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Topic: Middle East Peace Talks and Major Tornadoes
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Trafield
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Twister Caps Nation's Worst Tornado Week
May 10, 2003 04:55 AM EDT
http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=0&aid=510051523_5301_lead_story
OKLAHOMA CITY - Capping what may be the nation's most tornado-stricken week ever recorded, residents of Oklahoma City got a double dip of both devastation and enormous good luck.
For the second time in as many nights, a massive tornado hopscotched across the city's outskirts, laying waste to homes and spraying debris through Oklahoma's highest population concentration.
Yet somehow, no one was killed in either storm.
Five injuries were reported - one person was critical - after Friday night's twister tore up a southwest-to-northeast swath.
It did not appear injuries would climb above a dozen, "which is unbelievable when you look at the pictures and that it went right across the metro," said Paul O'Leary, a spokesman for the Emergency Medical Services Authority.
The critical patient had suffered a head injury; others were in fair condition, O'Leary said.
The day before, a similarly strong tornado moved through Oklahoma City's southern suburbs, injuring 134 and damaging or destroying hundreds of homes and businesses. Of those, 21 remained hospitalized Friday, O'Leary said; at least three were in critical condition.
Friday's tornado dropped from a storm that began in southwest Oklahoma and slowly grew to tornadic level near the town of Cogar, about 60 miles west of Oklahoma City.
Police Sgt. Mike Klika said the twister first touched down in Oklahoma City south of Interstate 40, moved north into the suburbs of Bethany and Warr Acres and then moved back into Oklahoma City along I-35. It then turned northeast back along I-44 and continued to track toward Tulsa.
"I think our citizens had early warning and I think they learned their lesson, they took heed and took cover," Bethany Police Chief Neal Troutman said.
When it was over, neighbors came out to help Gene Wilson, whose mower service was heavily damaged.
"We got here just after it rolled over us," Wilson said. "It's just devastating. My building and everything I've worked for 30 years is down on the ground."
His wife, Carol Wilson, looked through papers scattered in the rubble. "Oh my God, I couldn't believe it. It's horrible. It's our whole life," she said.
In Missouri, tornadoes touched down in at least two western counties Friday night, causing damage and some minor injuries, as a weeklong rash of severe weather in the Kansas City area continued.
"It came down right on top of me," said Freeman Police Officer John Smith. "You could just here this 'brrrr' and I thought that was it. I thought it was going to pick me up and throw me."
Tornadoes and other severe weather have killed 42 people in Missouri, Tennessee, Kansas and Illinois in the past week, which will likely qualify as the nation's most tornado-active in modern recorded history, said Rich Thompson, lead forecaster at the storm prediction center of the National Weather Service, in Norman, Okla.
"We just don't have a down day; that's what's been very unusual. It just doesn't seem to stop. I just issued another tornado watch not five minutes ago," Thompson said around 4:30 a.m. Saturday.
In the past seven days, 298 tornadoes have been reported to the weather service nationwide, Thompson said, a number that is still somewhat in flux, and is most likely to rise. The most recent comparable rash was 159, set in 1999.
He stressed that because of new tracking technologies and a burgeoning network of weather spotters, the average number of recorded tornadoes is ever on the rise. Adjusting for that, Thompson said, the most twisters within a seven-day period had occurred in the mid 1970s.
"I think we've pretty clearly exceeded that now," he said.
And it doesn't appear to be over.
"We're got one more system to deal with and expect one more big severe weather day (Saturday)," he said. The storms were expected to move through the Mississippi and Ohio valleys and Great Lakes.
But there's an end in sight, he said.
"By late Sunday, a big cold front will scour out most of the country. We'll see some pleasant temps and dryer conditions ... of course, it's May, so that could change real fast."
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Trafield
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And you can add to this the "coincedences" of the space shuttle breaking up over a town called 'Palestine' and the rescued
Jessica Lynn(sp?)also being from a town called 'Palestine.'
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MyLampHasOil
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Member # 1474
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Very interesting indeed!
I think this is right on the mark.
This is so incredibly exciting to know the Lord can come soon.
Posts: 24 | Registered: May 2003
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Kindgo
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Member # 2
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posted
Bill Koenig: Middle East Peace Talks and Major Tornadoes
Middle East Peace Talks
and Major Tornadoes
- Bill Koenig
May 5, 2003
http://www.watch.org/showart.php3?i...owsubj=1&mcat=1
Again, we have had major tornadoes that coincide with high-level U.S. official’s peace meetings on Israel. This pattern has repeated itself or has also happened when President Clinton or President Bush were directly involved in the peace talks.
Super cells with enormous size and power spawned the following major record-breaking tornadoes. When Israel’s land and property is at risk, the same is true for the land and property of the United States.
May 3, 1999 – Major Tornado Swarm and 316 MPH Record Wind Speed:
MSNBC stated the November 10-11, 2002 storms sparked the largest tornado swarm since May 3, 1999. Here is what happened on May 3, 1999. The Powerful Super Tornado occurred on the day that Yasser Arafat was scheduled to declare a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital. This was the most powerful tornado storm system ever to hit the United States. It swept across Oklahoma and Kansas and the winds were clocked at 316 mph -- the fastest wind speed ever recorded.
Arafat’s declaration was postponed from May 3 until December 1999, at the request of President Clinton. The Clinton letter to Arafat encouraged him in his "aspirations for his own land." Clinton also wrote that the Palestinians have a right to "determine their own future on their own land" and that they deserve to "live free, today, tomorrow and forever."
