Billion Dollar Twisters

Over $1 billion worth of property and belongings were damaged in the 5 separate 2011 twister episodes. But early 2012 tornado disasters have already crossed that figure in damages. Uncertain weather conditions and unprecedented climatic changes have put people very much on the edge. In fact, in several towns in states like Alabama where tornadoes struck last year as well, the March 2012 episodes have sucked out all hope from the residents who were still rebuilding their homes and starting over again. People are wondering if their towns have some sort of twister-attracting property that is causing repeat episodes of the disaster.

From what scientists already know about deadly twisters, their path of destruction is quite arbitrary. If you have seen the tornado information series on Discovery Channel or if you have ever experienced a live tornado and lived to tell the tale, you have probably witnessed this phenomenon. Deadly twisters can be very random and change directions as the storm system builds up on strength. Field studies that were conducted in the aftermath of violent tornado disasters have found tornadoes taking the most unpredictable directions as suggested by debris relocated by them. There is no truth in the fact that certain areas have weather systems that attract violent tornadoes. A statistician would in fact, deem it highly unlikely for an area to be struck repeatedly by a tornado. There is clearly no way to predict if 2012 is going to set a record for tornado disasters. Unfortunately, the odds are in favor of the twisters.

Disaster Preparedness Becomes Need of the Hour

Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas, Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina and West Virginia are some of the states that suffered tornado outbreaks between February and March 2012. Some of these states came under attack in 2011 as well. Over 50 people have lost their lives in these disasters and some really grim news stories of people including children being carried away from their homes by a tornado, are making waves across the US.

As cities expand and the density of population increases, areas become more vulnerable to tornado disasters. A spate of tornadoes in an area typically knocks off the storm warning systems. Although the National Weather Services forecasts were able to warn people in some areas, the fact remains that despite a high-risk warning some of those places were not hit. State government officials are worried that this may result in future warnings not being taken very seriously. As we have already mentioned, there are no tornado-prone or tornado-proof areas. It is best to take heed of the storm warnings and head for the storm shelters in time. In case of these unpredictable and violent twisters, it is better to be safe than sorry and best to stay clear of their sphere of influence!

The following article and information page was written byDon Marks with Jarvis Property Restoration.

At sunrise Saturday, tornado sirens sounded in Oklahoma City when several twisters were reported outside the metropolitan area. A few homes received damage although no serious injuries were reported. However, the most perilous weather is still being predicted by the National Weather Service. Officials are warning people in the Midwest to be prepared overnight for tornado sirens to sound as many fast moving twisters could develop. There is a very large area of the Midwest that is at risk for tornadoes which includes portions of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

One of the tornadoes in Oklahoma Saturday struck near the small community of Piedmont – taking a similar course as a twister last spring that killed several people there. Residents of that community have worked together to create several storm shelters in their town.

It was just the second time in history that the Storm Prediction Center put out a serious warning more than twenty-four hours in advance that the tornado outbreak could be “life-threatening”. The last warning of this kind was in April ’06 when dozens of twisters ripped across the southeastern portion of the country – killing twelve people and damaging hundreds of homes in Tennessee.

In Wichita, sixteen aircraft re-fueling tankers were being relocated Saturday at an Air Force base due to the fact that they would be very costly to replace if damaged by large hail or tornadoes. Numerous events were canceled or rescheduled across Kansas on Saturday due to the rapidly deteriorating weather. Significant damage occurred at a mobile home park in Wichita as well to an industrial section of the city’s south side.

Tornado season started early in the United States this year. Already, fifty-seven deaths have been blamed on twisters in the south and Midwest, raising fears that 2012 will be a repeat of 2011 or perhaps even worse. Last year, 550 people lost their lives in tornadoes including over 300 who were killed in April in five states and 161 were lost their lives in Joplin, Missouri in May.

The following article and information page was written byDon Marks with Jarvis Property Restoration.

The first quarter of the year was also the warmest on record. The early March tornado outbreak in the Southeast and Ohio Valley region of the country which resulted in dozens of fatalities is the first weather event of the year to exceed the one billion dollar mark as far as damages go.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA stated recently that there were over two hundred and twenty tornadoes reported during March – a month that normally averages eighty tornadoes. Most of the tornado activity occurred across the Ohio Valley and in the southeastern portion of the US and resulted in forty people losing their lives. Total losses from the tornadoes are estimated to be more than $1.5 billion – making this the first event of the year to exceed $1 billion in damages and losses.

