Oklahoma tornado: Mayor of Moore pushes for shelter law

Glenn Lewis said he would propose an ordinance requiring a reinforced shelter to be built in everynew home. Volunteers are now engaged in a recovery mission - delivering supplies and helping people find accommodation. The White House says thatPresident Barack Obama will travel to Moore on Sunday. The Oklahoma medical examiner's office said 23 of the 24 victims had now been identified and that 10of them were children. Disaster centres Mr Lewis said he would propose the ordinance in the next few days and wasconfident it would pass thesix-member city council. The houses are broken (and the cars, and the school, and the street signs), but the people are not. The law would require a storm shelter or safe roomin all single- and multi-family homes and could be in place in a few months. "We'll try to get it passed as soon as I can," Mr Lewis told CNN. An underground safe roomcan cost several thousanddollars. More than 100 schools in Oklahoma had been provided with state-funded safe rooms. But Plaza Towers Elementary - where sevenof the children killed in the tornado died - and one other school hit by the storm, Briarwood Elementary, did not. The tornado ripped the roof off Plaza Towers Elementary and knocked down walls as students and teachers cowered in hallways and bathrooms. The tornado, which the National Weather Service (NWS) listed as an EF-5 - the most powerful type on the Fujita scale - destroyed entire blocks of Moore, an Oklahoma City suburb of 56,000 people. The twister packed winds of at least 200mph (320km/h). Mr Lewis said he did not expect the death toll of 24 to rise. Some 237 people were known to have been injured. US media reaction "One day at a time" is the headline in the Oklahoman online, over a banner aerial picture of the rubble ofdevastated homes. When Moore gets hit"we kick back" it quotes defiant residents as saying asthey pick up the pieces. Oklahoma City's Journal Record shows Governor Mary Fallin flying in a helicopter over the devastation in Moore to illustrate its report that the state legislature proposed providing $45m (£30m)from the Rainy Day Fund for relief efforts. Local news channel KFOR-TV reports theheart-rending story ofa single father who searched all night for his daughter only to find she had been killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School. Further afield, the New York Times carries a front-page picture gallery showingresidents reacting to the destruction. It goeson to describe the minutes before the tornado struck in PlazaTowers - a teacher huddling pupils into theshelter of a bathroom as the sirens wailed. In an opinion piece, USA Today suggeststhat, while forecasts and sirens undoubtedly saved many lives, more reinforced shelters should be built. Oklahoma tornado:Zoomable image On Wednesday, the Oklahoma medical examiner's office said that all the children who died had now been identified - they ranged in age from four months to nine years. Medical examiner's spokesman Amy Elliott saidofficials were still trying to contact the relatives of eight of the victims. Hundreds of volunteer workers and federal officials have fanned out across the suburb to deliver food and other supplies to residents whose homes had been swept away. Disaster centres have been set up and help given to people to assess what they have lost and what their immediate needsare. Jerry Lojka, a spokesman for the Oklahoma emergency services, told Reuters news agency on Wednesday that search-and-rescue dog teams would continue their work"to be sure nothing is overlooked", but he added: "There's going to be more of a transition to recovery." Craig Fugate, of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), told MSNBC: "Right now it's about getting people a place to stay thathave lost their homes. So we're going to start going neighbourhood to neighbourhood and talking to people and seeing what they're going to need." Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitanohas arrived in Moore to monitor the assistance being provided to first responders. At a press conference she urged people in need to register with Fema so that they could get assistance. Ms Napolitano said Fema would be in Moore long after the television cameras had left. Residents are to be allowed back to what remains of their homes from 15:00 local time (21:00GMT) on Wednesday. One resident, Curtis Carver, was waiting for the go-ahead to return. He told Agence France-Presse: "It was my home, my kids' home. Now it's gone. There's nothing left. It's a pile of sticks... and they're keeping me away." Tornado's cost The NWS said the twister'spath was 17 miles (27km) long and 1.3 miles wide andit battered Moore for about45 minutes on Monday afternoon. Residents were given 16 minutes' warning before the tornado touched down - officials said such advisories were usually issued eight to 10 minutes ahead of a twister. Oklahoma insurance assessors have put the estimate of the damage caused at more than $2bn (£1.31bn).

