Post by Logan on Mar 31, 2016 0:11:40 GMT -6
WASHINGTON - Despite the advent 20 years ago of sophisticated radar systems designed to safeguard Americans from tornadoes and other violent weather, the Stevens family had little warning before a twister sucked out the walls of their northeastern Charlotte home on March 3, 2012.
That’s because Charlotte has gone without one of the National Weather Service’s advanced Doppler storm warning systems all those years, even with its booming population. With 2.5 million people, it’s the largest metro area in the nation left essentially defenseless against twisters.
The 2012 tornado, packing 135 mph winds, flung 7-year-old Jamal Stevens from his bed to an embankment along Interstate 485, a football field away. It deposited his 5-year-old sister, Ayanna, in a neighbor’s yard.
Amazingly, neither child was seriously hurt, and there were no fatalities from a storm that destroyed six homes and left 35 others uninhabitable.
Read more here: www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article69092917.html
That’s because Charlotte has gone without one of the National Weather Service’s advanced Doppler storm warning systems all those years, even with its booming population. With 2.5 million people, it’s the largest metro area in the nation left essentially defenseless against twisters.
The 2012 tornado, packing 135 mph winds, flung 7-year-old Jamal Stevens from his bed to an embankment along Interstate 485, a football field away. It deposited his 5-year-old sister, Ayanna, in a neighbor’s yard.
Amazingly, neither child was seriously hurt, and there were no fatalities from a storm that destroyed six homes and left 35 others uninhabitable.
Read more here: www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article69092917.html