CNN headline up now says: "Thousands of Homes Damaged/Destroyed in Lake Co.,Fla

[KoKo]

With this mornings tornados. This ain't just mobile home parks. Pictures show devastation in upscale Golf Community "The Villages."

Thousands of homes is pretty grim.

[Little Wing]

1. "This ain't just mobile home parks. "

Charming

[redqueen]

9. I was hoping that meant they were strong tornadoes... n/t

[Homer Wells]

22. God hates Mobile Homes n/t

[Bob Loblaw]

2. Call out the National Guard!

Oh yeah, they're all overseas.

[hatrack]

3. This was somewhere between an F2 and an F3, reading between the lines

Storms blew through central Florida early Friday, killing at least 14 people, flattening dozens of homes and a church and lifting a tractor trailer into the air, authorities said. At least one tornado touched down.

Lake County spokesman Christopher Patton confirmed the 14 deaths, 11 in Paisley and three in Lady Lake, both towns in Lake County about 50 miles northwest of Orlando. No further details were available.

Dozens of mobile homes near Lady Lake were destroyed by the storms that hit in the middle of the night. Chairs, beds and clothes were strewn about yards, with debris hanging from trees. Some homes were tossed from their foundations, while others had their roofs ripped off. "The most dangerous tornado scenario is a threat for killer tornadoes at night, and that was the case," said Dave Sharp, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Melbourne.

The Lady Lake Church of God was demolished, its pews, altar and Bibles left in a jumbled mess. The 31-year-old, steel-reinforced structure was built to withstand 150-mph winds, the Rev. Larry Lynn said.

EDIT

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/news/2007/feb/02/020205669.html

So, if it demolished a building designed to 150mph . . . (of course, that's assuming the contractor built to spec).

[KoKo]

21. It was so Powerful that it knocked down Brick House with Bolted Studds...

That's some powerful Tornado....

Thanks for your post with detail...and to think that this came at 3:00 a.m. when folks were asleep and there was no available warning at all.......unless one had insomnia and was wathing the "Weather Channel" and had paid for Cable Access to do so...what could these folks have done? :shrug:

[katsy]

4. What did that RW email say about the people stuck in snowstorms in the NW?

Did you see it? The gist of it was to belittle Katrina victims for not "dealing with" their problems like the guys up north "deal" with theirs without calling in the government.

Wonder if we'll get one of those emails about these Florida retirees not being able to pull their bad selves up by their bootstraps.

Just sayin'

[bahrbearian]

8. Here's the one I got

Up here in the Northwest, we just recovered from a "Weather Event,"
With rain and winds up to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists, closed roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to over a million people.

FYI:

George Bush did not come.

FEMA did nothing.

No one howled for the government.

No one blamed the government.

No one even uttered an expletive on TV.

Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit.

Our Mayor's did not blame Bush or anyone else.

Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else either.
Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.

No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.

No one looted.
Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something.
Nobody expected the government to do anything either.

No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris Mathews and No
Geraldo Rivera.

No Sean Penn, No Barbara Streisand, No Hollywood types to be found.

And Nope, we just weathered it out, and helped each other.

Local restaurants made food, and the police...when not doing traffic control at intersections due to traffic lights being out...and fire departments delivered it to people in need. The Red Cross was more than accommodating, as were numerous shelters.

Families took in the stranded people - total strangers.

We fired up wood stoves, broke out kerosene heaters and Coleman
lanterns.

We put on an extra layer of clothes because that is the logical thing to do.

We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare pr ogram that trades votes for sitt'in at home' checks.

We pretty much were determined to clean the mess up ourselves with a "Have Chainsaw,Will Help Clean Up," attitude.

Why is it that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% of the world's social problems evaporate."

It does seem that way.

I hope this gets passed on.

Maybe ... SOME people will get the message. The world does Not owe you a living.

[jpak]

10. How many people died? Hundreds?? Were bodies floating in the streets???

How many thousands were stranded in the King Dome for days without food or water or sanitation or electricity???

How much of Seattle was underwater - for weeks???

How much of Seattle was rendered uninhabitable and abandoned???

So no - I don't get this message at all...

