Latest Windstorm Headlines
All the headlines from our Windstorm Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Storm That Hit Branson Was 22-Mile Tornado
Mar 2 2012 // The National Weather Service has confirmed that the heavy damage in the southwestern Missouri town of Branson was caused by a 22-mile-long tornado. The agency’s office in Springfield said an EF2 tornado with maximum...
Storms Blamed for 4 Deaths, Widespread Damage in Midwest
Mar 1 2012 // A powerful storm system that produced multiple reports of tornadoes lashed the Midwest early Wednesday, roughing up the country music resort city of Branson and laying waste to a small town in Kansas. At least four people...
Storm Damages Homes in Indiana Town
Mar 1 2012 // A possible tornado swept across the Ohio River town of Newburgh on Wednesday, damaging several homes in the community’s historic riverside district as a powerful line of thunderstorms cut across the Midwest,...
Forecasters Unsure What to Expect This Tornado Season
Feb 27 2012 // Tornado season is starting, but don’t ask meteorologists how bad it will be this spring and summer. They don’t know. They’re having a hard enough time getting a fix on the likely path of storms expected...
Tornado Chasers Prepare for High Season
Feb 24 2012 // With the month of March looming, United States tornado chasers are already watching the Southeast as a nasty storm brews with the potential to spin off a batch of tornadoes. But if funnel clouds develop Thursday or Friday...
Texas Regulators Looking at Ways to Restructure Windstorm Pool
Feb 23 2012 // Texas insurance regulators are seeking a consultant to explore options for restructuring the insurer of last resort for properties along the Texas coast. The Texas Department of Insurance has issued a request for proposal...
2011 an Exceptional Year for Tornadoes
Feb 23 2012 // While 2011 marked the fourth deadliest year on record for tornadoes in the United States, Texas was spared tornado-related fatalities and recorded fewer-than-average number of such storms. Not so Alabama, which led all...
U.S. Should Expect Another Above-Normal Tornado Season in 2012
Feb 21 2012 // The U.S. should expect an active severe weather season with above-normal tornadoes in 2012. That’s after a near-record number of tornadoes in 2011, according to forecasters at AccuWeather.com in State College,...
Alabama Governor Wants 1 Year Tax Holiday for Storm Supplies
Feb 16 2012 // Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has proposed a once-a-year sales tax holiday on weather radios, flashlights, generators and other supplies needed to help prepare for weather disasters. Bentley made the proposal at a news...
PERILS Estimates Windstorm Andrea Property Losses at $350 Million
Feb 15 2012 // According to PERILS, the Zurich-based catastrophe data provider, initial loss estimates for property losses caused by windstorm Andrea, which struck Western Europe at the beginning of January, are €267 million [$350...
100-Year Storms May Happen Every 3 to 20 Years: MIT-Princeton Research
Feb 15 2012 // Last August, Hurricane Irene spun through the Caribbean and parts of the eastern United States, leaving widespread wreckage in its wake. The Category 3 storm whipped up water levels, generating storm surges that swept over...
Conn. Governor Proposes Boosting Storm Preparedness
Feb 10 2012 // Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s revised $20 billion budget funds several recommendations from a panel that examined the response to the remnants of Hurricane Irene and the freak October snow storm. The plan...
No State Emergency Funds for Private Storm Shelters in Missouri
Feb 6 2012 // Missouri’s State Emergency Management Agency has rejected funding for individual storm shelters, but SEMA says it will earmark $20 million to build community safe rooms in Joplin. Assistant City Manager Sam Anselm...
Early Tally: January Storms Cause $38M Damage In Oregon
Feb 2 2012 // Preliminary assessments indicate the wind, rain and snow that hit Oregon in mid-January caused an estimated $38 million in damage to nine counties. The Oregonian reported that figure is expected to grow. Flooding was...
Talk of ‘Tornado Tourism’ Stirs Anger in Joplin, Missouri
Feb 2 2012 // Eight months after a tornado laid waste to much of this city, Joplin, Mo., is wrestling with an emotional question: Should the community market its devastated neighborhoods to tourists? When the convention and visitors...
Storm Cost Seattle $1.35 Million
Jan 31 2012 // The Seattle Transportation Department says the mid-January storm cost the city of Seattle $1.35 million—more than half of its annual snow budget of $2.2 million. KOMO reported transportation officials briefed the city...
Oklahoma Officials Learn Lessons from 2002 Ice Storm
Jan 31 2012 // Communications have been modernized, utility outage response has improved and emergency response officials in north-central Oklahoma are better prepared for natural disasters 10 years after one of the worst ice storms in...
Weather Service Documents 10 Tornadoes in Alabama
Jan 27 2012 // The National Weather Service has now documented paths of destruction from at least 10 tornadoes in the outbreak of storms across central Alabama early Monday. Recently completed surveys show that tornadoes struck in Perry...
Severe Storms Drench Texas, at Least 3 Tornadoes Reported
Jan 26 2012 // Buckets of rain and powerful winds that likely spawned several tornadoes swept across Texas on Jan. 25, forcing drivers to abandon cars on flooded roads but not dropping enough water to make up for a historic dry...
Alabama Rescuers Search Homes for Tornado Survivors
Jan 24 2012 // Searchers in the Birmingham area were going from house-to-house early Monday in an effort to rescue people trapped in their homes after storms moved across the Midwest and South, prompting tornado warnings in a handful of...
