Anyone know how to report injuries to the National Weather Service?

[CZroe]

A couple weeks ago we took a direct hit from an EF-4 tornado. I was trying to get a tarp up where the roof used to be and it seems the ceiling wasn’t done collapsing. I’ve been to a clinic, an orthopedic surgeon, and had an MRI with no use of my shoulder and my arm in a sling for weeks yet it doesn’t seem to be getting much better. All of them know my injury is related to the tornado but it does not seem to have made it up the chain because the official report from the National Weather Service still lists no injuries:

Heard, Coweta, and Fayette County Tornado (Newnan EF-4)

www.weather.gov

Even if they missed mine, 0 injuries is odd because the devastation around me is unreal. I’d expect hundreds of injuries. I deliberately avoided going to the ER even after the clinic insisted since I assumed they were overwhelmed with others more injured than I was. THAT’S how sure I was. The orthopedic surgeon even told me I made the right call, so it sounds like he is aware of much more serious injuries from that night. I mean, houses only feet away from me are completely gone except for a bare foundation and the devastation goes on for miles and miles and miles. When your house is completely gone, where could you even shelter inside to avoid injury?! Others were definitely injured.

I’m convinced that it’s a lot more than just me, but at the very least I’d like to make sure my injury is counted. Any clue where to get started?

 

[highland145]

Call your congressman's office. Amazing the things they can get done in 24 hours that you can't ever get done.

PM me and I'll give you my #.

 

[pete6032]

As Highland said, call you Congress person. They are there to help you with other Fed agencies.

 

[CZroe]

Thanks, guys. I’ve got another orthopedic appointment on Monday regarding my arm but I’ll work the call in before work.

 

[Spacehead]

Dumb question... do they count injuries after the fact as tornado related?

Sorry to hear about the damage & i hope you get your shoulder/arm fixed.

 

[CZroe]

Dumb question... do they count injuries after the fact as tornado related?

Sorry to hear about the damage & i hope you get your shoulder/arm fixed.

The fatality they counted was after the fact. A man’s house was damaged as was his daughter’s house nearby. No power, no Internet, and even the cell towers were down so he was rushing over to check on her when he had a heart attack. Rescue services couldn’t reach him due to the impassable streets and he died. He was supposed to walk her down the aisle the next day.

That said, my injury happened the day the tornado hit. I tried to use a shower curtain to funnel water into the hot tub but it wasn’t working. Every time the ceiling would collapse a little more I’d have to run around with bins trying to figure out where the water was going now. When the rain stopped I got a tarp and when it came back I went through the attic to try and cover the master bath/master bed where there was no roof anymore. The ceiling wasn’t done collapsing and I went through, contorted and dangling in the master bedroom until I could pull myself back up (without the use of my arm).

Starting to wonder if I will forever be like those old guys who can’t lift their arm over their head due to a past injury.

 

[Spacehead]

OK, didn't know how that worked. Man, that really sucks.

Local Red Cross maybe? I wonder if it needs to be reported to NWS not by the injured person but by some other agency/hospital?

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I’m convinced that it’s a lot more than just me, but at the very least I’d like to make sure my injury is counted. Any clue where to get started?

At the bottom of the page you linked to is a phone number:

National Weather Service
Peachtree City, GA
4 Falcon Drive
Peachtree City, GA 30269
770.486.1133

Comments? Questions? Please Contact Us.


Those damage assessments are preliminary and may be updated over several days or weeks.

 

[lxskllr]

Dunno about the injury report, but good luck getting your body/life back together.

 

[allisolm]

Dunno about the injury report, but good luck getting your body/life back together.

This.

 

[LikeLinus]

Sorry to hear about your house and injuries. Hopefully you fully recover.

Sounds like you have bigger things to deal with. Why in the world are you worried about an article on the NWS web site that no one ever reads? Plus, there's a whole lot of "I’m convinced" and other comments about how you don't actually know. Most likely, those reports come from rescue workers, EMT and Hospitals. You avoided all of that, but you're convinced all these other people were hurt? Your injury wasn't due to the tornado hitting, it was due to you repairing damage from a tornado. Two totally different things.

The death? We would have to actually see an article about it. They didn't mention how the person died in the article you linked.

