Stage Collapse at State Fair

[mrspunkysmom]

Stage collapse at Indiana State Fair

CNN Link (http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/08/13/indiana.stage.collapse/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)

[wombat2u2004]

I assume these creations are aluminium framing with lots of canvas draped over them ???

[Karen]

Our prayers are with all the victims and their families.

[chocolatepuppy]

How awful.:( Many prayers.

[anna_66]

I actually waited on one of the concert goers mother last night. He called her right away because he didn't want her to see it on the news and get worried.
He said people were pretty much frantic and trampling on each other:(

[mrspunkysmom]

I assume these creations are aluminium framing with lots of canvas draped over them ???

More than likely, abetted by freak storm and possible tornadoes with high winds.

I understand your point. Why build a stage that would over be safe in good weather? GREED.

Still people died and others were hurt.

[wombat2u2004]

More than likely, abetted by freak storm and possible tornadoes with high winds.

I understand your point. Why build a stage that would over be safe in good weather? GREED.

Still people died and others were hurt.

That's it......whack em up, cheap and fast, and charge everyone twenty bucks at the door.

[pomtzu]

How awful!!!

[phesina]

How awful, and how tragic.

[mrspunkysmom]

I assume these creations are aluminium framing with lots of canvas draped over them ???

On the other hand, Wom, The USA can get some wild winds in the midwest, that either precede tornadoes or don't quite classify as tornadoes. It really doesn't matter how well something is constructed.

What types of winds does Australia have?

I hear that the State Police tried to warn the fair goers and many didn't take heed.

[Grace]

I assume these creations are aluminium framing with lots of canvas draped over them ???

No, they were steel.


Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels called the collapse "freakish," saying at the news conference that a storm was anticipated but the blast of wind that whipped through the grandstand area was unexpected.

I also heard that the stage area was the only place in the fairgrounds that had this particular strength of wind gust. Estimated to have been 70-75 mph - like a Category 1 hurricane or EF1 tornado.

[Bonny]

On the other hand, Wom, The USA can get some wild winds in the midwest, that either precede tornadoes or don't quite classify as tornadoes. It really doesn't matter how well something is constructed.

What types of winds does Australia have?

I hear that the State Police tried to warn the fair goers and many didn't take heed.

If the State Police were already warning people, that whole thing should of been cancelled & closed down. What a waste of human life. :(

[lizbud]

There were very strong winds ahead of the storms that came through
Indianapolis. I was sitting in my living room watching a movie when I heard
a loud slam against my front door. Smokey jumped up from the floor. When I
looked out side I could see trees nearly bent over in the wind. My neighbors
privacy fence blew down. This wind event ushered in the thunder storms
& rain that followed. They did update the death total to 5 this morning with
some people still in critical condition today.

[mrspunkysmom]

If the State Police were already warning people, that whole thing should of been cancelled & closed down. What a waste of human life. :(

There is so much information going around out there. The talk has changed and now it was some manager talking about the winds.

Anyway, 5 minute warning and that many people? Not many places to go in that time.

This is so sad. :(

[RICHARD]

The riggers who put up stages are very experienced with the task and for outdoors venues, those stages are put up and taken down many times over the course of a tour.

I have been to tons of outdoors and indoors concerts and never saw anything even close to what happened in this case.

I think the worst weather I saw at an outdoor concert was rain....and even then the stage had a canopy over the area where the band played.


---------------------

That same storm passed thru Louisville and completely wrecked the area.

We were going to the super when the radio gave the EBS (Emergency Broadcast System) warning about a storm off to the west. As I walked into the store I noticed a wall of purple clouds in the distance.

I had never seen THAT color in the sky before and commented on it.

We walked into the store and about 20 minutes later the lights flickered. We walked out to the lot and the ground was drenched. A tree came down on the power lines and crushed part of the fence in the backyard..

That was about 6 p.m. on Saturday and the power has been out since then.

Thank goodness for generators and extension cords!!!!

[smokey the elder]

"Is the sky supposed to be green like that?" My first experience with a tornado, in Milwaukee, at the state fair. They cancelled the concert that I had tickets for and I was glad they did. I feel bad for those poor people, but I would have gotten the heck out.

[wombat2u2004]

On the other hand, Wom, The USA can get some wild winds in the midwest, that either precede tornadoes or don't quite classify as tornadoes. It really doesn't matter how well something is constructed.

What types of winds does Australia have?

I hear that the State Police tried to warn the fair goers and many didn't take heed.

We have some pretty heavy winds at times to.
The trick with those structures is to consider uplift, so they must be held down.

[lizbud]

The death toll has risen. The 6th person has died.:(:(

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/28916128/detail.html

[pomtzu]

The death toll has risen. The 6th person has died.:(:(

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/28916128/detail.html

I just heard that on the news. So tragic.

And yet another stage collapse - yesterday in Belgium - 5 dead.

[Grace]

The death toll is now 7.


Meagan Toothman, 24, was on life support after the accident and her family said in a posting on the CaringBridge website that her organs would be donated on Monday "to provide gifts of sight, health and life to dozens who are in need."

"Late last night it became apparent that our Meagan was no longer with us," the family statement said. "The decision was made to allow her to be at peace."

Toothman was the cheerleading coach at Turpin High School in Cincinnati.

[pomtzu]

The death toll is now 7.

Just heard that on the news. So sad.........:(

[lizbud]

Very sad.:( Seems like the best & the brightest were lost in the accident.
First hand accounts are coming out slowly with gruesome details of what
some witnessed. One woman was cut completely in half by the steel beams.
I think many folks will need counseling to deal with what they went through.