Tornado warnings

Will we stay like this for a lifetime?
Gettin nothin right, gettin’ nothin’ right.
Why do we always have stormy weather?
Why do we have it so rough?
Is it so hard just to stay close together?
Why can’t we ever have love?
        -- Leo Sayer, Tom Snow


Just a few minutes after television and radio broadcasts were interrupted this evening to warn of heavy thunderstorm activity in the area, the wind picked up, rain began to fall and rumbling thunder morphed into sharp cracks signaling lightening strikes close to home.

Folks in Flint take summer storms seriously since a 1953 tornado raged through neighboring Beecher, killing 116. Another 844 were injured in what the weather service calls the deadliest twister in state history.

It took just 10 hours for the local newspaper (The Flint Journal) to get the story into circulation. The first 14 pages were filled with storm coverage including dozens of dramatic photos.

When the paper did a commemoration on the 50th anniversary of the tragedy, it spread dozens of stories, photos and other features over a week’s worth of newspapers.

One of the positive outcomes following the storm was vastly improved warning systems. Electronic sensors dot the landscape today and new technologies make timely warnings like the one we received earlier this evening possible.

I enjoy thunderstorms – the bigger and louder the better. But it an era of changing weather conditions, it’s comforting to know that experts are becoming better and better at predicting the future and lessening injury and loss of life.

One more day in Flint – a town that has been in decline since the Beecher tornado signaled the end of an era for a state long made prosperous by the auto industry. Hopefully a new wind will bring good fortune in the next half-century.