Anyways, best of luck in your getting everything back to normal. I wouldn't worry about the NWS stuff.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that sucks, sorry to hear about the damage and injury, hope everything works out and you didn't lose too much of the house.

I suppose it would not hurt to call the weather service to report it and maybe show picture of damage, but I don't think that really means that much, or is there some way of actually getting compensation if they did not have a tornado warning?

 

[Torn Mind]

Government bureaucracy has the power to arbitrate what gets recorded or not and being accurate is impossible to enforce. These are bureaucrats and thus the people who fire them are not elected officials.

If they want to fudge the numbers, they're going to fudge them.

 

[Greenman]

I was once at a fire that happened at a friends business. A shed full of junk burned down. The fire chief asked me what I thought the loss was, I said $250k. That's what was reported and became the official estimate of the loss.

 

[deadlyapp]

As another poster mentioned, is there any particular reason why you care? Are you uninsured and the only way to get it covered is as a disaster related injury?

By any means, I would seem to think a consequential injury does not in fact belie a storm injury. I could be wrong, but it seems like you could have almost unlimited injuries caused by a storm if you didn't curtail it somehow.

 

[CZroe]

Saw a caravan with a police escort going through the neighborhood this morning with some inside a shuttle bus that is normally used to get people from Atlanta airport to my city's cancer center. Looks like it was an entourage with Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff doing a tour before appealing to FEMA for federal aid:

To anyone who has seen it in person it is unimaginable that it has taken more than 3 weeks to even ask. Without a presidential declaration FEMA couldn't help me with a motel room. Obviously, I'm more concerned with getting aid to my neighbors since some of them lost everything but the anecdote is real. Salvation Army/Red Cross assistance is running out for the people who need it:

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

www.youtube.com

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

www.youtube.com

You injury wasn't due to the tornado hitting, it was due to you trying to repair damage from a tornado. Two totally different things.

By any means, I would seem to think a consequential injury does not in fact belie a storm injury. I could be wrong, but it seems like you could have almost unlimited injuries caused by a storm if you didn't curtail it somehow.

Though it did happen hours later, where did I say anything to give either of you the impression that this didn’t happen in the immediate aftermath exactly like the person who died? Even if my car were not crushed under a tree, the streets were impassable even on foot so I was stuck in the house with no roof for several hours and forced to try and stop the ongoing collapse of the ceiling. I even have video of myself trying to climb up there with a shower curtain in the first hour:

The injury didn’t happen in the first hour but it did happen in the immediate aftermath/response before the streets were passable, before I could abandon the home for safety elsewhere, and before any kind of "repair" could begin. All the bedrooms were upstairs under the missing roof (read: "uninhabitable") and the water was even coming down on us in the living room so we spent the next few hours trying to catch water in bins, redirect water with shower curtains and tarps, and run upstairs to reposition things each time another chunk of the ceiling collapsed, changing the flow.

Daylight brought a momentary respite from the rain and allowed us to see in the attic well enough to set up a tarp but, without rain, we were tempted to get the tree off my car first. Even with sunlight the displaced insulation made it impossible to see footing in the attic but the rain soon resumed so I had to try again... then fell through the master bedroom ceiling as more of the roof collapsed around me. I injured my arm and ribs and was left dangling into the master bedroom before any help could arrive.

MRI says it's a fracture at my rotator cuff. Since I cannot lift my arm from the shoulder even if you pointed a gun at me, it definitely involves tissue attached at the rotator cuff. A torn rotator cuff requires surgery, so the orthopedic surgeon and I are hoping it's just connective tissue agitating the fracture but won't know for sure until we give it time to heal (two more weeks in a sling).

The death? We would have to actually see an article about it. They didn't mention how the person died in the article you linked.

Plenty of those around so you don’t have to take my word for it, but it's not like anyone asked you. Just what are trying to imply here? Honestly, I'm insulted by your presumptions and assumptions... like this was ever your call. Is there some reason you can't accept my premise and make incorrect assumptions about what I was doing and when?

His daughter's house was severely damaged in the tornado (see photo in the article linked above). He tried to walk a quarter mile to check on her because the roads were impassable. In all the destruction and chaos he had a heart attack and died with no way for paramedics to get to him.