A large, turbulent weather system affected Hawaii in early March, resulting in extremely heavy rains and severe thunderstorm activity. A rare tornado struck two communities on Oahu, causing some minor damages. In Alaska, the temperatures during March ranked as the 10th
coolest on record. Another system dropped hail the size of softballs – the largest hailstones on record for the state.

The recent cold season in the United States which runs from October to March was the 2nd warmest on record for the lower forty-eight states. Temperatures averaged 3.8 degrees Fahrenheit above average during that period. The most recent cold season which was warmer than the last was that of 1999 to 2000.

What does this all mean? Is the unusual weather in the country related to global warming? Scientists are not sure. There is a whole lot that we still do not know about the planet’s climate. It simply is not known if the recent unusual weather patterns have been brought on by mankind or were caused due to the natural cycle of the earth. We can only hope that through more research we can be better prepared in the future for unexpected and unusual weather conditions.

The following article and information page was written byDon Marks with Jarvis Property Restoration.

When this fungi starts to grow, the mold and mildew spores will start to circulate and spread all over your house and can even deteriorate some of the structure of your house. You can catch mold and mildew growing anywhere in your home, but the basement is probably where you’ll have your biggest problems because of the high levels of moisture down there.

You can get the mold removed professionally or you can try a do it yourself approach. Here is an idea to get rid of any mold or mildew growth you see and stall the future growth of mold in some places you can’t access.

• Scrub the basement floor and walls with disinfectant thoroughly.
There really isn’t much you can do without the help of a pro if there is any growth inside of the floor or walls, but you can clean all of the surface growth you can find. There is a ton of mold and mildew products available for you to use on the market.

When you see any visible discoloration on the floor and walls, use your mold and mildew cleaner on it. Then grab a flashlight and check out those hard to reach type of areas (Mold loves to thrive there) and start moving all of your furniture away from the walls so you can get a good view of the whole surface of the basement.
When you start to clean up all of the mold, make sure you are wearing gloves and a face mask so you don’t get those nasty mold spores all over you and especially in your mouth.

You need to know that mold on concrete basement flooring or walls can be a sign of a very serious problem that can’t be solved by just cleaning the surface. The thing about concrete walls is that they can collect and hold hundreds of gallons of water and provide a pristine environment for mold growth.
Moisture in your home is the enemy, because it is mold and mildews best friend.

A big cause of mold and mildew in your home is high humidity. That means you have got to try your best to remove it as soon as you see it and try to stop all the sources of moisture that you find.

This also means you need to repair any cracks or leaks that you find so you can block water vapors and h20 from getting in there. If you have downspouts that drain on the ground next to your basement, find a way to divert them like using piping to transport the water to the garden or lawn.

Reduce the Humidity
You also have to discourage any future conditions that will help mold and mildew grow in your basement. Using a dehumidifier is a good option, because it will lower the humidity levels in the air so mold growth will be a lot harder in the future.
Of course, the best solution is to prevent mold growth altogether in the first place.

The following article and information page was written byDon Marks with Jarvis Property Restoration.

Portions of eastern Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi are in for very wet weather over the next few days. A NOAA satellite image taken Thursday, March 8th shows massive cloud coverage over this portion of the country with areas of showers, heavy rains and thunderstorms. This bad weather is following a massive cold front that extends from the northern Great Lakes through to the southern High Plains. Heavy downpours of rain will begin early Friday, drenching parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi. Many areas can expect up to two inches of rain through Sunday although some locations – especially north of Houston could see four to six inches of rain.

Home and business owners in the United States who do not have flood insurance should consider doing so – especially those living in low-lying or flood-prone areas. Even though many people are required by lending institutions to have flood insurance, FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program or NFIP recommends that everyone should have an insurance policy in place that covers flooding. Why? Because you do not necessarily have to be in a mapped out flood-plain to experience flooding. While the National Weather Service is not yet warning of the risk of major flooding for Texas and other southern states, flash flooding can occur in just a few short hours following several hours of non-stop rain.

