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US: Storms kill at least 77 in South, head to East Coast

William M. Welch & Doyle Rice
USA Today
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 01:50 UTC
Image
© Dusty Compton, The Tuscaloosa News, via AP
A car is overturned and buildings are destroyed Wednesday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
A vicious series of tornadoes and powerful storms lashed the South on Wednesday, killing at least 77 people in the region and leaving behind a trail of massive damage.

At least 61 people were killed in Alabama alone. At least 16 more died in neighboring states - 11 in Mississippi, four in Georgia and one in Tennessee.

Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox said 15 died in his city, home to the main campus of the University of Alabama. He said sections of Tuscaloosa were destroyed and its infrastructure decimated. An additional 11 people were killed in Jefferson County surrounding Birmingham.

One twister battered the university campus in Tuscaloosa, severely damaging buildings nearby. The university turned a student center into an emergency shelter for students displaced from off-campus housing, and at least 100 people were treated at a hospital emergency room.

The university canceled classes for today and suspended normal operations on campus. TV news video showed flattened homes in the city.
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Nuke

US: Storms knock out TVA nuclear units and power lines

Eileen O'Grady
Reuters
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:38 UTC
tornado
© AP
Houston - Severe storms and tornadoes moving through the U.S. Southeast dealt a severe blow to the Tennessee Valley Authority on Wednesday, causing three nuclear reactors in Alabama to shut and knocking out 11 high-voltage power lines, the utility and regulators said.

Governors in Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee each declared a state of emergency as more than 20 deaths were blamed on a recurring round of severe storms this week moving eastward across the southern United States.

All three units at TVA's 3,274-megawatt Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama tripped about 5:30 EDT (2230 GMT) after losing outside power to the plant, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Tornadoes Rock Alabama and Georgia, One of the Largest Tornado Outbreaks In History


The Intel Hub
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:04 UTC
Image

A FOX 5 viewer posted this photo of a tornado over Tuscaloosa on Wednesday, April 27, 2011 on our Facebook page
Devastating tornadoes have rocked the south

Update: 7:52pm pst: Associated Press report moves death toll to at least 64.

Photos from Fox Atlanta document the devastation. Search and Rescue taking place in Ringgold after tornado strikes.

Update: 7:41pm pst: 130 tornadoes and counting!

Update: 7:31pm pacific: A new Associated Press report has confirmed that at least 54 people are dead. My Fox Atlanta is also reporting that a government building is gone.
Tuscaloosa, Ala. - The mayor of an Alabama city hit hard by a tornado says at least 15 people have died there, bringing the death toll from severe weather to 54 around the South.

In all, 40 people died in Wednesday's storms in Alabama.
Update: Cullman County Alabama has been devastated. This now being labeled one of the largest tornado outbreaks in American history. At 31 people have died.

The Weather Channel is reporting that mass fatality trailers are being brought to Alabama. Massive devastation with debris falling up to a 100 miles away.

Mass Causalities units have been requested in Catoosa County Georgia where a State of Emergency has been declared. A report on the Weather Channel indicates that a 3 story building has been destroyed in Georgia.
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Cloud Lightning

US: Massive Mile Wide Tornado Tuscaloosa, Alabama 4-27-11

Crimson Tide Productions
Vimeo
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:39 UTC
tuscaloosa tornado
© Don Kausler Jr./Tuscaloosa Bureau
The enormous tornado that hit Tuscaloosa Wednesday afternoon.
A massive tornado judged to be almost a mile wide struck Tuscaloosa late Wednesday afternoon. ABC 33/40 meteorologist James Spann says the storm has caused "major, major damage" in some areas of the city and Mayor Walt Maddox told The Weather Channel that parts of the city were "obliterated."

A Tuscaloosa resident going by Clay Hasenfuss on Twitter posted this dramatic video of the tornado dwarfing Bryant-Denny Stadium.

"I'm in my car at corner on McFarland. Milo's Hamburgers isn't there anymore," said Tuscaloosa resident Phil Owen. "Hobby Lobby only thing still standing at Woods Square Shopping Center. Big Lots, Full Moon Barbecue. Piles of garbage where those places were. Shell gas station across the street, all that's standing is the frame of the store."
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Fish

US: Viewer shocked at dead sea life along gulf coast

Stephanie Springer
WALB
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:41 UTC
Image

Its been a little more than a year since the gulf oil spill..and but signs are still showing. Karen Johnson paid a visit to some beaches in Mississippi, and she was shocked at what she saw.