This website is unavailable in your location. – WSB-TV Channel 2 - Atlanta

www.wsbtv.com

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FAMILY LOST EVERYTHING - LOVING FATHER AND HOME, organized by Alison Owen

Hello Everyone, Tragedy struck Newnan, Ga last night leaving one of our … Alison Owen needs your support for FAMILY LOST EVERYTHING - LOVING FATHER AND HOME

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Not to equate my injury with their tragedy, but he was dealing with the exact same destruction and chaos and impassable roads I was dealing with when I was injured only hours apart.

I took an even more direct hit from an EF-4 than he did, and I don't mean a tornado that got classified as an EF-4 somewhere else on it's 39 mile track... I mean I was literally the first house in the exact neighborhood where it was confirmed EF-4. It hit me first and then wiped a neighbor's house clean off the foundation only 800 feet away and that's what they used to confirm EF-4 winds (the red spot on Arlington Court in the NWS report I linked in the OP). Though our house was still standing, it barely made it. Only remnants of a roof, balcony ripped off, support columns cracked, chimney gone, car crushed, house twisted, walls split, windows broken, and you can even see in our video during the moment of impact that it was lifting off the foundation, buckling the basement stairwell wall (the damage visible was not there before). We were extremely lucky compared to our neighbors who didn't have a wall left standing but we still got hit HARD and I am a bit insulted that you'd belittle it with incorrect assumptions.

The rest of my aftermath footage doesn't even begin to show the devastation since I couldn't get close to the worst damage in many places.

 

[CZroe]

As another poster mentioned, is there any particular reason why you care?

Yes. As mentioned, the state had not yet petitioned for federal aid and getting the numbers wrong could impact things. At the end of the Ossoff/Warnock video above you can hear a reporter asking why it has taken them 3 weeks to even ask, so it seems we are slipping through the cracks. Glad something's finally being done about it but the application would go a whole lot better if they could actually include the injuries.

These guys literally drove past me in my sling today since my exact neighborhood was ground zero for the strongest part of the tornado's 39 mile track (EF-4 confirmed here).

Here is another report about their visit and petition for federal aid:

...and another:

I was trying to get ahead of that.

 

[LikeLinus]

Saw a caravan with a police escort going through the neighborhood this morning with some inside a shuttle bus that is normally used to get people from Atlanta airport to my city's cancer center. Looks like it was an entourage with Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff doing a tour before appealing to FEMA for federal aid:

To anyone who has seen it in person it is unimaginable that it has taken more than 3 weeks to even ask. Without a presidential declaration FEMA couldn't help me with a motel room. Obviously, I'm more concerned with getting aid to my neighbors since some of them lost everything but the anecdote is real. Salvation Army assistance is running out for the people who need it:

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

www.youtube.com

Though it did happen hours later, where did I say anything to give either of you the impression that this didn’t happen in the immediate aftermath exactly like the person who died? Even if my car were not crushed under a tree, the streets were impassable even on foot so I was stuck in the house with no roof for several hours and forced to try and stop the ongoing collapse of the ceiling. I even have video of myself trying to climb up there with a shower curtain in the first hour:

The injury didn’t happen in the first hour but it did happen in the immediate aftermath/response before the streets were passable, before I could abandon the home for safety elsewhere, and before any kind of "repair" could begin. All the bedrooms were upstairs under the missing roof (read: "uninhabitable") and the water was even coming down on us in the living room so we spent the next few hours trying to catch water in bins, redirect water with shower curtains and tarps, and run upstairs to reposition things each time another chunk of the ceiling collapsed, changing the flow.

Daylight brought a momentary respite from the rain and allowed us to see in the attic well enough to set up a tarp but, without rain, we were tempted to get the tree off my car first. Even with sunlight the displaced insulation made it impossible to see footing in the attic but the rain soon resumed so I had to try again... then fell through the master bedroom ceiling as more of the roof collapsed around me. I injured my arm and ribs and was left dangling into the master bedroom before any help could arrive.

