Tornadoes Strike 3 More States

A series of storms struck Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas late Tuesday and early Wednesday, wiping out homes and businesses and killing at least nine people, emergency officials said.

A series of storms struck around midday, touching down in Caddo County, Okla., and then sweeping from the southwest to northeast corners of Canadian County, where it devastated El Reno, a town of 15,000 people about 25 miles west of downtown Oklahoma City. At least five people were killed and officials said the number could rise as search and rescue teams started to fan out across a state already battered by storms over the weekend.

At least 60 people were reported injured across central Oklahoma, many along the Interstate 40 corridor that runs past El Reno.

The tornado left a trail of shredded and overturned cars along I-40, destroyed livestock, set off a gas line explosion and spurred people across El Reno to evacuate their homes. Amy Brandley, the Canadian County flood plain manager, said emergency crews had only just begun to assess the damage. “Our county commissioner’s crews are out with heavy equipment clearing roads right now so search and rescues can take place,” she said.

The tornado that struck in El Reno was one of several across the state Tuesday. By 8 p.m., the National Weather Service had tornado watches in effect across 11 counties and was warning that “supercells” had developed across the central part of the state and were moving eastward. The agency posted an urgent alert on its Web site predicting an “outbreak of strong tornadoes” throughout late Tuesday.

In Texas, the news agency said that funnel clouds were reported across the northern suburbs of Dallas and Fort Worth around sundown Tuesday, with brief tornado touchdowns in Corinth, Saginaw and Bedford.

Other brief tornadoes were reported near Springtown and Azle, just northwest of Fort Worth, and near Muenster, 65 miles north of Fort Worth. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Even the National Weather Service was not immune from the danger. Earlier in the day its Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., about 20 miles south of downtown Oklahoma City, had to be evacuated as one of the day’s tornadoes approached.

Census Determines House Seat Gains and Losses

Each state’s population determines the number of representatives that it will be allocated in the House of Representatives.

Every 10 years, after the Census Bureau tallies the population, some states gain seats, others lose them, to reflect faster population growth in some states than in others. This process of reallocating seats is called reapportionment.

The Losers:

New York and Ohio each lost two seats. Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Iowa each lost one seat.

The Winners:

Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Washington.

Texas gained four seats, Florida gained two, and the others each gained one.

11/13/10 College Football Plays of the Day: WV and Okie St.

Two great plays today to go along with my Boise St. winner last night.

The first has to be West Virginia.

The Mountaineers are favored by 5 over the Bearcats of Cincinnati, and they still have a chance to win the Big East.  (Whatever that means) WV is also 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a bye week.

Take West Virginia with an easy win.

The second pick today is Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State is having a great season at 8-1.  Who would've thought Texas would be 4-5 at this point with losses to Iowa State, UCLA, and Baylor?  Isn't Texas supposed to own the Big XII?

The trends say Okie St. is 6-1 ATS in their last seven games, and 5-1-1 ATS in their last seven road games.  Texas keeps getting worse and worse each week.  Oklahoma St is giving 5 on the road, it won't matter.  Take the Oklahoma State Cowboys!

No late night Hawaii game tonight, so these are your two picks.  Go make some money!

Tropical Storm Hermine Brings Rain and Lots of it to Texas

Tropical Storm Hermine crossed the Rio Grande River into south Texas with high winds and heavy rain after making landfall in northeastern Mexico hours earlier, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was about 65 miles southwest of Corpus Christi, Texas, at 4 a.m Tuesday morning.

Hermine’s sustained winds dropped to 50 miles per hour from near hurricane-force when it crossed the coast about 40 miles south of Brownsville. The rain-laden storm is expected to weaken further as it moves from Texas northward into Oklahoma over the next day or so, the center said.

Hermine, the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, may bring as much as 8 inches of rain to northeastern Mexico and southern Texas with isolated areas getting as much as a foot of precipitation.

Tropical Storm Hermine in the Gulf

Tropical Storm Hermine is getting a little stronger in the Gulf of Mexico as it heads toward the coasts of Texas and Mexico.

A tropical storm warning was issued early Monday for the southern Texas coast. A tropical storm warning was already in effect for the coast of Mexico from Tampico to the mouth of the Rio Grande.

Hermine's maximum sustained winds have increased to near 45 mph mark.

Heavy rain is predicted with northeastern Mexico into south Texas getting 4 to 8 inches with as much as a foot in some places. It could cause flash floods and mudslides.

The storm is located about 280 miles south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas, and is moving north near 10 mph.