Sirens out in Lawrence - Tornado Watch - NE Kansas

[Mabus]

More storms expected. Sirens are not working in Lawrence. The Journal-World and cable channel 6 says do not rely on the sirens - they are not working.

[MuseRider]

1. God Mabus take care.

It was nasty I hear this morning for you all. Here at my house it was nothing but an hour and a half after the storm I went to the farm and there was still ping pong sized hailstones laying around. It took all the paint off the south side of the barn.

Watch the sky.

[Mabus]

3. It is a mess

I just had to run out to check on a friend near 9th and Illinois and there are trees everywhere. They've been uprooted and blown over or have most of their branches gone. We're taking precautions and are hanging around the house (rather than go watch the KU game at my friend's house) because the dogs are a little freaked out.

[Mabus]

2. Sirens, at least some of them, are working but do NOT rely on them

[MuseRider]

4. Have you heard from Comer and

Gilmore?

[Mabus]

5. No

Their power may be out. I know the KU campus is closed and they were talking about calling off classes tomorrow. I drove near where Gilmore lives and there was power within a couple of blocks of her. I'm not sure about Comer's neighborhood.

[MuseRider]

6. Thanks

I think I may have his cell phone number so I may call, right now I am IMing my son in KC trying to talk him into the basement. 2 tornados and he won't go. He is like his mother.

edit spelling too excited

[Mabus]

7. The sun is out

and has been for almost an hour. There was a storm around 1:30 south of here (radio said 5 miles north of Baldwin City/9 miles south of Lawrence) that looked like it was heading for Eudora.

The dogs are sleeping and have stopped freaking out, so I take that as a good sign.

[MuseRider]

8. I have a friend who lives there!!!

He is my principle in the orchestra. I hope he is OK because there is no way in hell I could play his part. My part is kicking my ass!

[Mabus]

9. Nothing on the ljworld website or Channel 6

both are owned by the same people. Channel 6 had reporters out doing live coverage of the damage around town. Right now Ch. 6 is showing the downtown cam but if something had happened they'd still be doing their special live reporting.

on edit: the downtown cam is their default "programming". From what I can see the clouds look dark.

FYI here are some Lawrence web cam links (unfortunately none of them appear to be working right now):
http://www2.ljworld.com/downloads/webcams/
http://kuathletics.collegesports.com/multimedia/kan-webcams.html

[MuseRider]

10. I just read all the comments

it looks like South Park was hit pretty hard. Damn, all those beautiful old trees. What a terrible loss.

[Mabus]

15. No classes at KU tomorrow because of the storm

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/mar/12/chancellor/?weather

Chancellor cancels KU classes for Monday

Hemenway: Some buildings damaged, time needed for cleanup

Dallas — Kansas University Chancellor Robert Hemenway announced this afternoon that classes would be canceled Monday because of damage caused by this morning's wind storm that ravaged areas of Lawrence, including KU's campus.

"The electiricity is on, but so many tiled roofs are broken and torn away, we're afraid of tiles falling and hitting people," Hemenway said.

"We'll be back in session Tuesday. We're going to keep people off campus. Campus is closed. We'll keep the rubber-neckers away so we'll be able to clean up. We'll be ready to go bright and early Tuesday."

Hemenway received a phone call from his wife this morning informing him of the tornadic winds that hit Lawrence shortly after 8 a.m. today.

more at link.

[MuseRider]

17. Wow that is such a shame.

They never cancel classes. It must have really hit the university badly. Such a beautiful campus, I hope there is nothing too bad. I almost died when Hoch burned, so much of my life had been going to concerts there.

I remember in 66 when the tornado took out Washburn. It was devastating. One of my best friends was playing a recital in McVicar Chapel, there was nothing left of it after the tornado except the little corner they were all crammed in in the basement.

I do hope there was no major damage.

[Mabus]

27. Here's a link to KU's damage from KU

http://www.news.ku.edu/2006/march/13/storm_photos.shtml

Here are a couple of them.


Murphy Hall, especially its west face and the roof over Swarthout Recital Hall was damaged. The brick and stone building at 15th Street and Naismith Drive houses music, dance and theater studios, technical shops and theaters, and the School of Fine Arts dean’s office.



Robinson Center is east of Allen Fieldhouse at the intersection of Naismith Drive and Sunnyside.
(Robinson is across the street from Murphy Hall.)



Most of the roof tiles at Danforth Chapel, Jayhawk Boulevard and 14th Street, were stripped in the high winds, and several nearby large trees were destroyed. More than 5,000 weddings have been held in the Gothic Revival chapel, opened in 1946

[MuseRider]

29. Man oh man.

That is so sad. Murphy Hall, OH NO! I have spent so many hours there.

Any news about the gazebo and trees at South Park? I have been looking on the LJW site and have not seen much except that there was damage.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. It never got that bad here Muse

I just got back from The Plaza and we had a few raindrops, that's all. It hasn't rained at all at my house. I have been out and about off and on all day and the weather is not bad at all. When the sirens went off this morning, the sky was sunny!

I think the major storm went by north of here. I know my friend who lives close to downtown said there were some bad winds by her house. But no rain.

[MuseRider]

12. He told me that he never got a drop

so rats, we need the rain but not those storms.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. It did rain a bit while we were protesting from 4 to 5

not far from where your son lives. But it wasn't bad at all.

Now channel 5 has decided to interrupt 60 Minutes for this weather crap. This pisses me off every spring. If I want to know what the weather is doing, I can turn to The Weather Channel. Why the hell can't they just scroll a message across the bottom of the screen??? :grr:

And I bet they will NEVER rerun this 60 Minutes. Damn! Time to send my annual hateful letter to channel 5. :)

[MuseRider]

14. I forgot to thank you

for telling me that it was OK in KC. THANKS!