She says she saw all types of dead sea life, everything from dolphins..fish..turtles..near the shoreline.

She says some of the creatures were rotting and had been there for days.

She wants to know what's in the water..and hope someone tests the water soon so people are aware of what they are swimming in
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Cloud Lightning

US: Mile Wide Wedge Tornado Going Through Downtown Birmingham Alabama

TeaParty2012
YouTube
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:55 UTC
Spotters reporting EF4-EF5 type damage, so you may be looking at entire neighborhoods completely destroyed and some lives lost. If people took their precautions, they should survive but will have injuries. A tornado of this size and strength will destroy everything in its path.

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Cloud Lightning

US: More severe storms to hit North Georgia Wednesday night

Mike Morris
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:35 UTC
storm damage
© John Spink, jspink@ajc.com
Power crews were out dealing with numerous outages caused by downed trees and power lines like this one at Marietta Road and Spring Avenue in Atlanta that hampered truck traffic trying to make deliveries to nearby businesses.
A new round of severe weather is expected to hit north Georgia Wednesday night after storms left a trail of widespread damage in northwest Georgia and killed five people in Alabama.

The National Weather Service says the next storm system should begin to approach the northwest Georgia border around 6 p.m.

Extensive wind damage was reported in Floyd, Gordon, Haralson and Dade counties, including damage on the campuses of Berry College and Shorter University near Rome.
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Bizarro Earth

King Crabs Invade Antarctica


ScienceDaily
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 10:08 UTC
king crab
© University of Alabama at Birmingham
It's like a scene out of a sci-fi movie -- thousands, possibly millions, of king crabs are marching through icy, deep-sea waters and up the Antarctic slope.
It's like a scene out of a sci-fi movie -- thousands, possibly millions, of king crabs are marching through icy, deep-sea waters and up the Antarctic slope.

"They are coming from the deep, somewhere between 6,000 to 9,000 feet down," said James McClintock, Ph.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham Endowed Professor of Polar and Marine Biology.

Shell-crushing crabs haven't been in Antarctica, Earth's southernmost continent, for hundreds or thousands, if not millions, of years, McClintock said. "They have trouble regulating magnesium ions in their body fluids and get kind of drunk at low temperatures."

But something has changed, and these crustaceans are poised to move by the droves up the slope and onto the shelf that surrounds Antarctica. McClintock and other marine researchers interested in the continent are sounding alarms because the vulnerable ecosystem could be wiped out, he said.
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Bizarro Earth

Chile: Dark ash plume at Planchón-Peteroa

Erik Klemetti
Big Think
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:54 UTC
Planchón-Peteroa volcano

A webcam capture from Planchón-Peteroa in Chile, as seen at 4:29 PM (local time) on April 26, 2011.
Eruptions reader Gitta noted a fairly impressive ash plume at Chile's Planchón-Peteroa - at least seen on the webcam. The plume isn't especially tall (see below), at least not from the vantage point of the webcam, but it is rather dark and grey in complexion, suggesting a lot of fractured rock or new magma in the plume itself.

Planchón-Peteroa has been producing intermittent plumes for the past year or so, some as high as 4.6 km / 15,000 feet, but nothing in the way of a large eruption, which the volcano is definitely capable (see the VEI 4 eruption of 1762).

The activity has been fairly low as of late, with no SERNAGEOMIN update (spanish) on the volcano since last October. This current plume is likely just more of the same from Planchón-Peteroa, but at least today, the viewing is very nice to see the activity at the remote Chilean volcano.
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Bizarro Earth

Ecuador: Residents evacuate as volcano spews ashes


CNN
Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:02 UTC
Tungurahua volcano
© AFP/Getty Images
An explosion of Tungurahua volcano can be seen from Guadalupe observatory in Tungurahua province, Ecuador, Tuesday
Authorities in Ecuador closed schools and evacuated residents in areas near a volcano Tuesday after ashes spewing from its crater fell on homes and farms, state media reported.

Ashes from Tungurahua -- which means "throat of fire" in the native Quechua language -- rose more than 7 kilometers (4 miles) into the air Tuesday, the government news agency said.

Authorities issued an alert as monitors detected six eruptions, ranging from moderate to large, and a significant ash cloud Tuesday, state media said.
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