Now is also the time of year to remind people that no state in the US is immune from tornadoes. The earl start to the 2012 tornado season has already proven deadly. Dozens of tornadoes have ripped through many Midwestern states over the past couple of weeks, wiping out entire neighborhoods and small towns.

Springtime is also when homeowners should prepare their homes for the possibility of flooding. It is wise to move valuables out of basements and to store important documents in a dry, safe place. Now is the time to clear eaves-troughs and to make sure downspouts are clear and are positioned so that they send running water several feet away from a home’s foundation. Dying tree branches near homes should be cut away and large outdoor items should be either put away or secured as in the case with fuel tanks.

The following article and information page was written byDon Marks with Jarvis Property Restoration.

The very first round of severe weather will begin Tuesday or Wednesday. Later on during the week another massive storm front may erupt from the Rockies. This storm from the Rockies is expected to surge outwards into the plains. Areas from Kansas and Oklahoma to parts of northern Texas , Arkansas and central to southern Missouri to the middle Mississippi valley are expected to see severe weather this week, starting around Tuesday. The states most at risk for tornado activity this week are western Arkansas, Southern Illinois, southwest Indiana, central, northeast and southeast Kansas, western Kentucky, central and southern Missouri, south-central Nebraska, central and eastern Oklahoma, western Tennessee and north to central Texas. These areas all rate a 3 or 4 on the TOR CON index for this week, meaning these areas have an above average chance of having severe thunderstorms, damaging winds, hail, or tornadoes.

Property repair expert James Wisher says “With spring comes severe weather and property damage. Storms, rain, flooding, wind damage, and tornadoes are all rampant during the spring season. Wind and hail are especially dangerous to roofs, siding, windows. Flooding utterly ruins many basements during the spring season.” It is important to be prepared for the worse, and have the necessary home insurance which will cover flood, storm, wind and hail damage to your home. It is also vital to know where to turn to should the worst happen, and serious damage happens to your home. Do you know of a good company you can turn to which deals with the damage that weather can wreck upon a home? One can also have work done on their home to better shelter it against adverse weather. If you live in an area with high risk for weather damage, have you done all you can to protect your home, and weatherize your property?

This year has seen some extremely adverse weather patterns world wide. Many people learned to late that they could have had work done to the home to prepare the home for adverse weather conditions, work that could have saved much money and heart ache, after disaster struck to close to home. From better roofing to installing flood control measures in the home basement, much can be done to prepare for the worst. Perhaps now is the time to start thinking about adverse weather, and the intense property damage that can occur due to it.

The following article and information page was written byDon Marks with Jarvis Property Restoration.

There are innumerable causes of property fires, be it natural or man-made, electrical, organic or chemical. The first thing you must do after the blaze dies down is find the right protective gear. Of course, this is best left to professional firefighters and certified personnel who know when to start cleanup on your property or home that has been affected by the fire. But if you still need to inspect everything for yourself, make sure not to enter without gloves, a gas mask and protective body covering including rubber boots. Remember that your eyes also need protection, so don’t miss wearing goggles either.

When you hire professional, they will generally start by clearing out the air trapped inside, by using blowers, fans and opening up all windows, doors, skylights and vents. The next thing that will be done is to clear out soot off all surfaces, be it floor, walls, tables, windows, kitchen counters or any other area. This reduces the level of carbon monoxide infection and soot allergy. If you do not want to hire professionals and want to get the job done yourself, make sure you are aware of the basic of odor removal or else you won’t get the desired results at all.

You must know why fabric is susceptible to smoke odor before you begin cleaning, and also know that different material react differently to smoke. Because fabric is porous, the smoke molecules cling to them and get absorbed much easily than they do on non-porous surfaces. Still, letting the lingering odor of smoke remain on your home surfaces will only worsen it over time. Because smoke stains and become putrid over time, you will need to get proper cleaning agents to remove smoke odor from all surfaces. Remember that just spraying a deodorizing agent will not solve your problem.

Experts suggest use of special industrial spray products that help to deodorize and lessen the odor rather than just masking it for a while, at the same time sanitizing and disinfecting the air. Professional cleanup agencies will begin by testing every nook and cranny for the presence of smoke and use thermal defogging to remove any lingering presence. After that, they will make sure to discard any organic item and food material affected by smoke, making sure to dispose them off permanently.

