Deadly Tornado In Central Florida And The New NIE (Friday's Show)

Hi everybody! I'm just going to put both hours into one post because blogging about the weather isn't all that easy. Anderson is live tonight in Lady Lake, Florida because there's been some unbelievably devastating storms. He walks around his live shot showing us ruins and it's really shocking how much this looks like the aftermath of Katrina. The storm/tornado hit at 3:00 AM while most people were sleeping and there were no sirens, which means they literally woke up to the storm. Or maybe they didn't wake up at all because the death toll now stands at 19. I first heard about the situation this afternoon when I flipped on CNN and had a momentary freakout because the sister is in Florida right now going to school. But she's not near this. We first get an Anderson piece that lays out the basics and shows footage of the devastation, along with people's immediate reactions.

This coverage is making me think of all my Eliza-thinks-she's-going-to-die-in-a-tornado stories. Everyone from here either has their own tornado/severe storm story or knows someone who does. As a child, my mom watched a tornado from her basement window. As a young adult, my father was walking through the store he worked at and was suddenly knocked down from something unknown. When he got back up the roof was gone. I have several close-call, scary stories, but probably my worst one happened five or six years ago. I was working in a retail store and near closing time it started to storm. The storm then got really severe and brought with it hail like I had never seen before. It was soft ball size and that is not an exaggeration. The sirens might have been going off at that time, but we never would have known because the noise was deafening. We feared the hail would bust out the front window, so we all started moving back and that's when we heard it-the unmistakeable sound of a train. Nobody really even had to say anything. I guess it's instinctual that that sound means danger, so we all ran into the stockroom.

From there there wasn't much to do except wait. Nobody really said anything. One girl was crying. We had no idea what was going on outside, but something was making really loud noises on the roof. I thought for sure they were cars. I was scared, but not freaking out. For some reason during situations like that I can sometimes become oddly practical. I remember thinking, "I don't think I'm going to die here, but there's a really good chance that roof is going to come off. I should probably be prepared for that." But as it turns out, the noises soon stopped and the roof stayed on. I immediately borrowed someone's cell phone (mine was upstairs) and tried to call my family to make sure they were okay because I only lived five minutes away, but the call wouldn't go through. This of course completely freaked me out. All I wanted to do was go home. I then quickly got my stuff and tried calling again with my own phone and this time the sister answered. I immediately asked if they were okay and she answered with something like, "Um, yeah, what are you talking about?" What?! Apparently though only about five minutes away they hadn't experienced anything like what I just did. I then screamed at her about being hit by a tornado and ran outside to, thank God, see my car was still there.

The drive home was a blur because at that point I was freaked out. How freaked out? Well, upon arriving home I discovered something-I no longer had a back windshield. It had shattered into a thousand little pieces that were all over; I had even been sitting on some of them on the drive home, but was too focused on getting there to notice. Daylight later showed me that the entire body of my car had massive damage-mostly from hail-and it was later totaled out by my insurance company. In fact everyone who had a car on the lot that night lost at least one window and had other damage. But really we were all lucky. The weather people later determined that it wasn't an actual tornado, but a downburst, which is just as scary. So that's my big storm story. I have others, but I like to tell this one because it still boggles my mind that I drove all the way home sitting on glass with rain and wind pouring in my back window (well hole really) and yet noticed none of these things. That's what adrenaline does to you apparently.

Okay, so back in the show Anderson talks with some storm survivors that road it out in the bathtub. They say this was worse than a hurricane. Then we've got Gary Tuchman flying overhead in a helicopter to show us the damage. It's so widespread that even Gary compares it to Katrina. We then get Gary live and he says that he's already thinking about the insurance hell that these people are going to go through. Ain't that the truth? I guess CNN has become well versed in the trials and tribulations of dealing with insurance companies. Anderson than points viewers to the blog for numbers on how to help. I like how CNN does that. Well at least 360 anyway-I'm not sure if the other shows do it. I remember when I sent Jon Klein my angry why-did-you-get-rid-of-Aaron-Brown email I also urged him to take on a more advocacy role. And they've done that with these types of stories. Although I really wish they'd do it when it comes to legislation. I'm not saying picking sides. I'm saying tell us what votes are coming up, what they mean, who sits on the committees, who should be contacted (either for or against), and how to do that.

