That Mena Tornado in Arkansas

[malaise]

Three deaths so far and several injuried. GEM$NBC said the tornado took out the Court House, the jail and the Masonic Lodge? What will Pat Robertson say?
http://www.weather.com/newscenter/topstories/todayinweather.html?from=hp_news1#mena
<snip>
3 dead, at least 30 injured in Mena tornado; major business destroyed: The western Arkansas city of Mena has sustained major damage from a tornado that moved through last night, killing three people and injuring at least 30.

Mayor George McKee confirmed the death and injury counts, saying at least 30 people were taken to hospitals.

Prosecutor Tim Williamson says two plants in Mena's industrial park were destroyed -- a plastics manufacturer and an ice plant. The storm also ripped the roof off the local community college.

Williamson said dispatchers at the county courthouse had been trapped inside immediately after the storm. He said the Polk County Jail was "uninhabitable" and efforts were being made to transfer inmates to nearby counties.

Utility crews are in the city examining the damage and there had been "major gas leaks" overnight, Williamson said.
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[stray cat]

1. Best wishes for the people in Mena - those after dark tornados are really dangerous

[malaise]

3. All natural disasters are more scary at night

And yes best wishes to those poor people.

[muffin1]

2. Those poor people...

I can't imagine their horror. Tornados scare the hell out of me, and it seems as if they're getting more and more frequent.

[sinkingfeeling]

4. The storms hit Arkansas just about sundown last night. Here, where there was only an inch of

marble-sized hail, the sky was a bright red toward the setting sun. All the local TV stations were running the maps/radar of spinning winds/tornadoes through the 7 to 8PM hour.

[Seeking Serenity]

5. I don't want to come off as some sort of harpie, but 3 people are dead

and dozens more injured in my home state. I can't bear the thought of the families' and the community's grief.

Please do not use their pain and suffering to make trite, banal political jabs.

We do not like it when they use tragedy to make political point. Neither should we do so.

Thank you.

[Seeking Serenity]

6. Double post. Sorry. (n/t)