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Show March 25, 1998, THE DAILY HERALD, Wednesday, issued first tornado warning By LAUREN DODGE and faore than 100 civilian deaths after the two Air Force The Associated Press men jssued the first successful OKLAHOMA CITY the Weather Bureau warning, With the forerunner of the reams of atmospheric data and a radar scope designed for a National Weather Service World War II airplane, Capt. was under political pressure to Robert Miller and Maj. Ernest issue similar forecasts for civilFawbush did something 50 ians. In a Weather Bureau memo years ago this week that wa3 from the early 1950s, the meteof: unheard They issued a tororologist in charge warned that nado warning. "They proved that you could, predicting tornadoes was a with a certain degree of accuracguessing game at best and that y, predict when a tornado was telling the public that a tornado could hit would cause " going to hit, which in retrospect The bureau instead has saved untold millions of issued high wind warnings. lives," said James Crowder, But the bureau found itself for the chief of history in the embarrassing position of Oklahoma City Air Logistics why military perexplaining Tinker at Air Force Center sonnel were being warned and Base. On March 25, 1948, the two civilians weren't. The Air Force was putting Air Force weathermen at these things out and the weathdetermined Tinker that the air er service people looked like flow and atmospheric conditions were nearly identical to fools," said Joseph Schaefer, those five days earlier when a director of the Storm Prediction tornado caused more than $10 Center in Norman, part of the Oceanic and million in damage at the base. National Atmospheric Administration. Several air traffic controllers Finally, on March 21, 1952, were cut by flying glass. the Weather Bureau issued its The two weathermen predicted that the next tornado first successful tornado watch, would be a little stronger than warning of conditions favorable the first, with winds of more for development of a twister. Today, forecasters use complex than 155 mph. Miller and Fawbush typed computer systems, advanced out the warning. Commanders Doppler radar and satellites to alerted their subordinates. make their forecasts. The figures testify to the People were evacuated to safety, controllers left their towers, importance of the warnings. and airplanes were tied down. There were 1,176 deaths attribEveryone waited for the storm. uted to tornadoes in the 1940s, an average of 179 per year. The warning was issued during the afternoon. By the time From 1987 to 1996, there were Miller went home at the end of 427 deaths, or an average of 42 the work, day, nothing had happer year. With technological improvepened. He thought he and Fawbush had made a ments, the question now isn't mistake. necessarily whether to issue a Then, between 5 p.m. and 7 warning but how precise to p.m., the storm hit. It caused make it. "Some of the media gives about $6 million in damage but no injuries. people the impression that this The Air Force decided to give is very exact," said Jim Miller and Fawbush responsiPurpura, warning coordination the with bility for severe weather foremeteorologist casts for all domestic military National Weather Service in Norman. "We're not that good installations. By March 1952, four years that we can do that By SANDY WEST ; Rescuers had never practiced ?; lowering their helicopters into The Associated Press With its blades whirring just feet from the walls of a towering gorge, a helicopter lowered itself one last time Tuesday to pull out the body of the second rafter killed by a surge of Whitewater. Survivors of Sunday's disaster on the Illinois River had tied the body of Jeff Alexander to a tree so it wouldn't be washed away. The body withstood the raging torrent for two days, and for a time was submerged before the water lowered enough for it to be hoisted out. The recovery ended the search and rescue effort with all accounted for: two rafters dead and 10 survivors saved without injury, some of whom were forced to cling for life to the mossy, 1,800-focanyon walls overnight. They were caught in the kind of flash flood that makes the river through the southwestern Oregon mountains notorious, In a day and a half, heavy rain and snowmelt swelled the river to DON RYAN 'The Associated Press twice its normal volume, a force Deadly river: A Coast Guard helicopter hovers over a lower portion of of foaming brown water that the Illinois River near Agness, Ore., Tuesday on the way to retrieving was only intensified when the bodies of the last of two rafters killed on the river Sunday. Heavy pushed through canyons as rains and massive snowmelt turned the river into a raging torrent, narrow as 20 feet. killing the two men and forcing 10 others to wait overnight for rescue. Coast Guard rescue teams all were later Tuesday were thankful the Authorities initially thought as missing death toll wasn't worse. many as ,30 people could be accounted for. Ore. AGNESS, ld "near-panic.- career-endin- ot such a tight space, battling rain, fog and high winds alon the way. One of them, Richard Hall, was lowered into the gorge to hoist out two people who tried to escape the river by climbing 300 feet up on the side of the ' ' slippery cliff. Strapped to a tether, Hall crept along the side of the cliff, walking his way toward the stranded rafters while the blades whirled over him, just feet from the rocks. "I didn't want to look up," he ' 1,1 ' said. Although the noise from the helicopter prevented rescuers from speaking to the cold and wet rafters, Hall said they were clearly happy to be found. "When he put his arms around my legs, he held on tight," Hall said. "They were happy to get out of there." Not all the rescues were so dramatic. - t- said he and three other rafters went down the river all day Saturday, but the river rose 12 feet overnight and they decided not to put their raft back in. Sunday. '. Their plan was to camp out until the river calmed down. They were on a grassy plateau 40 feet above the river wher ' the rescue choppers came ht Monday and lifted them out. 't1' ' Nothing like this," said Lt. Steven Lowe. Hogg's parents found the bodies of Antoinette Marden, Angelique Roberts and Alexandra Hogg in bed next to their unconscious mother Monday morning. Hogg lived with her parbrother. ents and her "She bound their hands and their faces with duct tape," Lowe said. "She did them one at a time. She took them into the bedroom, suffocated them and came back and got the next one." The officer added: "It takes about five minutes to suffocate someone. Multiply that by The Associated Press A mother used DALY CITY, Calif. duct tape to suffocate her three little girls in their pajamas, then climbed into bed with them and took an overdose of prescription drugs, police said Tuesday. The woman, Megan K. Hogg, 25, was treated at a hospital, then booked for investigation of homicide and taken for a psychiatric evaluation. Ms. Hogg left two notes describing her ...... actions, police said., ,"In ,29. years,, J'ys, seen ,., . .a.lot i of evil. ..;, three." .. Hogg overdosed on several prescription drugs in what Lowe called "a suicide ges-- , ture. I don't think she intended to kill herj self." ; He said one of her notes described what she planned and the other reported what she had done. Police did not release the contents. Friends and relatives said Hogg was an adoring and gentle mother who had not ." appeared depressed or unhappy. "She was very devoted to the kids," said Daisy Hogg, her aunt. "She tried her besf: : i" for them." . . IP V t' I' W ff J R v 1 1 I i .1 i , WINDOwlcOVERINGS, 'i II IT! - ..... 3 F 'i ACCESSORIES E i 1 m AILS ' J ON BEDDING, BATH, DEGORATT f SALE ENDS SATURDAY FINAL DAYS TO'. 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