MRI says it's a fracture at my rotator cuff. Since I cannot lift my arm from the shoulder even if you pointed a gun at me, it definitely involves tissue attached at the rotator cuff. A torn rotator cuff requires surgery, so the orthopedic surgeon and I are hoping it's just connective tissue agitating the fracture but won't know for sure until we give it time to heal (two more weeks in a sling).


Plenty of those around so you don’t have to take my word for it, but it's not like anyone asked you. Just what are trying to imply here? Honestly, I'm insulted by your presumptions and assumptions... like this was ever your call. Is there some reason you can't accept my premise and make incorrect assumptions about what I was doing and when?

His daughter's house was severely damaged in the tornado (see photo in the article linked above). He tried to walk a quarter mile to check on her because the roads were impassable. In all the destruction and chaos he had a heart attack and died with no way for paramedics to get to him.

This website is unavailable in your location. – WSB-TV Channel 2 - Atlanta

www.wsbtv.com

GDPR Support

www.ajc.com

FAMILY LOST EVERYTHING - LOVING FATHER AND HOME, organized by Alison Owen

Hello Everyone, Tragedy struck Newnan, Ga last night leaving one of our … Alison Owen needs your support for FAMILY LOST EVERYTHING - LOVING FATHER AND HOME

www.gofundme.com

Not to equate my injury with their tragedy, but he was dealing with the exact same destruction and chaos and impassable roads I was dealing with when I was injured only hours apart.

I took an even more direct hit from an EF-4 than he did, and I don't mean a tornado that got classified as an EF-4 somewhere else on it's 39 mile track... I mean I was literally the first house in the exact neighborhood where it was confirmed EF-4. It hit me first and then wiped a neighbor's house clean off the foundation only 800 feet away and that's what they used to confirm EF-4 winds (the red spot on Arlington Court in the NWS report I linked in the OP). Though our house was still standing, it barely made it. Only remnants of a roof, balcony ripped off, support columns cracked, chimney gone, car crushed, house twisted, walls split, windows broken, and you can even see in our video during the moment of impact that it was lifting off the foundation, buckling the basement stairwell wall (the damage visible was not there before). We were extremely lucky compared to our neighbors who didn't have a wall left standing but we still got hit HARD and I am a bit insulted that you'd belittle it with incorrect assumptions.

The rest of my aftermath footage doesn't even begin to show the devastation since I couldn't get close to the worst damage in many places.

Basically, those injuries were not caused by the initial Tornado impact. The person didn't die of the result of being stuck in a house that collapsed. He left and was freely running to check on this daughter. He was killed by heart attack. The NWS may not count those because they were not the direct cause, because it was due to his possibly over-exerting himself? Who knows

if someone has a car wreck, then you try to rescue someone from the vehicle and have a heart attack doing it, do you think the insurance would consider you a part of the wreck? Would the police report say you were involved in a two car accident?


I didn't make any incorrect assumptions and I never said you asked me (fyi you did when you ask for help in public, you can't pick and choose who answers). We are helping you by giving you examples and reason why it was not reported. Get all upset about it, if you choose, but you asked the questions. You create a public post, don't get pissed when people have a different of option or other thoughts. Let it go.

 

[skyking]

If EMT/Fire cannot get to you due to the storm, then yes it matters.

 

[CZroe]

Basically, those injuries were not caused by the initial Tornado impact. The person didn't die of the result of being stuck in a house that collapsed. He left and was freely running to check on this daughter. He was killed by heart attack. The NWS may not count those because they were not the direct cause, because it was due to his possibly over-exerting himself? Who knows

if someone has a car wreck, then you try to rescue someone from the vehicle and have a heart attack doing it, do you think the insurance would consider you a part of the wreck? Would the police report say you were involved in a two car accident?


I didn't make any incorrect assumptions and I never said you asked me (fyi you did when you ask for help in public, you can't pick and choose who answers). We are helping you by giving you examples and reason why it was not reported. Get all upset about it, if you choose, but you asked the questions. You create a public post, don't get pissed when people have a different of option or other thoughts. Let it go.

