FURLOUGHS AMONG STORM SEASON WORRIES
Furloughs required by the federal budget cuts known as the sequester are expected to affect the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the country’s hurricane forecasting hub in Miami, and the National Guard, which can be deployed during disasters.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said NOAA employees will receive their furlough notices next week. Meanwhile, National Guard technicians who maintain equipment that can be deployed after a hurricane are expected to be furloughed on 11 Mondays throughout the summer, she said.
The furloughs are “the last thing we should be doing” during hurricane season, she said.
National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb said the center would cancel any furloughs if a storm were approaching, however.
Gov. Rick Scott has said the cuts threaten to strain Florida’s readiness capability. According to Scott, the cuts mean nearly 1,000 Florida National Guardsmen and technicians will have to take furloughs during the summer.
Associated Press
Severe weather hammered the nation’s heartland again Friday, with tornado warnings posted in the Southern Plains and Arkansas, which was recovering from a flash flood that killed a county sheriff who was checking on a home surrounded by rising water.
Before Friday’s first thunderstorm in Oklahoma, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman was already predicting a violent evening. From the Texas border to near Joplin, Mo., residents were told to keep an eye to the sky and an ear out for sirens.
The warned area included Moore, an Oklahoma City suburb where 24 people died in a twister almost two weeks ago. Forecasters labeled the tornado watch as a “particularly dangerous situation,” with ominous language about strong tornadoes and hail the size of grapefruits — 4 inches in diameter.
Bad weather was also expected in parts of southeastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri. A tornado warning was out for an area near Independence, Kan., but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Flooding will be a concern in the mid-Mississippi River Valley through the weekend.
Flash flooding and tornadoes killed three people in Arkansas late Thursday and early Friday. Three others were missing in floods that followed 6 inches of rain in the rugged Ouachita Mountains near U City, 125 miles west of Little Rock.
The Fourche La Fave River rose 24 feet in just 24 hours.
“The water just comes off that hill like someone is pouring a bucket in there,” said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Highway and Transportation. The Fourche La Fave temporarily swamped U.S. 71.
Scott County Sheriff Cody Carpenter died while trying to check on residents during the storm, and wildlife officer Joel Campora and two others are missing. They had traveled up Mill Creek by boat.
“Other deputies heard a loud crash,” said Bill Hollenbeck, the sheriff of neighboring Sebastian County. “They thought that the bridge had actually collapsed. Looking into it further, the house had imploded as a direct result of rising waters from Mill Creek.”
A man died after strong winds toppled a tree onto his car in Tull, just west of Little Rock. Authorities also are attributing the death of a woman in Scott County to flooding; they’ve released no information other than her body was found in her car.
Most tornadoes in the United States are relatively small, but the one that hit Moore on May 20 was a top-of-the scale EF5 with winds at 210 mph. Of the 60 EF5 tornadoes to hit since 1950, Oklahoma and Alabama have been hit the most — seven times each. Moore has been hit twice — last week and in 1999.
This spring’s tornado season got a late start, with unusually cool weather keeping funnel clouds at bay until mid-May. The season usually starts in March and then ramps up for the next couple of months.
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