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Headlines - 14 May 2000
Horrific Tornado Tears Through South Chicago: 418 Dead, 876 Injured, Many Still Missing
(AP, Chicago - 14 May 2000) In one of the worst weather disasters ever to strike Chicago, a huge tornado ripped through the south side of Chicago today, leaving a 10 mile swath of destruction in its path. The freakish storm appeared out of clear skies over Lake Michigan around 6pm. The tornado formed above the lake which was filled with pleasure boats enjoying the deceptively mild weather and smooth waters. The tornado sucked up numerous boats and jet skis -- four small boats and three jet skis are unaccounted for as of yet. The tornado rose before landfall, and came down a quarter mile into the city, in the Washington Park Court division.The tornado tracked southwest, through numerous residential and commercial neighborhoods. I-90 has been shut down near Harper Avenue due to the overpasses having collapsed. At its largest, the tornado was more than a half-mile wide, and cut a 10-mile-long swath of destruction. The National Weather Service ranked the tornado an F5, the strongest on the Fujita Tornado Scale. Doppler weather radar measured the storm's winds at 318 miles per hour. Eight thousand homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed. The damage is being totaled at about $1 billion.
This storm is unusual in speed in which it formed, and it's brevity. The National Weather Service reports that such a storm shouldn't have been capable of forming, due to the stable air masses that had been in the region for several days. Numerous videotapes of the storm taken by people who witnessed its development show huge thunderheads forming in less than eight minutes. The tornado was rated by the National Weather Service as an F5 category -- it's highest category, with sustained winds of over 200 miles per hour. F5 storms are very rare, and account for less than 1% of all tornados. They typically run for over 50 miles. This one was on the ground for a little less than 10 miles before dissipating.
"This storm is an enigma. The prevailing atmospheric conditions were against it's formation", says Dr. Paul Hopkins of the National Weather Service. Internet chat rooms have been full of speculation, the more outlandish of which cites possible metahuman activities, or experimental weather research. The Weatherman, a Los Angeles based metahuman, is the only known individual capable of summoning storms. "If this is the work of a paranormal, I do not want to meet him. This storm makes anything I can summon up look like a mid-summer sprinkle".
Area hospitals were overloaded by emergency cases. Triage units were set up in along the path left by the killer storm, giving the appearance of a war zone. Numerous police, fire, and city services are still at work looking for survivors. Also involved in the cleanup is a new team of metahumans, who are associated with Archangel and Liberty Belle of the old Team America.
Gov. George H. Ryan declared the city a disaster area. Federal Emergency
Management Agency workers were expected to arrive by tonight to determine
whether the area should receive federal aid. Mayor Richard M. Daley
has given praise for the city workers and the hundreds of volunteers who
have been helping in this emergency.
Wildcat Found Dead in Hospital Room
(AP, Los Angeles - May 13, 2000) The paranormal hero, Wildcat, adored by the majority of citizens in Los Angeles, was found dead in his room at LA Memorial Hospital. He had been recovering serious injuries incurred during a fight with the Destroyers outside a US government warehouse. Wildcat had been trying to prevent the theft of a Cray Nexus-5 super computer. Dr. William Robinson, head of the Intensive Care Unit at Memorial, reports that Wildcat had been recovering quickly, and was recently downgraded from "critical" to "serious". "I had spoken with him Tuesday night as I was leaving for home, and he was cracking jokes about when we'd let him leave. I received word at 3 am this morning that he had died unexpectedly."So far, the hospital has not released an official cause of death, but a hospital official, speaking anonymously, stated that the window to Wildcat's 8th story room had been forced open from the outside.
Memorial services are set for May 12th, at the Beuna Vista Funeral Home.
Ethiopia Calls for New Accord on Nile Waters
(BBC - May 12, 2000) The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, has again called for changes in the way the waters of the Nile are shared between countries in the region.In an interview with the Arab-language newspaper, al-Hayat, Mr Meles said the agreement signed by Egypt and Sudan in 1959 did not take into account the other eleven countries which shared the Nile basin.
Correspondents say Ethiopia wants to dam the tributaries of the Blue Nile in the belief that Egypt and Sudan are using an unfair amount of the Nile's water.
