RSSTornadoes Rip Through Midwest. One Dead in Iowa, Stadium Evacuated
The Fall Storm season has created havoc throughout the Midwest, being responsible for the death of one person in Iowa, and destruction of many homes and towns last night.
Tornadoes swept across central Iowa on Saturday, ripping up farms, destroying homes in several towns and sending college football fans running from a stadium for shelter.
At least one person was killed in the storm, two others were hospitalized, and a gas leak forced authorities to evacuated part of Stratford, a town of about 746 residents 50 miles northwest of Des Moines.
“Half the town’s gone,” said Bob Smith, who has lived in Stratford for 12 years. He said he ran from his camper as the tornado touched down.
Search teams later found the body of another Stratford resident, Lucille Runyan, 80. Her daughter-in-law said Runyan’s son had been with the team that discovered her. Another woman was pulled alive from the rubble, searcher Scott Bergman said. Authorities said at least two dozen homes in the town were destroyed.
In Woodward, 30 miles to the south, 20 to 40 homes were severely damaged, Dallas County Sheriff Brian Gilbert. He said emergency crews had searched house-to-house and hadn’t found any victims by evening. via AP
Meanwhile, Iowa State’s football stadium, where ironically the team is named the Cyclones, had to be evacuated an hour before the start of a game against Colorado.
Tornado sirens forced officials to clear the stands, press box and suites at Iowa State’s Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, about an hour before the scheduled start of the Cyclones’ game with No. 22 Colorado.
An Ames police dispatcher said there were reports of a tornado in the northwest part of the city and twisters damaged houses and farm buildings in areas south, west and north of the city. But the area around the stadium had nothing but dark skies and gusty winds and fans did not seem worried.via ESPN
Hurricane Wilma Hits Florida Keys and Mainland Florida
Hurricane Wilma came ashore the Florida mainland before dawn on the west coast near Naples as a Category 3 storm. 
Hurricane Wilma crashed ashore in southwest Florida and roared across the peninsula, pounding Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach on Monday after slamming Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and killing 17 people in the Caribbean.
The sprawling storm, about 400 miles across, covered much of the Florida peninsula and some of its strongest winds whipped Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, the state’s most populous area with about 5 million people.
Wilma made landfall as a Category 3 storm at 6:30 a.m. EDT near Cape Romano on the southwest Gulf Coast. It then began its path across the peninsula.
Hurricane Wilma plowed into southwest Florida early Monday with howling 125 mph winds.
AP; Hurricane Wilma Plows Into Florida’s Southwest Coast, Packing 125 Mph Winds and Lashing Rain
New Orleans is Coming Back, But It Will Be a Long and Painful Process
The devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina has brought New Orleans to it’s knees. The city was hit by the storm, flooded when the levies broke, had its population spread throughout the country in one of the largest relocations that has been witnessed in the history of the United States.
Now it is preparing for its comeback. The restaurants are starting to return. There is a shortage of labor, but some of the better restaurants are returning, 200 in the past week, and many others are making plans to return.
On the housing market, the destruction is not as bad as originally thought. Shortly after the storm hit, the city was thought to be a wasteland and never to return. Now after the storms have ended and the water receded, the damage can be more honestly assessed. The word is that about a quarter of the homes of the city will have to be bulldozed. This will allow some opportunities for the city to revitalize and return stronger if the infrastructure can be developed to keep the water out in the future.
So New Orleans will rise again. It will be very interesting to watch the process.
Jeb Bush Declared State of Emergency for Florida, Hurricane Wilma advances
Jeb Bush, Gov. of Florida, has declared a state of emergency in advance of Hurricane 
Wilma.
Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency on Thursday in advance of the storm, which gives state officials the ability to activate the National Guard and gives them broad authority over evacuation plans, the distribution of recovery supplies and other items.
Hurricane Wilma is presently a category 4 hurricane .
Update: (AP) Hurricane Wilma’s Outer Edge Hits Cancun
Hurricane Wilma, Strongest Cat 5 Hurricane Ever?
Yesterday, Wilma was a tropical storm with winds at 70 MPH. Today, she is a monster with 175 MPH sustained winds and an expected landfall in Florida over the weekend.
“This will make this the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin, stronger than Gilbert” in 1988, National Hurricane Center said forecaster Jennifer Pralgo to CBS Radio.”We do expect Wilma to make landfall somewhere in the Florida peninsula, possibly on Saturday into Sunday, as a Category 3 hurricane,”
The last official name set aside for this hurricane season, Wilma may be the fiercest one to hit Florida. Jamaica, Cuba, Nicaragua and Honduras were getting heavy rain from the storm, though it wasn’t likely to make landfall in any of those countries. Forecasts showed it would likely turn toward the narrow Yucatan Channel between Cuba and Mexico’s Cancun region then move into the storm-weary Gulf.
The law of unintended consequences is at work though. With the horror of Katrina fresh in peoples minds, the residents of Florida are preparing early for the storm, and taking no chances.
“People have learned their lesson and know better how to prepare. We’re not waiting until the last minute anymore,” said Andrea Yerger, 48, of Port Charlotte, Florida. She was buying material to protect her house, which had to be gutted because of extensive damage from Hurricane Charley last year.
This season has been especially busy with hurricanes, and started very early.
The storm is the record-tying 12th hurricane of the season, the same number reached in 1969. That is the most for one season since record-keeping began in 1851.
On Monday, Wilma became the Atlantic hurricane season’s 21st named storm, tying the record set in 1933 and exhausting the list of names for this year.
The six-month hurricane season does not end until Nov. 30. Any new storms would be named with letters from the Greek alphabet, starting with Alpha.
So as another Hurricane roars through the gulf, say a prayer that it does not strengthen any more and the people of Florida will be okay.
More:
Tropical Storm Wilma; Record tying 21st named storm of the season.
