Heat wave, storms blamed for 17 deaths, power outages

So what? We had a storm like this blow through us in Texas and Louisiana back on June 1, 2004. It had winds of over 100 mph in some areas and knocked out power for a week or more in many locations. We had very hot temperatures over 100 degrees during that time, too. We had severe storms that dropped 18 confirmed tornadoes on April 3 this year in North Texas, and the Dallas area had a hailstorm that dumped baseball sized hail just a few weeks ago. But that's something that we see from time to time here, and we almost never have a disaster declaration issued, or get any help from FEMA after something like these storms. There was certainly no help from FEMA and no disaster declaration-- state or Federal-- issued after the 2004 derecho hit us. We just picked up the pieces and got on with our lives.

I can't say that a storm like this is "normal" because it really isn't-- but it's something that we know is a possibility. When it hits, we deal with it. Severe storms and hot weather are commonplace down here. We just take steps to prepare for it. The ones who don't are usually the newcomers, and they quickly learn to have flashlights, transistor radios, perhaps a generator or backup power source, and an emergency plan ready for the next time... because down here, there WILL be a 'next time'.

Those of us who have prepared will have little sympathy for those who haven't learned from the experience and gotten prepared after getting caught the first time. It's not like parts of this affected area never get bad weather-- after all, some of the states hit are in Tornado Alley, and other states are in Hurricane Alley. Thus, most of these folks should have already been prepared for this.

Sorry, I can't cry too many tears for this. 'Failing to plan means planning to fail'.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/video/news-26797925/heat-wave-storms-blamed-for-17-deaths-power-outages-29858284.html

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