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Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

reuters.com

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Re: Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

#341

Post by truculent »

camhart wrote: post #280
Sebguer wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think Amazon has changed its labor practices in the last month? The OP's point is that warehouse employees don't have the option to not show up.

With tornados you don't have a long heads up. You normally know there's a bad storm coming and that's it. It's not until the sirens go off that everyone stops what they're doing. Everybody in that town most likely went to work that day.

Is it commonplace in such areas for workplaces to have plans for such an event? Tornado shelters?

Re: Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

#342

Post by floatingatoll »

techdragon wrote: post #296
qbasic_forever wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of living in an area prone to certain disasters is being prepared to deal with them. Get a small weather radio.

But I would have to listen to its crap all the time waiting for the rare signal I actually want from it. Edit: having continued reading more comments and googling what the fuck a “weather radio” is… I’m now deeply annoyed at the fact I have no equivalent living in Australia. I could look at a global weather service like Navtex but I’m actually not interested in the weather, i just want a way to get emergency broadcas…

If it’s of any comfort, there used to be a lot less severe weather to need a radio for, and no one’s quite caught up to the reality of it yet.

Re: Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

#343

Post by qbasic_forever »

techdragon wrote: post #296
qbasic_forever wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of living in an area prone to certain disasters is being prepared to deal with them. Get a small weather radio.

But I would have to listen to its crap all the time waiting for the rare signal I actually want from it. Edit: having continued reading more comments and googling what the fuck a “weather radio” is… I’m now deeply annoyed at the fact I have no equivalent living in Australia. I could look at a global weather service like Navtex but I’m actually not interested in the weather, i just want a way to get emergency broadcas…

The thing about severe weather is you can tell when it's happening. Tornadoes don't typically drop out of the clear blue sky. If it's a heavy thunderstorm and the weather forecast for the day calls for torando watches then keep the radio on and nearby. This doesn't have to be complicated.

Re: Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

#344

Post by camhart »

truculent wrote: post #341
camhart wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With tornados you don't have a long heads up. You normally know there's a bad storm coming and that's it. It's not until the sirens go off that everyone stops what they're doing. Everybody in that town most likely went to work that day.

Is it commonplace in such areas for workplaces to have plans for such an event? Tornado shelters?

Shelters no, at least not in my experience (lived in Illinois). But knowing of a more safe place in the building. For example, my high school had us go into the inner hallways and sit down against the walls.

Re: Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

#345

Post by SECProto »

dylan604 wrote: post #149
SECProto wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So if you're not in the habit of turning on the local station because of crappy programming (like me), then you should at least be willing to find a local station during weather. How would I even go about doing that? The only display devices I have are monitors. Even for radio, I would have to go to my car to listen.

Are you being pedantic with no information on how to receive local broadcasts because you've chosen to not have TV/radio/etc, or are you really just unaware of how to do this on modern equipment? Many responses answer if it is the latter, for the former, well, go back under your bridge troll ;-)

I was being pedantic. But also truthful, in that I do not have a tv and the only radio is in my car.

Re: Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

#346

Post by SECProto »

heavyset_go wrote: post #181
SECProto wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So if you're not in the habit of turning on the local station because of crappy programming (like me), then you should at least be willing to find a local station during weather. How would I even go about doing that? The only display devices I have are monitors. Even for radio, I would have to go to my car to listen.

> How would I even go about doing that? The only display devices I have are monitors. Buy a $15 DTV tuner and antenna and hook them up to a monitor. You're being blasted with free HDTV over the air.

I live fairly remotely in Canada and I'm not - I believe CBC may be available but I'm not certain

It was somewhat rhetorical, as I have access to weather alerts via the internet and am not in an area vulnerable to tornados or earthquakes.

Re: Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

#347

Post by Tagbert »

bmitc wrote: post #161

I don’t understand a few things, as they aren’t covered in the article, that I saw. Were there no warnings for the severe weather storm that would have prevented people coming in to work or allowed them to leave work early? When I was working in the office, we were usually forced (literally security swept the building) to leave when severe winter weather was coming in a few times. Why doesn’t Amazon, in the middle of…

Weather reports will callout serious weather conditions predicted in the next 48-24 hours.

There are Tornado Watches that are issued when conditions are favorable for tornados to form. That will cover a several hour period where you should be aware and alert for threat notices.

Then there are Tornado Alerts. These are issues when either someone has reported seeing a funnel cloud or the radar systems show a funnel type formation. These alerts usually cover a county sized area.

When you see an alert you should seek shelter. This means ideally underground like a basement or storm shelter. Otherwise the most secure part of a building. Bathrooms are good because they are small with lots of walls but if the building comes down they offer limited protection. A large structure like a warehouse should have a designated storm shelter where extra protection is built into an area. This may be an office or bathroom with concrete or metal cladding that is securely anchored in the ground.

Re: Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

#348

Post by Dylan16807 »

zerocount wrote: post #328
mjevans wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is also my response to fire alarms so sensitive that they'll start to chirp when I can't even recognize the smell of a neighbor 50+ ft away smoking outside. It'd be really nice if no one smoked and if these alarms reserved the shrill noises for real emergencies and user initiated tests only.

Mine only chirps when the battery dies. Of course, it's always at 3am and I don't have any 9v batteries. Worse now is none of the stores are open 24 hours so you have to suffer 'til 6am or pay $5 at a gas station for a battery.

This would be a good opportunity to get rechargeable batteries and/or an alarm that takes AAs.

Re: Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

#349

Post by truculent »

camhart wrote: post #344
truculent wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it commonplace in such areas for workplaces to have plans for such an event? Tornado shelters?

Shelters no, at least not in my experience (lived in Illinois). But knowing of a more safe place in the building. For example, my high school had us go into the inner hallways and sit down against the walls.

Presumably this wouldn’t go any better than it did for the Amazon employees when facing a tornado of the strength being talked about in the original post?

Re: Six dead after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse near St Louis

#350

Post by Dylan16807 »

jfrunyon wrote: post #313
dave78 wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That map is not showing "tornado alley", this one is (from the same Wikipedia article): https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/To... Note that there's no formal definition, but most people would not consider Missouri/Illinois to be "in" tornado alley, despite regular tornadic activity.

That map is showing the only definition of tornado alley there can be if you insist on a single definition: where tornados happen. I'm not sure who your most people are but they ain't mine.

> That map is showing the only definition of tornado alley there can be if you insist on a single definition: where tornados happen.

That's a weird definition you're insisting on. More than half the width of the country isn't an alley.

It's true that anything narrower is giving up on "single definition: where tornadoes happen". But that's also what you have to do. It's an inherent part of the term to be more narrow than that entire map. Raleigh isn't in tornado alley.

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