Dangerous Weather You Can't Hide From: Oklahoma Faced Tornadoes, Floods On Wednesday.

This photo recently taken in Oklahoma, posted on
Twitter by @_JalenRoss pretty much sums up
that state this time of year. Last night, Oklahoma
dealt with the dangerous dual threats of 
tornadoes and flash floods 

It's kind of hard to figure out what to do when you are simultaneously told the following:

"A tornado's coming, get down into the basement!"

And  

"A flash flood is coming, get out of the basement!"

That's kind of what Oklahoman faced Wednesday as a dynamic stirred up both tornadoes and flash flooding. It almost seemed like no place was safe. 

Luckily there were only a handful of confirmed tornadoes in Oklahoma last evening, but even those caused damage, especially in and around the city of Seminole. 

Residents in the Sooner State are waking up to extensive flooding this morning. That's especially true in eastern Oklahoma, where three to as much as ten inches of rain fell overnight. 

As the Washington Post explains, Oklahoma on Wednesday experienced the kind of scary weather day known as a TORFF. (That sort of an acronym is shorthand for a simultaneous threat from tornadoes and flash floods). 

TORFFs are more common than you might think. The Washington Post has lots of examples. Back on May 31, 2013, for instance, there was a huge tornado near El Reno, Oklahoma.

The National Weather Service office near Oklahoma City wisely responded to the tornado with this warning: "This is an extremely dangerous and life threatening situation. If you cannot get underground go to a storm shelter or an interior room of a sturdy building now!"

A family of seven heeded that warning and fled to a low storm drain. Then a flash flood roared in, killing all seven. 

There's other examples of how dangerous TORFFs can be. When the Houston metro area was drowning in catastrophic flooding during 2017's Hurricane Harvey, several tornado warnings were also issue as some of the storm cells producing the torrential downpours were also capable of producing tornadoes.

And last year, a tornado emergency was declared in southern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania as a large twister associated with ex-Hurricane Ida roared through. At the exact same time, torrential downpours that would lead to catastrophic flooding in the area were moving in.

That's just a few examples, but TORFFs happen A LOT. Says the Washington Post, citing researchers from Texas A&M University and Colorado State University: "Between 2008 and 2020, the pair documented locations that saw both a tornado warning and a flash flood warning within a half hour. They found thousands of examples, spread from Hawaii to Florida and from California to Maine."

 Luckily here in Vermont TORFFs are rare but possible. On May, 26, 2011 for instance, rotating supercell thunderstorms prompted tornado  and flash flood warnings across much of central Vermont. 

In that case, no tornadoes are known to have touched down, but some areas of central and northern Vermont suffered thunderstorm wind damage and a destructive flash flood developed with this system. 

On May 29, 2012, a supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado near Glover, Vermont and produced severe, damaging flash floods in nearby Belvidere and Lowell. 

Also, a tornado touched down in Bakersfield, Vermont on July 18,2008 while the storm system prompted flash flood warnings nearby. 

So, how do we simultaneously warn people of tornadoes and flash floods without inadvertently getting people killed?

Part of the solutions, says the Washington Post, is to improve communication within National Weather Service offices. Often, you'll have the staff severe storms expert keeping track of the tornadoes while a separate hydrology expert keeps tabs on the flooding.  Basically you need to get the two scientists to coordinate with each other instead of staying in their own individual silos. 

Meteorologists are also learning to tailor warnings to fit the evolving situation. For instance, if a tornado has passed a particular location, they can quickly drop the tornado warning in that location and pivot toward emphasize the flood threat. 

Members of the public facing a TORFF need to be able to pivot quickly, too. Most of the time, the tornado threat comes just before flash flooding develops. So people in areas prone to TORFFs, like Oklahoma, should have a plan in place to bail out of a tornado shelter after that threat passes and then deal immediately with the flood threat. 

If possible, that should not involve driving. Most flash flood deaths occur in vehicles, so it's best to stay put unless it's really unsafe to do. Plus, if there's been a tornado, not only is there dangerous fast-flowing water out there, roads that are still above water might have debris blocking them. 

TORFFs really are no-win situations. Given how common they are, especially in the Midwest and South, people do need to formulate their safety plans to take into account both scary winds and scary water.