Tornado deaths prove risk of staying in cars

The Associated Press

SENECA, Mo. - More than 25 years ago, a rash of deaths among tornado victims trapped in cars in Wichita Falls, Texas, led to what is now a basic tenet of storm safety: When a twister is on the horizon, stay out of your car.

Authorities are echoing that same warning after a weekend tornado devastated several rural communities in southwest Missouri and across the state line in northeast Oklahoma.

Eight of the 23 victims in the two states died in cars, troubling experts who say the inside of a vehicle is one of the worst places to be during a twister.

“It’s like taking a handful of Matchbox cars and rolling them across the kitchen floor,” Sgt. Dan Bracker of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said, surveying the damage in and around Seneca, near the Oklahoma line. “This is devastating.”

At least 26 people died in Missouri, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama when severe storms erupted Saturday over the Southern Plains and swept eastward. Sixteen people died in Missouri from the same storm that ravaged Picher, Okla., a town 32 miles away where seven were killed.

Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which determines whether residents qualify for federal assistance, were in both states. FEMA Director David Paulison and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff were scheduled to visit the hardest hit areas on Tuesday.

Scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency arrived in Oklahoma on Monday to check for high lead levels in Picher, a heavily polluted former mining town where lead-filled waste is piled into giant mounds.

Miles Tolbert, Oklahoma’s secretary of the environment, said he did not believe there was any immediate hazard to the 800 residents. But he said more testing was needed.

Among those killed were three people in Oklahoma who were rushing to reach a relative’s house in their car; a woman whose car was blown off a road near Seneca; and four family members - Rick Rountree, his wife, his 13-year-old son, and his 76-year-old mother-in-law - who were in a van on the way to a friend’s wedding when a twister with winds of 170 mph struck the Seneca area on Saturday.

According to data from the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, 49 of the 705 deaths - or about 7 percent - attributed to tornadoes from 1997 to 2007 were people who were in vehicles when the storm struck.

“They can cover more ground than you can in your car, so unless you know you are moving away from the tornado the best thing you can do is find a strong structure,” said Andy Foster, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Cars have the same problem as mobile homes in a storm: they aren’t anchored to the ground, so winds can get underneath them. Winds of less than 100 mph can flip a car, said Rick Smith, warning coordination meteorologist with the weather service.

The motorist deaths prompted Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt to issue a stern reminder to people to stay out of cars in storms.

Officials say drivers and their passengers should find a sturdy shelter or even lie flat in a ditch or other low spot, covering their heads with arms, coats or blankets if a tornado is moving in their direction.

Overpasses and bridges should also be avoided - overpasses can create a wind-tunnel effect, and bridges can collapse.