Prayers For The South
In our prayer of the church, we pray for those affected by storms and other disasters. "From lightning and tempest, from all calamity by fire and water, and from everlasting death: Good Lord, deliver us."
As people wake up to the news that the death toll from storms in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia has reached 128, I imagine many will be offering up prayers. Here in northern Virginia, we had dramatic wind and tornado watches and warnings throughout the night. In fact, the watches and warnings will continue throughout the day. But we seem to have avoided the worst of it.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center says it received a staggering 137 tornado reports around the country, including 66 in Alabama and 38 in Mississippi.
The national news media is funny about reporting on the weather. The only factor that seems to matter for most weather reports getting substantial attention is proximity to New York City.
I know that this isn't snow in New York City, but I hope that the tornados in the south will receive media attention so that folks throughout the country can be made aware of the need to help. And any Ricocheters who've been in the storms' paths, please let us know you're OK!
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Re: Prayers For The South
Make that 178.
Mar '11
Re: Prayers For The South
Kind of like the flooding in Tennessee a couple years back; not a peep from the national media. Anyway, prayers for all.
Aug '10
Re: Prayers For The South
It looks like a war zone down there. So tragic. I will be praying for them.
May '10
Re: Prayers For The South
Atlanta was mostly bypassed last night, but my fellow Georgians are suffering. I watched the news into the morning last night to make sure we were safe. I cannot remember it being this bad a spring in Georgia.
It is funny how the national media just does not care. Wildfires in California get all sorts of play. Snow in NYC. Stuff goes on in the south, no one cares in the media.
Thanks for the prayers. I am giving them too for not just Georgia but the rest of the deep south.
Jun '10
Re: Prayers For The South
Power will be out in north Alabama for at least five days. Whole towns are obliterated. My mother and mother-in-law are safe but I cannot begin to fathom the depth of devastation.
Jul '10
Re: Prayers For The South
It is axiomatic that weather isn't a story unless it crosses the Mississippi River and threatens the important part of the country. That storm system blew through Arkansas a couple of days earlier and only Drudge thought it merited more than cursory attention. Tornadoes are whimsical. My wife and I were enjoying a candle-lit dinner in Hot Springs Village when she took note of the trees whipping around outside. I agreed and took another sip of wine. A couple hundred yards away a 70-foot pine was slamming down on the bedroom of a couple we know and a few miles south the Teen Challenge steel-framed second-hand store was being bent and twisted as if by a giant's hands. In response to an appeal, we took in some of their laundry this morning and will return it washed and folded this afternoon. It's not much, but something. They are young lads turning their lives around. The twister passed within an outfielder's throw to home of catching them in their dormitory. Where it blew through looked like a lawnmower had gone through the woods. I half expected an Al Gore media availability.
Edited on Apr 28, 2011 at 8:51amMay '10
Re: Prayers For The South
The Media mostly ignored the Gulf Coast when Katrina came through, and concentrated on NO.
Jun '10
Re: Prayers For The South
We had two blow over the house last night, close enough to hear, but luckily only got some hail. Our town only received mild wind damage but the roads over the mountains were all closed today, and two towns nearby both got hit pretty hard. Nowhere near as bad as the folks elsewhere in the South, so we're counting our blessings.
Jun '10
Re: Prayers For The South
Greetings from North Alabama via Nashville. Here for one night to do laundry and get supplies before heading back to dark nights. Tuscaloosa is bad. Many counties in north AL were absolutely raked by several tornados. Me and my family are okay and escaped the worst, barely. Counting blessings, to be sure and praying for and reaching out to neighbors as many many are doing. FEMA is on the ground, state getting organized. No phone, no internet. No power until Tuesday and Wednesday for most of upper counties serviced by TVA (includes us), which lost major transmission feeds in the storms. Damage is extensive everywhere you look. Radio has been our lifeline to information.
Ho
Jun '10
Re: Prayers For The South
Can't seem to edit previous post - just wanted to say that I hope all are well. Prayers still needed for many, and are appreciated. I'll pop back up when the lights come back on. Try to keep the world from getting any crazier out there, eh?
Take care!
Aug '10
Re: Prayers For The South
Team Rubicon has already got a rapid response going (if you've never heard of 'em, check 'em out -- they've got a charitable style that us small-gov't types can really dig).
When our Kennedy S complained to Claire about having to chase those pesky tornadoes off his lawn, I thought he was just being facetious, as usual. I hadn't realized how serious it had gotten. Weather Underground (no, not terrorists, actual weathermen) has some interesting facts -- and a video of one of the tornadoes -- here.
Awful -- in both senses of the word.
We'll be praying.
Sep '10
Re: Prayers For The South
Midget Faded Rattlesnake:
When our Kennedy S complained to Claire about having to chase those pesky tornadoes off his lawn, I thought he was just being facetious, as usual. I hadn't realized how serious it had gotten. Weather Underground (no, not terrorists, actual weathermen) has some interesting facts -- and a video of one of the tornadoes -- here.
Awful -- in both senses of the word.
We'll be praying. · Apr 30 at 9:44pm
That's an incredible link, which I've now bookmarked. Thanks for posting this MFR.
Aug '10
Re: Prayers For The South
An organization called "Portlight Strategies" might also be worth checking out. Portlight claims that "There are certain populations which are simply not well served by the large institutional and government relief infrastructure. It's a niche which Portlight Strategies, Inc., has filled in relatively small ways in past disasters. And which this community has filled in a big way since Ike. We are deeply committed to filling this niche in the future." If their claim is accurate, well... sounds good to me.
I found out about them here, through Weather Underground. Very moving to read the notes the weather junkies have exchanged with each other to try to help the folks they know as quickly as possible.
May '10
Re: Prayers For The South
Pseudodionysius
Midget Faded Rattlesnake:
When our Kennedy S complained to Claire about having to chase those pesky tornadoes off his lawn, I thought he was just being facetious, as usual. I hadn't realized how serious it had gotten. Weather Underground (no, not terrorists, actual weathermen) has some interesting facts -- and a video of one of the tornadoes -- here.
Awful -- in both senses of the word.
We'll be praying. · Apr 30 at 9:44pm
That's an incredible link, which I've now bookmarked. Thanks for posting this MFR. · Apr 30 at 10:13pm
Unfortunately that link is now inaccurate as the death toll is still rising daily. I haven't checked the official number this morning but as of yesterday afternoon it was closer to 350 making it the 2nd deadliest outbreak in history. I'm looking forward to the day it stops rising.