Tornadoes

By: Bowen Beecher

You have to live all over the country before I realized that Americans everywhere live with some kind of fear hanging over their daily lives. Natural disasters exist everywhere. Those who live in river towns grow up with stories of floods. West Coasters joke about earthquakes to anesthetize themselves from the omnipresent reality of the real thing. Those who live in California and the Southwest can expect drought and horrific wildfires once or twice a decade, and anyone who lives a lifetime in the Gulf area must feel like they've lived through the plagues of the Old Testament. In the South and Midwest, of course, it's tornadoes. Tornadoes in my opinion are the most terrifying. They do damage in seconds and show up unexpected. Tornadoes teach us humility. For all of our scientific technology, there really isn't a thing we can do to protect those who are caught in their path. That was taught to everyone in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Wednesday and early Thursday. In all, the death toll from the wave of powerful storms that struck was more than 280 people in six states. In Tuscaloosa alone, at least 36 people lost their lives. After reading about this it made me fear tornadoes. I am glad I don’t live in areas prone to them. We are protected by two mountain ranges to the East and West. That’s why we don’t experience many tornadoes. On average only about two tornadoes occur per year. They mostly take shape in southern parts of Utah and are generally small in nature. Not many disasters occur in Utah. Living in areas around Alabama you can expect at least a tornado each year. It was estimated that the damaged ranged seven miles and was one of the most powerful residents have ever seen. That’s pretty scary, it seems like all the weather around the world has been apocalyptic lately. Many people thought that it was going to be the end of them.