User blog:Hurricane Layten/Devastation in Canton Texas following tornadoes

First if all, yes ive pluralised tornadoes here, as as many as 3 confirmed tornadoes hit Canton, Texas last night and into the early hours of this morning. Having watched one live feed during the event, devastation was immediately evident, but after seeing other snippets of streaming from other teams in the same area, I can say one thing for certain. Horrific damage has occurred in Canton, with as many as 49 injuries reported, and 7 confirmed fatalities so far.

The first tornado touched down about 1930 CDT, and went on for more than 2 hours before finally lifting. This twister was well over a mile wide, and was powerful enough to lift buildings off foundations in the areas worst affected. Cars are reported as being thrown huge distances, buildings, as mentioned are off foundations, and hundreds, if not thousands, of tree have been uprooted and carried huge distances from where they originated. Based on what I've seen from this particular tornado, I'd award it an EF4 rating, but only the NWS can give an official verdict.

The second tornado passed through about an hour later, and hit some of the areas hit not long beforehand, adding to the misery to the people there. I havent looked into the second and third tornadoes, as I've been more concerned with the first, most significant event of the 3.

Considering the SPC issued a 5% chance for tornadoes, this is unacceptable. Having seen the modelling myself for what eventually became a small tornado outbreak, I say at least a Moderate Risk should have been out. Continuing on, the tornado watch that was eventually issued for the area hit, this should have clearly been a PDS, and as for the local NWS office, they should have issued at least 2 tornado emergencies relating to the first tornado, and maybe additional ones for the other 2, considering that they passed through the same general areas hit by the first tornado.

Yes, I'm being a little too harsh, I know, but ut really aggrevates me when this sort of thing happens, especially when there are untold amounts of people in danger. By the time the tornado warnings finally began coming out, the tornado was already on the ground for about 5-10 minutes, which is unacceptable in any case, and especially so when theres cities involved.

Anyway, enough of the ranting and critism. I will be keeping this post updated, and will probably issue an update relating to this event (s) on my 1300 UTC daily outlook I do.