Floods, Thunderstorms, and Tornadoes. Oh My!
Ah, Missouri in Springtime.
Over the last week, our local area has been hit with enough weather to warrant national news coverage. There was flooding around forty-five
minutes drive from us earlier in the week. They were serious floods effecting homes and businesses way out of the "normal" flood zone.
Last night, the tornado alarms went off here in Farmington. I heard of sightings as close as a fifteen minute drive. I didn't hear of any serious damage, nor did I hear there wasn't any. Since I've never lived in an area where tornadoes are an issue before moving here, I admit to ignorance on the topic.
The thunder was close enough to keep me off the computer through bedtime last night. No sense chancing a blowout. Safely inside, the constant "emergency alert" messages interrupting TV programs were more annoying then the storm itself.
Here's my issue: We make such a big deal about weather.
Weather events, even serious one's, have happened every year since the beginning. Barring scientific advances, they will continue to happen.
CNN and Fox News do not need to show up in St Louis suburbs to stand in the rising flood water. It's pure sensationalism. It makes out of town relations worry needlessly. Covering weather events such as these where the impact is local and typical makes me wonder if there is not enough news to fill twenty-four hours.
Or were the ratings during the real natural disasters like Katrina so high mere the hope of tragedy is worth sending the news vans?
The fear in the average person over weather events is, in my observation, growing in proportion to the inflated media coverage. I was still at work when the sirens started to go off last night. I overheard someone in the next row say "We're all going to die" in a panicked voice. No joke.
We'd got messages from management to stay on the phones. They moniter conditions, so we can duck and cover if needed. I've been there when they route the calls to other centers so we can be ordered under the desks.
May or may not be any safer. If we got hit, the desk and it's contents would be one more thing to give me a concussion. Might as well keep on keeping on. Not to say I'd make a trip out from my warm, safe house to shop for women's lingerie. Still, when quiting time rolled around, I called Chris to pick me up as usual even with the tornado warnings. Leaving was slightly more risky than staying, I'd venture.
Isn't anything we can do to keep it from happening. Let's keep the freak out down to a minimum, folks.
I could *not* agree with you more! IMO, the big stations cover too much they don't need to.
We get tornado watches and warnings often enough here.. my girls (14 & 16) still get rattled (we've lived in the Miami Valley forever).. me? I just tell them to go to the basement and I'll let them know when to come up. My mom use to be the same way - real relaxed about it almost. We do get tornados around here, but it's typically about 20 mins N or S of us. Flooding it's usually an issue, except flash floods.
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The older I get, the less I rattle about anything.
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some people make a career out of freaking out..
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Sounds exhausting. I'd rather live my life drama free.
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