Moving on to Reynolds Wolf talking about how this is related to El Nino. Then we have a Rusty Dornin piece on a man who lost everything in the storm; well everything except his life. His neighbor wasn't that lucky. She was basically thrown over his mobile home and was later found dead in a field. Last year the man's insurance was canceled without reason, so he really has nothing. You know, maybe 360 could do a story on that because WTF? Insurance companies are in the risk game. They can't just go around canceling policies because they're afraid they might have to pay up one day. Anyway, all the man wants is the Michigan jacket his daughter gave him and he's actually able to find it, so yay.

After this Rick Sanchez suddenly pops up due to apparent techinical difficulties on Anderson's end. And when I say suddenly, I mean suddenly. That was jarring. What are you trying to do to me CNN? Rick always requires some sort of warning. We then cut to commercial and when we come back we've got Rob Marciano standing in front of a destroyed house. He's holding a hand mic and I'm imagining someone throwing it at him going, "Anderson's got problems, you go!" Rob then intros his own piece where he went out with a a rescue squad and found three bodies. Afterwards Rick asks him, "how is it possible that only 14 people died here?" To which I immediately reply, "It's 19 you idiot." Rob corrects him a little more politely. I know I'm harsh on him, but seriously, I just turned this coverage on and I know that. What's his problem?

Rick then intros us into a taped interview that Anderson did with Governor Charlie Crist. Anderson notes that FEMA is coming tomorrow and he wonders if he thinks they'll get what they need. Crist is optimistic. Really? And what exactly have you seen in the past that has lead you to this belief? The two men then talk about sirens and apparently they don't have them because the area is too wide for them to be practical. I guess I'm torn on the siren issue. I'm glad that we have them, but honestly I'm not sure that they've helped any. First of all, you can't really hear them unless your windows are open. And half the time they go off and there's not really much happening. In every severe storm we've had I have never taken cover because I heard sirens. In fact in every severe storm we've had I've never heard the sirens. However, when I do hear them I still go downstairs every time because I know the one time I don't is when Mother Nature is going to throw a car through my window. Better safe than sorry I guess.

On a related note, we have a Joe Johns piece about how there were no sirens. There were warnings on tv, but hardly anybody saw those because they were sleeping. People who had weather radios were at a great advantage. I need to look into those. Anderson then talks with Lake County Deputy Manager Greg Welstead and we learn that everyone is working together and the community is currently under curfew. As we go out to commercial the camera lingers on an overturned vehicle where someone has written, "I've fallen and I can't get up." Well, at least they still have their sense of humor.

Transitioning now to an Ed Henry piece on the new NIE on Iraq. Wow! You mean other news actually happened today too? So the NIE basically says the whole situation is FUBAR, which basically means we are SOL, yet the White House is still acting like everything is A-OK. Well alright, they're not saying it's okay, but they still won't call it a civil war even though the NIE suggests the situation is actually worse than a civil war. Worse! The report also acknowledges that Iran is intensifying things , but contrary to what the White House says, they are not a major factor. Oh, so they lied about that? Shocking. However, one thing that the NIE backs Bush up on is that withdrawing would be a disaster. So I guess we stay forever then.

The Shot tonight is an I-Report of a massive tree that was uprooted by the storms. This picture actually makes me go, "Oh!" out loud because back in July when we had massive storms here I watched one of my really big trees start to get pulled out of the ground. I could actually see the ground lifting up around the tree and let me tell you, there was some praying done in that span of about 10 minutes. And now I know exactly what it would have looked like if the winds were just a tad bit stronger. Plus the fact that it would have ended up on my house, so thank you God for not destroying my house and possibly killing me. We end with an Anderson piece about a church that got destroyed. But they're still having services because as one person says, the church isn't a building, it's the people. Amen sister. Okay, that's all I'm going to blog because it's a lot of repeat stuff and packages/interviews that really don't hold up after the immediacy is over. In terms of covering this story CNN/360 rocked it. However, CNN is not the Weather Channel and regarding everything else? Not so much. I'm not quite sure why this took up almost the whole two hours. C+

Ever been in a severe storm/tornado? Do you have sirens in your area? Was the coverage overkill? Screencaps by stormi0611 and jld1119.

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