... but you might have thought so Mother's Day afternoon.
A "small" tornado (relatively speaking, they think it was an F1) crossed the marsh from Brunswick and came onto St. Simons Island up around Sea Palms. There was a lot of damage, though most of it seemed to be tree-related. From what I read in the paper, no buildings were destroyed on the island.
Not the case in Darien, about 20 miles north of us. There, several large buildings were destroyed including a shelter for women and children. Thankfully, there were no deaths or serious injuries.
Tornadoes are nothing new to me, having grown up in the midwest. My hometown, in fact, was struck by seven tornadoes in one evening back in 1980. People were killed and many, many homes and businesses were destroyed. It made a huge impact on the town and the people who lived there -- whether they suffered directly or not.
There is a big difference, however, between life on St. Simons Island and on the prairie.
Except for the marshes, much of the island is covered by trees. If a tornado is heading your way, you might not know it until it is practically on top of you.
Not so in central Nebraska, where you can see storms coming from miles away. There, you can watch them from a safe distance (my wife would say the safest distance in that situation would be in another galaxy.)
Another difference -- and this is a HUGE one -- is that there is no reliable early warning system in place here in Glynn County. Many cities and towns in the midwest -- and here in Georgia -- have sirens to warn of approaching storms and other dangerous conditions.
According to the Brunswick News, Glynn County has a system -- an emergency "phone tree" of sorts that can dial 60,000 calls in an hour. It was essentially useless, however, on Sunday because the EMA staff "didn't have time to activate the system," according to the EMA director.
That's not a surprise, but when you think about it that points to a MAJOR WEAKNESS of the program (dubbed the CodeRED System). Actually, two come to mind:
- People may not be near a phone when "the call" comes in to advise of danger.
- Fast-moving storms (such as tornadoes) can render the system useless. A funnel could be here and gone by the time the first number is dialed.
This doesn't strike me as the best situation, and frankly I wouldn't want to rely on EMA or the local media (radio, in particular) to be of much help. Sunday, our information came from the police scanner which provided a real-time report on things as they happened.
Sirens might not be a bad idea. I hope our intrepid County Commission and staff will give this the attention it deserves. Next time we might not be so lucky.
Gone With the Wind, indeed.
(Thanks to Wayne Rentz for allowing me to post this photo. Had I seen something like this approaching me, I would have been cowering in the closet.)
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