Cairo is opposed to any review of the agreement. Set, the paranormal
ruler of Egypt, has said that his country will thwart any attempts to
divert any water away from the Nile. "For over 4,000 years, the
Nile has flown to my country. The Nile is Egypt, and Egypt is the
Nile!"
Few Leads in Missing Infants Case
(AP, Raleigh, NC - May 11, 2000) The FBI has set up it's mobile crime lab here in the capitol of North Carolina to establish a national command post investigating the recent abductions of infants from maternity wards across the US. So far, 6 of the 10 missing babies have been taken fromareas in rural North Carolina, while the other four have been abducted from Cleveland, OH, Tampa, FL, Mascoutah, IL, and Lafeyette, LA.Lt. Robert "Bobbie" Bastonne, an FBI field agent has been placed in charge of the investigation. "Yes, there is a potential for paranormal involvement in this case, but nothing we have points to that at this stage. My PRIMUS liaison duties aside, I asked to be assigned to this case, as the baby stolen from Lafeyette is from my home town", said Bastonne.
The FBI has not reported on what evidence has been found, other than to issue a blanket statement that few leads have turned up at this point. A national tip line, 1-888-555-5986, has been established to get help from the public. If you have any information on the abductions, a $500,000 reward is being offered if that information leads to the capture and prosecution of those responsible.
WoodSprite Working with US Forest Service to Reclaim Burnt Parkland
(Reuters, Washington, DC - May 14, 2000) The United States Forestry Service has announced today that it has enlisted the aid of Woodsprite, the paranormal hero who operates out of Seattle, Washington. Woodsprite, with powers that affect the growth of plants, has agreed to help rejuvenate the Yellowstone National Forest. Last August, Yellowstone suffered it's second devastating fire in a decade, caused by a freak electrical storm, perhaps caused by the El Nino weather currents.Super Happenings!
(Jeffrey Sinclair, HeroTimes - May 16, 2000) Archangel has confirmed rumors that he and Liberty Belle are sponsoring a new meta-team in Chicago. The currently unnamed team was first seen working together at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, where they came out of the crowd to thwart the kidnapping plans of the Destroyers. Archangel said that the group was meeting to discuss forming a team when the violent tornado that hit Chicago formed. They were busy this past weekend helping to rescue the survivors of that storm. The only publicly known member of the new team is Titan, and he's been a mainstay in Chicago for several years now. Archangel reports that an official announcement will be made in a matter of days. We wish them the best of luck, and we'll be keeping an eye on them!Our deepest condolences to the friends and family of Wildcat, who was apparently murdered last Tuesday night in his hospital bed. He was a true hero, and will be missed! Wildcat's been in the hospital for several weeks after a fight with the Destroyers.
Medusa going good? Police reports show that the villainess
Medusa, who haunts the Big Apple, saved two University of Texas co-eds
from certain rape and worse when she stoned the seven gang-bangers who
were assaulting the as-yet unidentified women in the infamous NYC subway.
Medusa, true to her nom de guerre, can turn flesh to stone with her gaze
alone.
"Slime Man" Spotted in Downtown Chicago Drain System
(Chicago Tribune - May 16, 2000) For the second time in as many weeks, Chicago Department of Sewers workmen have reported sighting a strange, human-shaped being moving about in the tunnels beneath the city. Mark Sheppard, 38, and Calvin Hobbes, 21, were inspecting the 16 foot wide main lines beneath the areas hit by the recent tornado, looking for damage. "It was really freaky looking", reports Sheppard. "Calvin was checking out one of the feeder pipes under Dearborn and 47th, when I heard him yell. I ran around the corner, and he had his flashlight shining on this thing." The being is described as approximately 7 feet tall, and is apparently covered in a thick greenish slime. It made no move to attack either Sheppard or Hobbes, and dove into the water flowing through the pipe beneath the walkways.Earlier this month, Jack Trammel, 56, reported spotting the being in a similar drain under W. Armitage and Ashland streets. "A couple of EPA guys came out, took some samples of the goo left by the thing, and said they'd get back to me. I haven't heard anything in weeks now.", says Trammel. However, Emily Chiu, assistant director of the Chicago EPA office, denies any knowledge of such an investigation. "We carefully track all investigations, and we've sent no one out to look into this. This is the first we've heard of it.", she says. The men were evidently imposters.