Tornadoes struck the central US yesterday, killing at least seventeen people in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed. But this drone footage in particular really emphasizes just what those words actually mean.
It’s actually kind of hard to take this footage shot by Brian Emfinger right after a tornado struck Mayflower, AR. We often see this from ground level on news footage, but that doesn’t really communicate the scale of devastation quite like a bird’s eye view:
It takes a moment to realize that this is quite literally right after the tornado struck; you can still see flashes of lightning from the storm in the distance. Then you realize the little moving dots of light are rescue workers looking for survivors.
Also bizarre is the emphasis on how fickle tornadoes are; some structures are utterly leveled, some have minor damage, and some seem like they haven’t experienced any problem at all. If you’d like to help the victims of this disaster, currently charitable agencies like the Red Cross are on the scene, and have emphasized that cash donations are the most needed and most effective. You can do that right here.
Via Brian Emfinger