Newcastle, OK tornado: DO NOT SEEK SHELTER BENEATH AN OVERPASS!

On May 24, 2011 a violent tornado struck the communities of Chickasha, Blanchard and Newcastle, OK. ... A number of motorists made the choice to shelter from the tornado beneath the H.E. Bailey Turnpike Spur overpass on State HWY 76 overpass near Newcastle. The results of this action are revealed in graphic detail on this video. IT IS A MYTH that highway overpasses provide any sort of shelter from tornadic winds! On May 3, 1999 during what is regarded as the preeminent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma history, people were killed and/or suffered horrific injuries after doing the same... TVN's own Reed Timmer, then a naive freshman meteorology student, narrowly avoided being engulfed by the Bridge Creek F-5 by doing the same thing, and has publicly spoken against this practice ever since. DO NOT USE OVERPASSES AS TORNADO SHELTERS!!!!!

***For more information on this subject, please visit this link:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-overpass-slide08

or google "bernoulli principle"

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• tornado
• newcastle
• Blanchard
• oklahoma
• may 24
• 2011
• overpass
• injuries
• damage
• highway
• video
• footage
• I-44
• bridge
• shelter

[tennisguyky]

Is this the same overpass Reed Timmer filmed the May 3, 1999 Bridge Creek tornado from? It paralled HE Baily (I-44) and crossed a road about a mile or so from his filming location which was underneath the I44 turnpike.

[TornadoVideosdotnet]

@tennisguyky It's very close, but not the same one. May 3, 1999 was at H.E. Bailey Turnpike and N. Council Ave. The overpass in this video was from the Norman Spur, roughly 2 miles to the south of the May 3 location.

[2012Viewpoint]

I don't care what this video says or what the link leads to. Overpasses are the best place to be, and nothing will convince me otherwise.

[TornadoVideosdotnet]

@2012Viewpoint Please follow the link in the video description to see more about why overpasses are among the worst places to seek shelter from a tornado. People have been killed in the worst possible ways after thinking that they're a suitable shelter--disembowelment, severed body parts, etc. We'd like to help correct this very inaccurate belief so it doesn't happen again.

[Localdrummerweb]

Why is it everyone these days feels the need to question things..Here's an idea if you want to live listen to the EXPERTS and don't park under the overpass..If you want to feel like a hero and doubt the EXPERTS then park under the damn thing and roll the dice..Christ how hard is it to just follow directions from people who know what the fuck they are talking about..

[nakedfaves]

@WeatherWarriordotnet,

Hell, now that I think about...the infamous "tornado overpass" video from April 26th 1991 hit an overpass that had a support base in the middle of a divided highway. Maybe those people could take shelter underneath those girders BECAUSE the wall didn't need to be so high. The wall could be shorter BECAUSE there was a support base in the middle of the divided highway below.

(8^)

[nakedfaves]

@WeatherWarriordotnet,

Another HUGE aspect of the support system for our overpasses (that is CLEARLY not evident in this video) is that most of our overpasses that are long enough to need I BEAM support systems also include support BASES that are in the middle of DIVIDED HIGHWAYS. Maybe if this overpass had a support base sitting in the middle of a divided highway the wall holding up the I BEAMS wouldn't need to be so tall.

[nakedfaves]

@WeatherWarriordotnet,

1 design sits with a dirt incline meeting the base of the roadway without any type of vertical wall, a 2nd design includes a concrete incline with a short vertical wall, and the 3rd design includes a concrete incline with a tall vertical wall...buevery one of them has an I beam based girder support system holding up the roadway above.

With the short walls, standing on top of the wall underneath the girders is possible for almost anybody.

[nakedfaves]

@nakedfaves, 

[nakedfaves]

@WeatherWarriordotnet,

Yeah, me too. I live in NJ. On certain roads all over the state you can't drive more than 2 miles without passing over or under an overpass. Hell, every road that crosses Rt. 195 or Rt. 295 IS an underpass or an overpass and traveling the entire 34 1/2 mile length of Rt. 195 you would cross underneath about 10 overpasses. One of the funniest aspects of these overpasses is that they have 3 different underbelly design structures.

[nakedfaves]

@nakedfaves,

They'd basically be the same as a tornado room that's built 10 feet underground, but because an over pass is already 15 feet ABOVE the base that it sits on, building a walkway into a small hallway that runs behind the retaining wall underneath the raodway itself would gaurantee that the room is above flood stage and surrounded by concrete wall and 2 feet of solid earth for 5 to 15 feet in any direction depending on exactly where you're pointing.

[nakedfaves]

@jonnyy40,

Yeah there you go...That's a fabulous idea.

Not even necessarily build shelters so much as build a tunnel that goes into the overpass and follows underneath the roadway for about 15 feet or so.

Not necessarily a whole room as much as a hallway maybe 7 feet high by 2 feet wide at most that runs up at an angle of maybe 10 degrees and goes into the hill where the overpass meets the road maybe enough to hold 15 people.

[jonnyy40]

Maybe build tornado shelters in/'by overpasses?

[aaronbassplyr]

Simple idea folks, overpasses funnel air and make the winds inside the overpass much faster. your better off out of your car in a field head down in a ditch.

[MrPresidentFox]

I missed the message behind the video, what was it again?