Thread: Tornado watch in January!!!!

Midwest tornadoes kill 1, injure several
By MARCUS KABEL, Associated Press Writer
39 minutes ago

MARSHFIELD, Mo. - A rare January outbreak of tornadoes raked the Midwest on Monday, flattening houses in several states and killing at least one person in Missouri.

In Illinois, about 500 people fled their homes after a reported tornado knocked over rail cars carrying hazardous materials.

A woman was killed in Missouri when a tornado threw her from her mobile home, and at least six people were taken to hospitals by ambulance, said Michael Taylor, fire chief in Marshfield in the southwestern part of the state.

Two other people were in critical condition, said Ed Gray, a spokesman for Missouri's emergency management agency.

Storms continued to pummel the nation's midsection into as darkness fell on a day when record temperatures were reported across much of the country. Tornadoes were also reported in Arkansas and Oklahoma and along the Illinois-Wisconsin border.

About six homes were destroyed in the small town of Poplar Grove, Ill., where authorities rescued motorists trapped by downed, live electrical lines and crews searched damaged structures to make sure no one was trapped. Three people suffered minor injuries, Boone County Sheriff's Lt. Perry Gay said.

About 15 miles away in Harvard, Ill., another reported tornado knocked six rail cars off their tracks. A tank car containing shock fluid was leaking, and another derailed car contained ethylene oxide, a flammable material widely used to sterilize medical supplies, but was not leaking, Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis said.

Authorities ordered the evacuation of about 500 residents in the nearby unincorporated town of Lawrence because of the potential for a hazardous materials situation, said Capt. David Shepherd with the McHenry County Sheriff's Office. No injuries were reported, he said.

To the northeast, a tornado ripped through Wisconsin's Kenosha County. Eleven houses in Wheatland were destroyed, five others had heavy damage and four had moderate damage, said Matthew Gronke, fire chief for the town of Randall. About 13 people were injured, none seriously, authorities said.

Deputies responding to a rollover accident saw a house collapse as the storm blew through, Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth said.

"It got flattened as they were there," he said, and windblown debris ripped the emergency light bar off their squad car.

The deputies completed their rescue of the motorist pinned beneath the car and then ran to the house.

"They pulled the wreckage from the basement door and got some people out," he said.

The tornado warning disrupted legal proceedings in Walworth County, as at least 300 people were moved to a courthouse basement as a precaution.

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce E. Schroeder, who was presiding over opening testimony in a high-profile murder trial that was moved in Walworth County, said he couldn't believe it when the deputy said the courtroom had to be evacuated because of a tornado warning.

"It's a first," he said while waiting in the basement. "I've actually had ... warnings occur during jury trials before and frankly I just ignored them. But not in January."

Three juries were kept away from the rest of the courthouse employees, deputies, reporters and others in the basement during the hour-long evacuation.

Meteorologists said the unusual weather was the result of warm, moist air moving from the South that had temperatures hovering near 70 degrees on Sunday and Monday.

"It's very unseasonable for this time of year," said meteorologist Benjamin Sipprell of the National Weather Service's St. Louis office. "The atmosphere is just right."

The high in Buffalo, N.Y., of 59 beat the old record for the date by 5 degrees. The high was 66 in Toledo, Ohio, a record that led some University of Toledo students to stroll to class in T-shirts, flip-flops and shorts. In New Jersey, the Atlantic City International Airport recorded a high of 68 degrees, breaking a 10-year-old record by 10 degrees.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080108/...QbHrWAVDxH2ocA

The news station i watch made a slideshow of pictures that ppl where taking during and after the tornadoes hit. Its on the right hand side after clicking the link http://www.wisn.com/weather/14996323/detail.html I was glued to the tv for 3 hours. I had every thing ready in case i had to head to the basment, it got really dark here but we just had the winds and hail storm.

Guess these are the storms they are talking about hitting us tonight. It was 71 here yesterday and will be 70 or better today. Last Tue we were expecting, and received, snow. Two inches. Now storms. Calling for snow this coming Sun and Mon.

Arms up, screaming.......aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh! (roller coaster)

Hope everybody is safe and doing alright!

Tornado victim billed for cable devices
12 minutes ago

WHEATLAND, Wis. - Having a tornado demolish her home was bad enough. But when Ann Beam received a $2,000 cable bill a few weeks later, she was floored. "I just couldn't believe it," Beam said. "I was like, 'What are they thinking?'"

Time Warner Cable billed a number of Wheatland residents for equipment destroyed in the Jan. 7 twister that struck the southeast corner of the state. Beam's bill covered five cable boxes and five remote controls.

She immediately called the cable company, but a man who identified himself as a manager said there was nothing the company could do.

"They said I would have to take the bill and turn it in to my insurance company," Beam said.

But her cable equipment was nine years old, and the insurance company would pay only a depreciated value that wouldn't cover her bill, she said.

Time Warner Cable spokeswoman Celeste Flynn said Beam's case was simply a misunderstanding. An unspecified number of customers were charged for unreturned equipment, but only because they canceled or transferred their service without mentioning their requests were tornado-related, she said.

"We understand this is an unusual situation," Flynn said. "All they will need to do is call and we will take the equipment off their account."

Time Warner Cable has tried to contact affected customers but privacy laws have impeded those efforts, she said.

Rare winter tornadoes that destroyed more than two dozen homes and damaged nearly 80 others in Kenosha County on Jan. 7. The damage was estimated at $18 million.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080201/...VtoxhHEekuQE4F