Page by Gary Rodriguez
THE TORNADO with words, photo and music
Tornado hits port of Miami Monday afternoon 5-12-97.
From TORNADO, the killer tornado that blasted Xenia, Ohio, in April 1974 By Polk Laffon IV
Contrary to popular belief, the funnel is not black, but white- cloudlike--when it first touches down. It is only air and moisture; there is nothing to darken it. But the outer walls are spinning so fast, the suction inside is so intense, that in fractions of a second it has scooped up enough dirt and debris to discolor it forever: suddenly black and billowing, it surges across the ground. The net effect is that of a vacuum. As it moves along, the racing winds at its base scour everything in their path: trees, houses, cars, people. What they don't suck up, they destroy. Passing over any hollow object, the tornado causes a drop in pressure so extreme that the air within the object bursts it apart. Thus people taking refuge under cars may find themselves pinned to the ground because the tires blow apart, and people hiding in basements may find them- selves covered with the canned goods that have exploded.
No one knows how fast the winds within the funnel are revolv- ing. In 1953, after the destruction of some power-line towers in Massachusetts, engineers who knew what stresses they were built to withstand estimated that the winds had to have been blowing at least 335 mph. Other evidence puts the velocity as high as 500 mph. The noise is an unearthly din that comes at its victims like ''a hundred freight trains" or "the roar of a thousand jet engines." It starts out as a distant rumble, adds decibels like debris, and pounds down like a cannonade until afterward when people are asked to remember what it was like, or what they were thinking, they can't recall anything but that unholy racket that seemed to last forever but was actually over almost before they got to the basement. Some weather experts think the noise results from the crash of thunder within the funnel cloud.
Above all, a tornado is fast. It thrashes across the ground at an average speed of 40 mph and for an average distance of sixteen miles. In no more time than it takes to darken a candelabrum, it can obliterate a neighborhood, uproot a row of oaks, and kill a man. In a few minutes more, it can destroy a city.
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