What are you talking about? The reason we are talking about him is because they DID count him.
Fatalities: 1
Injuries: 0

You made several incorrect assumptions:
You assumed it happened when I was repairing the house, which is blatantly not true. I was still trapped in the house and the roof/ceiling was still collapsing.
You implied that it happened later when it happened in the immediate aftermath.
You implied that I avoided reporting to rescue workers but when they checked on me the next day I shared my injury and I did not avoid them. Also, I would expect the clinic, orthopedic surgeon, MRI practice, etc to report their cases as well and they all knew what it was.
The news also reported "many" injuries yet you twisted my words to imply that I was unsure and "don't actually know."

When I said that no one asked you, I was talking about your insinuation that you'd need to see an article about the single death for you to render your verdict or whatever. You were barking up the wrong tree entirely. Not only was it not my question, it wasn't even a question ...so, no, I didn't ask the public. I asked the public how to report my injury, which is a completely different question.

Again, what were you trying to imply about the man who died of a heart attack that absolutely was counted? It's counted and reported everywhere as the only death attributed to this specific tornado. It counts. It's not disputed.

That said, the same tornado outbreak caused many smaller tornados and several deaths (~6) right across the border in Alabama which may also be considered when determining if this is a federal disaster area.

 

[CZroe]

If EMT/Fire cannot get to you due to the storm, then yes it matters.

Yes, and they did count it. Doesn't even matter if it was likely brought on directly by the distress or difficulty reaching her (he would've been climbing over trees and stepping over downed power lines for sure). Even weeks later I am tripping and falling as I try to walk to the nearby square. Even the sidewalks that aren't covered with power lines and tree trunks are covered with branches and debris that will pop up and catch your feet as you shift your balance. He would've had one treacherous walk/climb/crawl.

Sorry to hear about your house and injuries. Hopefully you fully recover.

Sounds like you have bigger things to deal with. Why in the world are you worried about an article on the NWS web site that no one ever reads? Plus, there's a whole lot of "I’m convinced" and other comments about how you don't actually know. Most likely, those reports come from rescue workers, EMT and Hospitals. You avoided all of that, but you're convinced all these other people were hurt? Your injury wasn't due to the tornado hitting, it was due to you repairing damage from a tornado. Two totally different things.

The death? We would have to actually see an article about it. They didn't mention how the person died in the article you linked.

Anyways, best of luck in your getting everything back to normal. I wouldn't worry about the NWS stuff.

Look, man, sorry to put you on the defensive like that and I do appreciate your concern but please don't belittle mine with your presumptive and off-base responses. I’m concerned with the application for federal aid for the sake of the people around me who lost everything. It isn't about me, or insurance, or medical bills, or free hotel rooms.

 

[CZroe]

https://youtu.be/W2uGppxBKYE
https://youtu.be/MWHVXF7ezUk
https://youtu.be/ug1wzFq3joE

 

[brianmanahan]

whoaaaa

 

[LikeLinus]

Yes, and they did count it. Doesn't even matter if it was likely brought on directly by the distress or difficulty reaching her (he would've been climbing over trees and stepping over downed power lines for sure). Even weeks later I am tripping and falling as I try to walk to the nearby square. Even the sidewalks that aren't covered with power lines and tree trunks are covered with branches and debris that will pop up and catch your feet as you shift your balance. He would've had one treacherous walk/climb/crawl.


Look, man, sorry to put you on the defensive like that and I do appreciate your concern but please don't belittle mine with your presumptive and off-base responses. I’m concerned with the application for federal aid for the sake of the people around me who lost everything. It isn't about me, or insurance, or medical bills, or free hotel rooms.

My apologies, I thought you had said his injury wasn't counted as a death. I now see that it was indeed.


That said, it's funny you say I'm being presumptive. Especially when the OP says:
"Others were definitely injured." and "I’m convinced that it’s a lot more than just me"

Those are exactly that, presumptive.

Anyways, not to argue the point further, please get better and hopefully your recover is swift. Quit worrying about an article. Seems totally silly at this point. It won't change anything in the long run. What would you achieve if it says 1 injured because he complained on the interwebs? Nothing.

 

[skyking]

When your shoulder is basically dangling useless it is easy to obsess about this kind of thing.
I had both shoulder rotator cuff surgeries in 2019. One was a traditional repair and very successful IMO, but the other was a massive tear and required a graft of donor tissue. Do take care OP, best of luck man.