A good idea to help remove smoke is use charcoal by placing them in closets, cabinets and cupboards to absorb the smell. Using ground coffee beans to remove odor of clothes is another helpful idea. Wash the affected clothes and store them in a plastic liner bag by placing a small bundle of ground coffee beans wrapped in linen and then seal the bag. Let it remain so for 24 hours at least. Washing clothes with vinegar will also help, as well as scrubbing walls and table tops with detergent mixed with vinegar.

The following article and information page was written byDon Marks with Jarvis Property Restoration.

As a homeowner living in a cold climate, you should know what conditions cause pipes to freeze and how to take care of plumbing issues that may crop up. Unfortunately, every winter in the United States, thousands of homeowners wake up or return home to find that the pipes inside their homes froze, burst and spilled hundreds and even gallons of icy cold water into their homes. Imagine how horrified you would feel if that were to happen to you. Plus the expenses which come along with such a home disaster can lead to financial ruin.

One thing you can do to prevent a pipe from freezing and bursting is to allow a small trickle of water to run out of faucets as moving water cannot freeze. You also can open cabinet doors to allow pipes to receive warm air. If you have exposed pipes in crawl spaces or your basement you should purchase a pipe insulation kit from a local hardware store and apply it to those pipes.

Even a modern, well-insulated home can experience a horrendous water leak from frozen and burst pipes. However, this problem usually only arises when the heating system fails during cold weather and no one is around to take notice. It is often the homeowner who is away on vacation that this happens to because the furnace can die, the power can go out or the fuel supply can be shut off somehow and he/she is not there to know it. The best way to avoid this happening to your home this winter while you are away is to have a friend or neighbor go to your house every day or two to make sure everything’s alright.

Be sure to leave your contact information with that person and give him or her the number of the heating system service company you use. If you cannot find someone to check your home,then you should shut off the water supply. This way, if a pipe does break, it will only spill out a few gallons of water and not thousands.

The following article and information page was written byDon Marks with Jarvis Property Restoration.

If you have seen icicles hanging from roofs or shingles of houses, you’ll probably have an idea of how ice accumulates on rooftops during winter. This water and snow damage causes a lot of destruction to both outer and inner structures of homes of people living in colder regions. Outer damages are one thing, but destruction of walls and inside of your house are not only expensive to repair, but also annoying. The reason this happens is because the heat trapped inside your house escapes upwards towards the roof and makes the accumulated ice or snow melt.

Generally, any accumulated water would flow down your roof and drain away, but during winters, the flowing water refreezes again due to the cold climate, turning into ice and ending up clogging the drainage pipes. This phenomenon is called an ice dam, which is basically a hardened ridge of snow that forms on the edge of your roof, acting as a dam that prevents anything from draining away through the gutter. Ice dams are generally formed when the outside temperature is below freezing point as averse to the internal temperatures that are above freezing point.

This temperature difference often heats and melts the residual water, causing it to want to escape through any means, and because spouts and drainpipes remain clogged with ice, the water seeps inside your house through any present cracks or gaps, not only damaging walls, peeling off plaster or paint, but also causing major structural damage. The trapped internal heat is either transferred via conduction or convection. Conduction heat transfers through solid materials, often the heat trapped by attic ceilings, insulating material, etc. Convection heat spreads into the air through exhaust pipes, heaters, recessed lights, etc.
Removal of ice dams is generally expensive because if you try to do it yourself and damage your entire roof you’ll have to pay not only for ice removal, but also to rebuild your roof. But if you don’t want to spend a lot of dough and yet want to prevent snow damage, following a few simple tips will help. Use a pantyhose or stocking filled with calcium chloride and place it all over the ice dam. This will melt the ice slowly and allow it to drain off without spoiling your roof.

Make sure you seal all gaps around the attic or ceilings are filled and increase your home insulation and ventilation capacities, letting the heated air escape properly, rather than destroying your roof in the process. Don’t try to chisel out solid ice from pipes if you are a novice. Call professionals. They know what to do and they’ll rid you off permanent headache without actually causing any damage to your home.

The following article and information page was written byDon Marks with Jarvis Property Restoration.