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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

#81

Post by syshum »

sakopov wrote: post #32
sillysaurusx wrote: post #3

I slept through three tornado sirens last night. It was pretty wild. The first one, I thought it was a test. (We have tests every month on the 1st.) But it wasn't until a few minutes in that I realized it was for real. Then apparently I just... went to sleep? That wasn't the smartest decision I've ever made. It went off a couple more times. One strange thing was the realization that I had no idea where to turn for in…

I lived in Midwest for over 20 years. There were times when I'd be sipping coffee while sitting outside a coffee shop underneath giant funnel clouds above. Tornado alerts are common but touchdowns are so rare that you just kind of not pay attention anymore. With that said, it seems like when they do occur they are increasingly more damaging and closer to densely populated areas. Two years ago there was one just a few…

> it seems like when they do occur they are increasingly more damaging and closer to densely populated areas.

I think this more a function of urban sprawl, and the fact there are simply more populated area spread out over larger tracts of land, thus the odds of a tornado hitting a population center increase.

In short the tornadoes are not moving closer, the populated areas are what has moved

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

#82

Post by syshum »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #69
sakopov wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in Midwest for over 20 years. There were times when I'd be sipping coffee while sitting outside a coffee shop underneath giant funnel clouds above. Tornado alerts are common but touchdowns are so rare that you just kind of not pay attention anymore. With that said, it seems like when they do occur they are increasingly more damaging and closer to densely populated areas. Two years ago there was one just a few…

Interesting. I lived in the Midwest for nearly 20 years as well. Tornado watches were common, warnings much less so... and if anyone saw a funnel cloud, it was time to panic, duck, and cover right freaking now .

years ago they would only call a warning when they had a confirmed visual on a touch down, I am not sure when they made the change but for at least the last few years (and probably longer) I have noticed them calling more and more warning based on radar signature alone

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

#83

Post by genocidicbunny »

JCM9 wrote: post #39
genocidicbunny wrote: post #5

Unfortunate that the title got cut off: "Six Amazon workers killed after tornadoes reduce warehouse near St. Louis to rubble" But the bigger story here is that despite multiple warnings of dangerous weather, the workers at this warehouse still ended up having to choose between risking their life or being fired/written up for refusing to come in. They didn't feel like they had the power to say "No, I won't work becaus…

The article doesn’t support what you are saying. Do you have evidence to support these theories? What happened is terrible and is part of a much broader natural disaster. Trying to turn this into some shallow Amazon shaming is unfortunate.

I'm not trying to shame Amazon; Not any more than I would be any other company. If this had been a Walmart or a Target or a Trader Joe's warehouse, I would have said the same.

When there's tornadoes about, the first thing companies should tell their workers is 'Find somewhere safe to shelter, don't worry about the job or reducing damage to the company. Just make sure you're safe' (and if located somewhere known for tornadoes, also providing adequate shelter) is the bare minimum that companies should be expected to do/provide.

Six people died in a warehouse. This shouldn't have happened, regardless of .

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

#84

Post by lotsofpulp »

fosk wrote: post #80
gerdesj wrote: post #70

"Six Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) workers were confirmed dead on Saturday after a series of tornadoes roared through a warehouse near St Louis, ripping off its roof and causing 11-inch thick concrete walls longer than football fields to collapse on themselves." Horrific. A wall that size cannot possibly survive a big wind. Cannot.

I wonder why they haven't compartmentalized the wall in such a way that in case of structural failure only individual sections will potentially collapse, not the whole thing.

Most likely the cost benefit ratio is too high.

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

#85

Post by syshum »

AlbertCory wrote: post #56
sneak wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You didn't get a phone alert about it happening? I thought those were mandatory for these kinds of events, I think they even overrule some of the DND rules on your phone. I turned those off at the system level because the local authorities would abuse them to announce allegations of kidnapping, or license plate numbers of people who supposedly shot at cops and other such things that are not a threat to my life or s…

I was getting "emergency alerts" for "COVID vaccine available in your area." That may be really important information, but it doesn't rise to the level of an emergency.

My area never did that, any government that used EAS for that should be voted out at the next opportunity

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

#86

Post by [deleted] »

hutzlibu wrote: post #71
hereforphone wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume you're talking about streaming the station over the Internet

No he or she is not, a radio receiver is not such a high tech after all and I think all of my mobile phones had or have that feature build in, even though I never used it (in some you would have to have earphones plugged in as a antenna)

[deleted]

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

#87

Post by heavyset_go »

madrox wrote: post #25
genocidicbunny wrote: post #5

Unfortunate that the title got cut off: "Six Amazon workers killed after tornadoes reduce warehouse near St. Louis to rubble" But the bigger story here is that despite multiple warnings of dangerous weather, the workers at this warehouse still ended up having to choose between risking their life or being fired/written up for refusing to come in. They didn't feel like they had the power to say "No, I won't work becaus…

I'm not sure that really is the story. Homes are not exactly safer, and there was a tornado warning for all of Madison county. Perhaps you've seen photos of what these things do to small wooden structures. Yes, their home was probably ok from this particular tornado, but I think that has more to do with luck than safety.

Homes have basements and other structures that can be more secure during tornadoes than other structures. And most importantly, people are familiar with where those safer places are in their own homes, so that when the power goes out and the wind blowing so hard and loud that it breaks their windows, they still know where to go and how to get there quickly and safely.

There are often storm shelters in areas hit by weather like this, and there was ample warning about this storm system, so at least some of those that don't feel safe in their homes could have sheltered somewhere else if they were free to do so.

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

#88

Post by ahefner »

StevePerkins wrote: post #30
suqiifkfkg wrote: post #15

Are Amazon workers somehow special that they get upvoted on HN. What a bizarre, bizarre society we're living in.

There are five sure paths to the HN front page: 1. Material about Big Tech being evil. 2. Material about how to get hired in Big Tech. 3. "_______ written in Rust". 4. Cities good, cars bad, Elon's good. 5. Typography.

Also random old lisp stuff.

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

#89

Post by HarryHirsch »

syshum wrote: post #54
thr0wawayf00 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

14 people died at an Amazon facility when they were asked to work during Hurricane Ida, why does this theory seem so far-fetched to you? https://gizmodo.com/new-york-amazon-employees-had-to-work-du...

because tornado;s are not hurricane, and you literally only get a few minutes notice... not days like you do with a hurricane Unless you think every business should shut down every time there is a tornado watch issued, which hell they issue those like candy the entirety of spring and summer around here we would never get anything done if we shut down for every tornado watch

Operating procedure at a former workplace in Texas was that during a Tornado Warning sheltering in a designated tornado shelter was mandatory.

The question should be: was there a tornado warning, and was there any employee not in a tornado room?

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

#90

Post by qbasic_forever »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #3

I slept through three tornado sirens last night. It was pretty wild. The first one, I thought it was a test. (We have tests every month on the 1st.) But it wasn't until a few minutes in that I realized it was for real. Then apparently I just... went to sleep? That wasn't the smartest decision I've ever made. It went off a couple more times. One strange thing was the realization that I had no idea where to turn for in…

TV is still a thing--get a small antenna to pick up your local stations. Growing up in tornado alley we always had a local TV news station on during severe weather. They cut out of regular broadcasting and usually have a live play by play with the weatherman showing radar and locations of known funnel clouds, etc. If you're going to live there make a plan for future severe weather like this--it's nothing you want to sleep through.
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