As most of you reading this blog likely already know, strong winds collapsed a stage at the Indiana State Fair this weekend, killing five and injuring dozens more. Here is video of the stage collapse, in case you haven't seen it.
Details of how this tragedy unfolded are still murky - separating fact from rumor always takes time in the aftermath. Strong winds have collapsed stages at outdoor events several times in the past few months, so this can't be dismissed as a freak of nature.
There's no excuse for organizers not to have access to the National Weather Service or a private forecasting service to receive detailed information about when and how severe weather may impact a given event. I've heard AccuWeather warned clients in Indianapolis of the gust front's arrival at least an hour before it arrived.
I'm reading that authorities were preparing to evacuate the stage and grandstand in anticipation of the strongest winds arriving at around 9:15 p.m. --- only the fatal gust front arrived nearly a half-hour before the National Weather Service predicted. Were authorities negligent in waiting so long? I have a feeling lawsuits will attempt to answer that question.
I've read that law enforcement officials at the fairgrounds were using radar imagery from their smartphones to help monitor conditions. That imagery may not have been sophisticated enough to show the gust front out in front of the strong thunderstorms. And even if they were, would the officials know enough about meteorology to recognize what that front looked like (or signified) on radar? Most folks aren't.
This year has been filled with far too many examples of people making poor choices when faced with severe weather...and paying an awfully high price for it.
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