TROPICAL MONSOON NATURAL VEGETATION

The natural vegetation of tropical monsoon lands depends on the amount of summer rainfall. The monsoon lands with three distinct seasons, cold, hot and rainy, exert great influence on the appearance of the vegetation. Trees have to be fairly tolerant of local physical and climatic conditions to survive. They grow rapidly in the rainy season, shed their leaves during the hot dry season and remain comparatively inactive in the cool season. Trees are normally deciduous since they shed their leaves during hot dry season tn withstand excessive transpiration. The overall vegetation varies from dense tropical evergreen vegetation to thorny scrubland, due to differences in precipitation in different parts of the monsoon lands. Where the rainfall is heavy, e.g. Southern Burma, peninsular India, northern Australia and coastal regions with a tropical marine climate, the resultant vegetation is forest. The forests are more open and less luxuriant than the equatorial forest with far fewer species. The less dense forest allows more sunlight to reach the ground, resulting in denser undergrowth. Bamboo thickets which predominate in regions of intermediate rainfall often grow to great heights.

THE TROPICAL MARINE CLIMATE

This type of climate is exprience along the eastern coasts of tropical lands, receiving steady rainfall from the Trade Winds all the time. The rainfall is both orographic, where the moist trades meet upland masses as in eastern Brazil, and convectional, due to intense heating during the day and in summer. Its tendency is towards a summer maximum as in monsoon lands, but without any distinct dry period. There is no month without any rainfall. The range of temperature is typical of the tropical latitudes with a maximum of 28 'C (82 'F) in January and a minimum of 21 'C (70 'F) in July - a range of 6.6 'C (12 'F) for the year. Due to the steady influence of the trades, the Tropical Marine Climate is more favourable for habitation, but it is prone to severe tropical cyclones, hurricanes or typhoons.

THE RETREATING MONSOON

THE RETREATING MONSOON The amount and frequency of rain decreases towards the end of the rainy season. It retreats gradually southwards after mid-September until it leaves the continent altogether. The Punjab plains which receive the South-West Monsoon earliest are the first to see the withdrawal of the monsoon. The skies are clear again and the cool, dry season returns in October, with the outblowing North-East Monsoon. The role of monsoons in India is vital in its economy. A late monsoon or one that ends far too early will condemn large stretches of agricultural land to drought. There will be widespread famine from crop failure and thousands will perish. When there is too much water from the rainy monsoons, severe floods occur, destroying both crops and lives and disrupting communications. In no part of the world has the climate affected Man's way of life so profoundly as in the monsoon lands.

THE SEASONS OF THE TROPICAL MONSOON CLIMATE

In countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which have a true Tropical Monsoon Climate, three distinct seasons are distinguishable. 1. The cool, dry season (October to February). Temperatures are low, 24 'C (76 'F), in Bombay and only 10 'C (50 'F) in Punjab, with heavy sinking air. Frosts may occur at night in the colder north. The centre of high pressure is over the Punjab. Outblowing dry winds, the North East Monsoon, bring little or no rain at all to the sub-continent of Indo Pakistan. However, a small amount of rain falls in Punjab from cyclonic sources and this is vital for the survival of winter cereals. Where the North East Monsoon blows over the bay of Bangal it acquires moisture and thus brings rain to the south eastern tip of the peninsula at this time of the year. For instance, in Madras 1270 mm (50 inches) of rain falls during October and November, accounting for half its annual rainfall. 2. The hot dry season (March to mid-June). Bombay has a mean May temperature of 30 'C (86 'F), which is considered moderate, for many parts of India are even hotter. The heat is so great that schools and offices are closed. The stifling heat and the low relative humidity make outdoor life almost unbearable. Day temperatures of 35 'C (95 'F) are usual in central India and the mean temperature in Sind may be as high as 43 'C (110 'F). Coastal districts are a little relieved by sea breezes. There is practically no rain anywhere. By May, the temperature is so high that an intense low pressure zone is set up in north west India. Duststorms are frequent, followed by long awaited rainstorms that break by the middle of June. The transitional period between 'no rain' and 'plenty rain' is over. 3. The rainy season (mid-June to September). With the burst of the South West Monsoon in mid-June, torrential downpours sweep across the country to the delight of everybody. Almost all the rain for the year falls within this rainy season. For example, in Bombay 505 mm (19.9 inches) are recorded in June, 610 mm (24 inches) in July, 368 mm (14.5 inches) in August and a further 269 mm (10.6 inches) in September. As much as 95 percent of the annual rainfall is concentrated within four months. This pattern of concentrated heavy rainfall in summer is a characteristic of the Tropical Monsoon Climate. The torrential downpours have an immediate impact on the local temperature. They lower the temperature considerably. The mean temperature for Bombay is 30 'C (86 'F) in May but only 27 'C (81 'F) in July. In the north the drop is even greater as much as 7 'C (13 'F). Some of the windward stations on the Himalayan foothills have very heavy rainfall, though this is partly orographic. Cherrapunji has an average annual rainfall of 10795 mm (425 inches) and a record of 22987 mm (905 inches) in 1861.

