Boys State Wire Staters Union SIMULATION ONLY – Heavy rains resulted in localized flash flooding, and tornadoes caused an array of destruction across the state. The counties of Pershing, King, and Eisenhower experienced damage from powerful winds and flooding, however, no tornadoes were reported in the area. Leaving much of the infrastructure intact. This was not the case in other areas of the state. An EF-5 tornado ripped through Patton, Marshall, and Kennedy. EF stands for Enhanced Fujita scale. The scale goes from zero to five with five being the strongest. Wind speeds of 225 mph were recorded at the height of the storm. It is estimated the tornado was more than a mile wide at its base and was moving across the state at sixty mph. The destruction was catastrophic. Homes collapsed, bridges fell, and cars were found stacked in piles. One resident, Troy Vogts, witnessed the events first hand. He claims “a whole herd of cattle got tossed 500 feet through the air before crashing into a large grain elevator.” There were pieces of straw buried four to five inches into hardwood trees. Even the steel reinforced concrete structures were reduced to rubble by the awesome power of this storm. Boys State Meteorologist Shively Jacobson told Staters Union “a storm of this magnitude is only possible when the climate pattern known as the Thaddeus Tuckusus Mid-Atlantic cyclone combines with an unnaturally warm winter. Fortunately no one was seriously injured in the storm, but the counties have largely been leveled.]]>
x
