a better picture if this was one Giant tornado along with 4 or 5 separate tornadoes or a family of tornadoes. The pics and drone footage definitely puts this into the EF4 and EF5. Many of the buildings were simply swept away.
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Old 12-13-2021, 07:13 PM
 
Location: In the Pearl of the Purchase, Ky
11,014 posts, read 17,385,947 times
Reputation: 44133
https://www.wsiltv.com/news/national...zGs6lUxcbOyvGA
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