CLIMATIC CONDITIONS IN TROPICAL MONSOON LANDS

The basic cause of monsoon climates is the difference in the rate of heating and cooling of land and sea. In the summer, when the sun is overhead at the Tropic of Cancer, the great land masses of the northern hemisphere are heated. Central Asia, backed by the lofty Himalayan ranges, is more than 9 'C (15 'F) hotter than its normal temperature, and a region of intense low pressure is set up. The seas, which warm up much slower, remain comparatively cool. At the same time, the southern hemisphere experiences winter and a region of high pressure is set up in the continental interior of Australia. Winds blow outwards as the South-east Monsoon, to Java and after crossing the equator are drawn towards the continental low pressure area reaching Indo Pakistan as the South West Monsoon. In the winter, conditions are reversed. The sun is overhead at the Tropic of Capricorn, central Asia is extremely cold, resulting in rapid cooling of the land.

THE TROPICAL MONSOON AND TROPICAL MARINE LANDS

DISTRIBUTION
The tropical monsoon lands are with on-shore wet monsoons in the summer and off-shore dry monsoons in the winter. They are best developed in the sub-continent of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Laos, the Khmer Republic, parts of Vietnam and South China and Northern Australia. Outside this zone, the climate is modified by the influence of the on-shore Trade Winds all the year round, and has a more evenly distributed rainfall. Such a climate, better termed the Tropical Marine Climate, is experienced in Central America, West Indies, North-eastern Australia, the Philippines, parts of East Africa, Madagascar, the Guinea Coast and Eastern Brazil.

THE EQUATORIAL REGION

DISTRIBUTION

The equatorial, hot, wet climate is found between 5 ^o north and 10 ^o south of the equator. Its greatest extent is found in the lowlands of the Amazon, the Congo, Malaysia and the East Indies. Further away from the equator, the influence of the on-shore trade winds gives rise to a modified type of equatorial climate with monsoonal influences. Within the tropics, the equatorial highlands have a distinctly cooler climate, modified by altitude, examples – Jos in Nigeria, Cameroun Highlands in Malaysia, etc.

DISTRIBUTION

The equatorial, hot, wet climate is found between 5 ^o north and 10 ^o south of the equator. Its greatest extent is found in the lowlands of the Amazon, the Congo, Malaysia and the East Indies. Further away from the equator, the influence of the on-shore trade winds gives rise to a modified type of equatorial climate with monsoonal influences. Within the tropics, the equatorial highlands have a distinctly cooler climate, modified by altitude, examples – Jos in Nigeria, Cameroun Highlands in Malaysia, etc.

CLIMATE

Temperature: the most significant feature of the equatorial climate is its great uniformity of temperature round the year. The mean monthly temperatures are around 27^oC (80 ^oF) with very little variation. There is no winter, cloudiness and heavy rainfall help to moderate the daily temperature, so that even the equator itself cannot be unbearable. Also regular land and sea breezes help in keeping a truly equable climate. The temperature range within the equatorial region are around 2° C (4° F) or less for example Warri (Nigeria) has its hottest Month around 28° C (82° F) and its collest month around 26° C (78° F), therefore having its annual range around 2° C (4° F)

Precipitation: precipitation in the equatorial region is heavy, between 60 inches and 106 inches and is well distributed throughout the year. There is no month without rain and there are two periods of maximum rainfall, July and September, which occur shortly after the equinoxes. Least rain falls at the January and December solstices. But this simple pattern may be altered or changed by local conditions.

Below is a chart showing the annual precipitation of Ukpo town (Nigeria).

Due to the great heat in the equatorial belt, mornings are bright and sunny and there is much evaporation and conventional air currents are set up, followed by heavy downpours of Convectional rain in the afternoons from the towering Cumulonbus cloud. Thunders and lightening often accompany the torrential showers. The amount of rainfall recorded in one afternoon may be as much as the deserts receive for the entire year.

NATURAL VEGETATION

Equatorial regions support a luxuriant type of dense vegetation (the tropical rain forest) because of the very heavy rainfall (over 80 inches) and uniformly high temperature (27 ºC / 80 ºF). In the Amazon lowlands, the forest is so dense and so complete in its vegetation extravagance. The growing season in equatorial region is not restricted by either drought or cold, planting is down throughout the year.