{"id":559,"date":"2011-04-20T11:21:11","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T09:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/?p=559"},"modified":"2015-04-04T11:28:23","modified_gmt":"2015-04-04T09:28:23","slug":"tornado-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/tornado-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Tornado stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

When my uncle moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, he no longer had to shovel<\/span> his driveway<\/span>. Instead, he almost got hit by a tornado.<\/p>\n

“One of the first tornadoes touched down<\/span> just nine miles [15 km] north of us,” he wrote in an e-mail this week. One of the first, that is, of 25 tornadoes that hit the state on Saturday. Altogether, 230 tornadoes formed in seven states over a three-day period. Another sign of the end times<\/a>, perhaps?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Even for the United States, which has more tornadoes than all other parts of the world combined, this was extreme. Giant “supercell” storms spawned<\/span> entire families of tornadoes, each of which carved<\/span> its own path of destruction through neighborhoods, trailer parks<\/span> and shopping centers.<\/p>\n

The number of houses destroyed was relatively small \u2014 130 or so \u2014 but many neighborhoods were made inaccessible<\/span> by fallen trees, downed power lines<\/span> and lots of debris<\/span>.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Barack Obama declared large parts of the state a disaster area. People who have lost their homes will get federal grants<\/span> and loans to cover repairs and property losses.<\/p>\n