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Learning from the Enterprise Tornado

By Associated Press

The National Weather Service says the March 1st tornado that struck Enterprise High School, killing eight students, shows the need for a "hardened safe room" as a storm shelter. New Info Learning from the Enterprise Tornado

Published: Thu, November 29, 2007 - 9:52 am Last Updated: Thu, November 29, 2007 - 2:58 pm

ENTERPRISE, Ala. (AP) - Federal weather officials say a March
1st tornado that struck Enterprise High School, killing eight
students, shows the need for a "hardened safe room" for use
during storms.
In its report today on the tornado outbreak in Alabama and
Georgia, the National Weather Service said Enterprise school
officials and students followed appropriate safety measures before
and during the tornado.
Besides the deaths in Enterprise, the tornado outbreak killed
six people in a mobile home park near Newton, Georgia, and five
others elsewhere in Alabama and Georgia.
The NWS report said a total of 31 verified tornadoes struck 45
counties in Georgia and south Alabama. The deadliest hit Enterprise
with 200 mile per hour winds.
Enterprise school officials hope to break ground next September
on a new high school that will have some classrooms with interior
shutters that lock during storms. Two elementary schools also will
have the shutter-equipped classrooms with walls built to withstand
powerful winds.
Since the March 1st twisters, the weather service has moved from
a county-based system of warnings to a more geographically specific
storm-based warning system. It gives more precise information about
the location of severe weather and the direction it's expected to
move.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)