Yes, they interrupted here to tell us about a storm in Baldwin. Funny how they never break in during advertisements, have you noticed that? Once last year the sirens went off and I stood here and watched the entire section of ads go all the way through and then they came on to tell us to take cover. Assholes. I guess it is better to die knowing where you want to go get your dinner, Wendys or McD's.

Lol, channel 13 stopped even answering me about the dumb assed woman who is one of their main anchors. She makes me quiver with disgust. (high pitched little girl voice, clipped diction complete with a squiggle in her chair) "Ohhhhh, three people were killed today when their SUV rolled off the interstate." Shakes head sadly from side to side, pause for 1/10 of a second...big grin, another squiggle and chirp..."So Greg are you going to make it warm up or are you going to keep us cold tomorrow?" WTF? I HATE HATE HATE that woman and she had been there forever now. Yikes, I had better stop this before I stroke out. !PLUNK! My god, they can certainly do better than Miss Nancy doing the news.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Doesn't that piss you off when they act like the weather person actually

controls the fucking weather? And when they thank the weather guy for the nice day?

Gawd I really hate local news.

Oh man, I am sitting here watching Keith Olbermann being interviewed on CSPAN and they interrupted that to give a weather bulletin about storms 50 miles from here!!

Oh lordey, it isn't even spring yet!

[MuseRider]

18. ARGGGGGGH!

I never watch anymore unless I want to see the weather because I do like our weather guys and I need to know but anymore unless something is supposed to develop I don't ever watch local news. It is like they were all too stupid to get a job so they went to local TV.

Oh sure, Jeremy promises dear Melissa he will make her world all comfy. *she squiggles in delight*

I do have to admit it is just her, the others don't bother me at all but my husband rolls his eyes in anticipation of Lynne blowing her stack if he hears her voice (and it is unmistakable).

I should probably ease up on her, at least she is not counting my change at the local Cum and Go.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. One of the worst we had here is now on FOX

I died laughing when I saw her. She is an an empty headed twit.

[MuseRider]

20. Isn't it odd

that the programmers think we like this? Who in the hell are they targetting with these dolts?

What ever happened (here's a blast from the past) Lisa Valenti? I think that was her name. DO you remember her?

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. We don't get Topeka TV here

just channel 11. For some reason, there are TWO PBS stations on our cable.

The Weather Service just broke in to The Sopranos!?!?!? The goddamn storm is miles and miles away from here. Goddamnit. What the fuck are the sirens for if they keep breaking in to TV??

[MuseRider]

22. She used to be on

KCTV5, an afternoon show I think. My inlaws knew her mother or something and they were always telling me I would like her because she was a feminist. Wellllllll, hardly. This was a long time ago though.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. No sorry I don't remember her

Channel 5 is the worst. I rarely watch their local shows.

[MuseRider]

24. LOL

They all stink. The news is rare and the stories sappy. And NOWWWWW for our GOOD NEWS! What? You are going to do actual news? Oh, sorry. NOT.

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. You know what I hate the most?

The way they use the present tense all the time.

A house burns down.

A man is killed.

A car crashes.


It makes it all so much more dramatic.

[Mabus]

26. Worse - than that - the effing teasers

Remember the days when the teasers were something like: "A late afternoon bank robbery at "X" bank, two people wounded" . Short, simple to the point. No mess, no fuss, no hype.

Nowadays they do stuff like: "An attempted bank robbery in metro area?"

It's always a frigging question to start the news teaser. Who do they think we are? Ms Cleo? Do they really think they are making me curious enough to watch their show? Hell no, if they actually say something that halfway piques me interest I search the internet. Anyway, after their little teaser question they try to hype it so we watch their news show "Find out where and if anyone was hurt. Tune into channel # news at 6." I just want to say to them - "why don't you just tell me where it happened? Why is it a secret? What if I have to go to the Metro area? Can you give me a clue so I know if I have to do some re-routing? Then they tell us they have exclusive footage. I flip the channel and see that there's another station that claims they also have exclusive footage. Guess what? Most of the time their exclusive footage consists of what their particular camera caught, not that that particular news station was the only one present when whatever event went down.

Even worse are those stupid (KCTV?) gotcha pieces. You know, the ones where they are following someone around with the cameras and the guy is trying to cover his face. It is nothing more than local tabloid television. Admittedly I don't watch that channel very often and when I do I make it a point not to watch their news. Now, if they'd do a piece where they were going to expose what was in the air in the metro area and who put it there, I'd watch. If they'd do a piece on what company is dumping what chemicals in the water or one on political financing behind the KSBOE/GOP Senators or Reps, I'd watch that too. But they don't. They do stories for ratings more than for actual improvement of our society.

I do watch the CBS evening news at 5:30 so I have some idea what news/misinformation the American public-at-large is being fed, what film clips they see, etc.

Oh yeah, I've (obviously) enjoyed reading the exchange between the two of you. I've gotten more than a few laughs.

Now, I've got to step away from the computer for most of the rest of the day. :cry: With the family in town and all the activities, we are way behind in work. We've got a dropdead deadline of Wednesday afternoon. I think I can get most of it done today (and maybe completely done by tomorrow) if I actually quit reading DU and concentrate on the paperwork.

[MuseRider]

28. I agree with you.

It is all schlock these days, well it has been for quite some time. Can you imagine if someone you knew and cared about worked in someplace where a shooting took place and all you got were the teasers for 3 hours before the news? Criminal.

I would imagine the weather took care of the plans for the shows this last weekend. I hope they got some good out of the weekend and it did not stop it entirely but I would guess it did.