[KoKo]

23. It's not "Tit for Tat" as to who has "Worst Damage" in Global Climate Change!

The biggest SIGN was NO's. But that folks are being hit in "pockets" all across AMERICA should cause US ALL to be CONCERNED.

We are ALL IN THIS TOGETHER...whether it's Major Destruction and Devastation like Katrina or the other Hurricanes and Tornadoe's increasing in INTENSITY ALL ACROSS AMERICA!

IT HURTS ALL OF US. KATRINA was the WAKE UP...but it doesn't mean that OTHERS ARE NOT SUFFERING, TOO?
:shrug:

[katsy]

11. If I'm not mistaken, and I may be...

these people live in a fairly "red" part of Florida.

Maybe they won't rely on FEMA housing and all that. They'll just get out those chainsaws and rebuild all by themselves, right?

[SoCalDem]

17. I would suspect that some people in retirement areas may have more than one home,

so if they were lucky to survive, they may end up in their other home.

The people who are not wealthy enough to be in that position will will in dire straits, I think.

America is an "enter at your own risk" zone these days.

[katsy]

19. It's a trgedy for sure.

My point was the nasty emails circulating about Katrina victims will not likely circulate about Florida victims.

I hope that people get a clue because we are all at risk from something, we need to care and help one another.

BTW, great point: "America is an "enter at your own risk" zone these days."

[pnwmom]

14. Here in the great northwest,

only one person drowned. (She was in her basement when it suddenly flooded.)

Except for a few homes that were hit by falling trees, few people lost property (other than the contents of refrigerators.)

Most people got their power back on in two or three days. Some of us had no electricity for more than a week, which was a pain in the neck, but not life-threatening.

The hospitals and even some hotels and stores were powered by back-up generators. After the first couple of days, the malls were open. The movie theaters were open. The community centers were open. There was always a place to go to get warm.

Yes, I did think about Katrina during those 8 days we were without power. I thought about how very very fortunate I was. That as much as I felt like griping and complaining about the discomfort and inconvenience we were going through, it was NOTHING compared to the hell of Katrina. Those 8 days made me realize, once again, how very lucky I have been.

[SharonAnn]

15. Because north of that latitude are mostly "blue" states?

[LSK]

5. translation: we refuse to cover the NIE or the Global Warming report

[tandot]

6. Will they get as much help as they got in New Orleans?

Or can we assume since a "upscale golf community" was destroyed, help is already on the way?

[hatrack]

7. Air drops of chardonnay and prime rib underway already, I'm sure.

nt

[AspenRose]

13. THAT, my friend, is the $64,000 question.

We will see.

Not saying that these folks don't need help, of course....but it will be interesting to see the response.

[Hangingon]

12. Villages advertising video

The dvd I got last summer showed George W at the Villages. He is the first president to campaign there.

[KoKo]

24. The "Promo" for "The Villages" has been overwhelming...targeted to Retirees

looking for "COMMUNITY" over South Florida hedonistic living (at least that's how they position it...family/friends/activities with lots of North Florida History/Culture.

[KoKo]

16. Kick...for the Night Crowd.....

:kick:

[malaise]

18. It's always a tragedy when people lose

their love ones and all their property in such a sudden manner. Funny when I first heard about this early today re Volusia Country I asked myself wherther that wasn't the center of the 2000 election debacle. I quickly stopped myself from thinking like mean spirited haters like Pat Robertson because a tragedy like this is just a tragedy.

I can't imagine what I'd do if I was one of those poor people tonight. I hope they find somewhere warm to sleep and have the strength to rebuild.

If we don't start taking care of our planet there will be many more tragedies some much worse than this.

[KoKo]

20. Look...it's way back and memory might be faulty ...but think Volusia County tried to get RECOUNT

in the First Round...to try to side with Gore. That's my faulty memory...but I think they were "Good Folks" in "Selection 2000." :shrug:

[malaise]

25. Thanks for jolting my memory

but as I said I threw that thought away. :D

[gorbal]

26. The number of dead is rising too

They are basically looking for bodies now. Imagine that happening to thousands of homes and imagine that half of them didn't get the tornado warning.

[malaise]

27. I suspect that

many more bodies will be found.