April 30, 2002 - F-5 Tornado:
President George W. Bush and the State Department Negotiate Arafat’s Release from Ramallah Compound – F5 Tornado in Maryland
On Sunday, April 28, the United States brokered a deal with Israel, arranging for Arafat to be released from his Ramallah compound. Early Sunday, a series of tornadoes swept through southeastern Missouri, Illinois and western Kentucky, killing three people and severely damaging homes and commercial buildings. The tornado that hit Maryland were part of a storm system with heavy rain, high winds and damaging hail that rumbled east from the Ohio Valley. The Maryland storm was an F5 tornado on the Fujita Tornado Damage Scale, and was called "a monster of a tornado." With winds in the 261-318 mph range, it is said to be the strongest tornado ever to hit Maryland.
November 10-11, 2002 - 88 Tornadoes:
The weekend of November 10-11, 2002 we heard about and observed enormous storms and tornadoes that hit thirteen US states. MSNBC reported there were at least 35 people in five states killed and 200 others injured. In Tennessee alone, 100 homes were destroyed and 1,000 damaged. AP reported there were eighty-eight tornadoes with that count still climbing. There were also major thunderstorms reported from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes.
On Sunday, November 10, 2002, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield was on his way to Israel to apply pressure on Israel to complete their work and comments on the Quartet’s “road map” to peace. He had numerous meetings on Monday and Tuesday with Israeli officials. He also met Sunday with Palestinians officials.
May 3-5, 2003 – 83 Tornadoes
On Saturday, May 3, U.S. Secretary of State Colin told Syrian President Bashar Assad that the U.S. commitment to Middle East peace "would include Syria and Lebanon, and would include the Golan Heights," particularly sensitive issue for Syria.
On Sunday, May 4, it was reported that Secretary Powell is expected to visit Israel on Saturday for talks about implementing the Road Map peace plan, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official said.
Also on Sunday a deadly swarm of tornadoes ripped through eastern Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee, killing at least 38 people and doing extensive damage to homes and buildings. It was "the most devastating series of tornadoes we've ever had in the state of Missouri," Gov. Bob Holden said after walking the rubble-strewn streets of Pierce City, where eight of the missing were from.
On Monday, May 5, less than 24-hours from the 83 tornadoes and the Powell news, U.S. Middle East envoy William Burns said in a meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinians must carry out a decisive fight against terrorism and Israelis must halt settlement activity.
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Corresponding Articles
Powell due in Israel on Saturday
May 4, 2003 – Jerusalem Post
Click here for the full article.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to visit Israel on Saturday for talks about implementing the Road Map peace plan, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official said.
The official said that Powell was expected to arrive in the country on Saturday night, May 10.
Shalom is postponing a planned trip to Russia in order to meet with Powell, the official said. The Russia trip was to have taken place next Sunday.
The official spoke as Powell's envoy, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns met with Shalom at his office in Jerusalem.
Burns was expected to brief Shalom about Powell's trip last week to Syria, and Damascus' agreement to shut the offices of Palestinian terrorist groups in its midst.
Meanwhile the Israeli cabinet was debating the Road Map, a plan that calls for achieving Palestinian statehood and a cessation of terrorism, which the US formally presented to Israeli and Palestinian leaders last week.
83 Tornadoes, At least 38 feared dead
Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee hardest hit
Click here for the full article.
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (CNN) --Residents and authorities were assessing damage Monday from a deadly swarm of tornadoes that ripped through eastern Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas and Tennessee, killing at least 38 people, emergency management officials said.
Eighty-three twisters were sighted in central and southeastern states Sunday evening, said Dick Hainje, a regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"This is a huge, huge outbreak," Hainje said Monday. "Once in a while, you'll get like two or maybe three super cells with very big tornadoes, but numbers like this are extremely rare." Officials said seven people died in Kansas, about 20 in Missouri and at least 11 in Tennessee. Other people thought to be in the storm's path were reported missing. No deaths were reported in Arkansas.
In Lawrence County, Missouri, an estimated 12 fatalities were reported, along with extensive damage, according to Sheriff Doug Seneker. The tornado cut across the southeastern corner of the county Sunday at 6:25 p.m. CDT (7:25 p.m. EDT) and stayed on the ground half an hour, passing through the heart of Pierce City.
From Kansas and Missouri, the line of storms moved east through Arkansas and into Tennessee, leaving a swath of destruction, deaths and injuries. "This is all one big storm system," said Rich Thompson, a lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma.
Thompson said the storms were caused by dry air from the Rocky Mountains hitting moist air from the Gulf of Mexico.
"There have been multiple super cell thunderstorms coming off of that, and may have been producing tornadoes," Thompson said. The storm was likely to churn up more dangerous weather on Monday, experts said.
Tornado watches were posted Monday morning from Knoxville, Tennessee, south into Georgia and central Alabama.
Weather Service officials will not know the category of the storms until they do a site survey, said Ryan Jewell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "But just unofficially, views of the storm damage appear to be in the range of F3 or higher," he said, referring to the scientific Fujita scale that measures tornado strength.
F3 tornadoes have winds of between 158 and 206 miles per hour and are capable of severe damage, with roofs and some walls torn off well-constructed houses, and most trees uprooted. F5 is the highest on the scale.
Burns: Palestinians must fight terror, Israel halt settlements
May 5, 2003 – Haaretz
Click here for the full article.
Palestinians must carry out a decisive fight against terrorism and Israelis must halt settlement activity, U.S. Middle East envoy William Burns said Monday in a meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Channel One television reported.
"On the Palestinian side this means there's absolutely no substitute, no substitute, for a decisive fight against terror and violence," Burns told reporters following the Ramallah meeting.
"On the Israeli side it also means taking practical steps to ease the suffering of Palestinians living under occupation, to stop the settlement activity and to renew a sense of dignity and hope," he added.
Burns' talks with Abu Mazen indicate the U.S. is maintaining a diplomatic freeze on formal contacts with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Koenig's International News · http://watch.org/ · comments@watch.org
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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