Tornado

A tornado is a violent, rotating column of air which is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. Tornadoes come in many sizes but are typically in the form of a visible condensation funnel, whose narrow end touches the earth and is often encircled by a cloud of debris.

Most tornadoes have wind speeds between 40 mph (64 km/h) and 110 mph (177 km/h), are approximately 250 feet (75 m) across, and travel a few miles (several kilometers) before dissipating. Some attain wind speeds of more than 300 mph (480 km/h), stretch more than a mile (1.6 km) across, and stay on the ground for dozens of miles (more than 100 km).

Although tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica, most occur in the United States.[4] They also commonly occur in southern Canada, south-central and eastern Asia, east-central South America, Southern Africa, northwestern and southeast Europe, western and southeastern Australia, and New Zealand.

Definitions

Tornado
A tornado is defined by the Glossary of Meteorology as "a violently rotating column of air, in contact with the ground, either pendant from a cumuliform cloud or underneath a cumuliform cloud, and often (but not always) visible as a funnel cloud..." In practice, for a vortex to be classified as a tornado, it must be in contact with both the ground and the cloud base. Scientists have not yet created a complete definition of the word; for example, there is disagreement as to whether separate touchdowns of the same funnel constitute separate tornadoes.

A tornado is not necessarily visible; however, the intense low pressure caused by the high wind speeds (see Bernoulli's principle) and rapid rotation (due to cyclostrophic balance) usually causes water vapor in the air to become visible as a condensation funnel. The tornado is the vortex of wind, not the condensation cloud.
A funnel cloud is a visible condensation funnel with no associated strong winds at the surface. Not all funnel clouds evolve into a tornado. However, many tornadoes are preceded by a funnel cloud. Most tornadoes produce strong winds at the surface while the visible funnel is still above the ground, so it is difficult to discern the difference between a funnel cloud and a tornado from a distance
Tornado family

Occasionally, a single storm will produce more than one tornado, either simultaneously or in succession. Multiple tornadoes produced by the same storm are referred to as a tornado family.
Tornado outbreak

Occasionally, several tornadoes are spawned from the same large-scale storm system. If there is no break in activity, this is considered a tornado outbreak, although there are various definitions. A period of several successive days with tornado outbreaks in the same general area (spawned by multiple weather systems) is a tornado outbreak sequence, occasionally called an extended tornado outbreak.

Etymology
The word "tornado" is an altered form of the Spanish word tronada, which means "thunderstorm". This in turn was taken from the Latin tonare, meaning "to thunder". It most likely reached its present form through a combination of the Spanish tronada and tornar ("to turn"); however, this may be a folk etymology. A tornado is also commonly referred to as a twister, and is also sometimes referred to by the old-fashioned colloquial term cyclone. The term "cyclone" is used as a synonym for "tornado" in the often-aired 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. The term "twister" is also used in that film, along with being the title of the 1996 film Twister.

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land, a deluge.[1] In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Flooding may result from the volume of water within a body of water, such as a river or lake, exceeding the total capacity of its bounds, with the result that some of the water flows or sits outside of the normal perimeter of the body. It can also occur in rivers, when the strength of the river is so high it flows out of the river channel, particularly at bends or meanders.

The word comes from the Old English flod, a word common to Teutonic languages (compare German Flut, Dutch vloed from the same root as is seen in flow, float).

Principal types of flood

Riverine floods

Slow kinds: Runoff from sustained rainfall or rapid snow melt exceeding the capacity of a river's channel. Causes include heavy rains from monsoons, hurricanes and tropical depressions, foreign winds and warm rain affecting snow pack.
Fast kinds: flash flood as a result of e.g. an intense thunderstorm.

Estuarine floods
Commonly caused by a combination of sea tidal surges caused by storm-force winds.

Coastal floods
Caused by severe sea storms, or as a result of another hazard (e.g. tsunami or hurricane).

Catastrophic floods

Caused by a significant and unexpected event e.g. dam breakage, or as a result of another hazard (e.g. earthquake or volcanic eruption).
For example: Tropical Storm Alberto, the famous 1994 storm, produced heavy flooding across Georgia, Alabama and northwest Florida and created between 400-600 million dollars worth of damage in the Southeastern US in 1994 United States Dollars

Disaster, Way Out of Our League

The Philippines archipelago is a mountainous range island; every island has fall backs or heights. Boats and ships are enormous and even airlines flying every 15 minutes in the area. Experienced made owners, operators, government being prepared in all types of disaster. A learning experience wrote by Carla Ballatan about "Donations Open for Asia Tsunami Relief" quote:
"Continuous valiant efforts around the globe are being done to reach out to the thousands of victims of the tsunami disaster that affected several Asian countries. The tremendous death toll and terrible destruction caused by the giant tidal waves caused by an underwater earthquake, on December 26, 2004, waved out a global call for every relief organization to do what they can in helping out the victims.
It was truly one of the worst disasters to happen in history. Between 167,530 and 178,118 people have been reported dead and the number of missing ranges from 25,353 to 128,430 with most presumed dead. One of the hardest hit was Indonesia, with between 119,807 and 123,198 dead and between 12,046 and 114,897 were missing. Aceh province at the northern tip of Sumatra Islands was near the quake's epicenter and the hardest hit region in Indonesia.
In India, the government confirmed 10,779 deaths and 5,614 people missing. Sri Lanka reported deaths between 30,998 and 38,195 and 4,698 to 4,924 missing people. In Thailand there were 5,395 dead and 2,995 missing. Phang Nga province and the nearby resort islands of Phuket and Phi Phi were worst hit by the waves. Death tolls were also reported in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Maldives and Somalia.
Contamination and diseases from mosquitoes, contaminated drinking water, exposure and handling of dead bodies, mass injuries and trauma are widespread. It sure is a good way to spread out word in the web calling out for donations, and another link would make much more difference. It is a worthwhile effort of Christopher Mackay to post a reminder and call for users on December 31, 2004, 12:30 am.
He have invited people to donate what they can to the Canadian Red Cross, which have a tsunami fundraising program to go on for the next ten years â€" involving relief, recovery and rehabilitation. And according to press releases on January 27, 2005 at Ottawa, Canada, General Dr. Pierre Duplessis, the Canadian Red Cross Secretary General proudly announced that outpouring of care and generosity has been overwhelming all over the world and particularly in Canada.
They reported that 181 national societies that belong to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have collected $1.4 billion for tsunami aid already. This includes $160 million from individuals, corporations and governments of Canada. With these figures, they have decided wind down fundraising. This decision was also based on the progress of damage and assessment reports, consultations with other relief agencies and Red Cross experience in disaster management.
Announcements through the web have really helped much for their efforts. The International Red Cross has already completed 77 tsunami relief flights. They are continuing relief efforts, moving beyond the 'emergency phase' in Asia with more than 9,000 trained Red Cross workers. After about 30 days from the date of the disaster, 500,000 people has been provided by the Red Cross. Clean water, temporary shelter, food and basic relief items." End of quote.
Those are past and gone besides this is Philippines.
www.kolobialtravel.com

Source :GoArticles