insanity

If you haven't heard of the wave of tornadoes that have devastated a large portion of the country, you must live under a rock, I'll cut you some slack if you're not from the U.S. though.  Living in Kansas I've been through several very severe storms.  Including a too close for comfort encounter that scared the crap out of me and has made me freak out slightly at the sound of a tornado or severe storm being any where near that location.  Unfortunately for the people of the more eastern states, they've had to experience tornadoes at their worst possible moments.

On April 27th, there was over 160 reported tornadoes across the United States. To a person who has lived in Kansas all of their life, even in just 17 years, I can remember the countless nights during the summer, several nights in a row, watching the local television station cover several tornadoes that had popped up seemingly out of no where.  One particular tornado that I remember clearly was the Greensburg tornado that wiped the town off the map.  Even today, a few years after it happened, driving through the town you can see damages from the treelines.  It's a hard concept to grasp, that such damage could be done all over the nation within a 24 hour range, damaging buildings, vehicles and taking several people's lives.

Another concept, one that is far more complex to me, is how when a disaster of any sort happens, there is a good portion of people who will jump in and do nearly anything including risking their own lives to help people who have been affected.  But it isn't until these disasters occur that we see such a large helping hand of normal citizens.  We're all in this together.

Photos and articles from the April tornadoes ---> Click
Map of reported tornadoes in April ---> Click
Facts and radars from the Greensburg tornado ---> Click
Article on the anniversary of the Greensburg tornado ---> Click