Rhythm for Peace OPPOSES ACTA, SOPA & PIPA, STOP THESE BILLS
Was it a Tornado, several tornadoes, or several microbursts that happened around 7:30am-8:45am March 12, 2006?
06 Microburst LawrenceKS
First I want to tell you about my really cool old apartment, somewhat a musician's dream... I lived upstairs on Vermont Street, Lawrence, KS. It was an old house turned into four apartments. I had a music studio that was a completely separate locking room. In the music studio, I had built it to be about 70-80% sound absorbed. I also had it 65-75% sound proofed. I raised the floor for sound proofing and sound absorption. In the closet, that had a solid oak door with really cool antique door hinges, it too was sound proofed and absorbed. There were windows facing west. The curtains were also extra padded for absorption.
When you walked up the stairs on your right there was the music studio. That room had been a music room before in the 1980's and it was my music studio in the early 2000's. The landing at the top of the stairs was 8 feet wide and 5 feet long. When you looked straight ahead, there was a bathroom. Scan a little to the left , there were two more doors, another persons apartment door and my personal apartment in the east of the house.
I thought it was really cool, on the east side there is a beautiful pine tree, an apple tree that I had tended along with a small herb and vegetable garden. There were all kinds of beautiful plants and bushes, that were being kept trimmed and maintained. When you crossed the alley there is a sidewalk that goes along side Mass Street Music to their front door. Several times, my students and I would go there together to get guitar strings or to learn about available literature.
On March 12, 2006 between 6:30 to 7am I was thoroughly enjoying my coffee, the quiet, the pine tree, the sun rise and a Sunday morning meditation in the room farthest east of the house. The east room had nice big windows, too. I remember telling myself, "If you are really going to practice meditation, you really shouldn't be drinking coffee while you are doing meditation." So I walked into my kitchen area and put my cup by the kitchen sink. I noticed that my clock read between 7:15-7:20 am. I walked back into the east room, I noticed that it was clouding up. I did not think anything of it, it was March: Spring showers, bring May flowers. As I was sitting down I noticed that there was some electricity in the air, more than average, I figured that there was going to be lightening soon and told myself that everything was "normal."
So, there I was, sitting in Lotus position, I was focusing on my breathing. I was paying attention to my lower gut breathing. In and out, in and out, I noticed that the electricity in the air was getting stronger. In and out, this voice said, " You need to go down stairs."
So I got out of Lotus position calmly and stood up. I noticed there was about twice the amount of electricity in the air than when I had sat down.
At that point, I walked hurriedly out of my apartment. I quickly walked down the stairs. When I was just past halfway down the stairwell, the WALLS starting BREATHING. In and out, in and out, about 5 inches from both walls. I got scared. I stopped. I counted stairs. I had 5 stairs to go before I reached the bottom landing to the the big front door. I was right beside a small window about 14 inches tall and 18 inches wide. I took cover. I knelt down in squat position and started to cover my head.
At that point, I walked hurriedly out of my apartment. I quickly walked down the stairs. When I was just past halfway down the stairwell, the WALLS starting BREATHING. In and out, in and out, about 5 inches from both walls. I got scared. I stopped. I counted stairs. I had 5 stairs to go before I reached the bottom landing to the the big front door. I was right beside a small window about 14 inches tall and 18 inches wide. I took cover. I knelt down in squat position and started to cover my head.
As I started to cover my head, I looked out the big front door as most of it is glass. I thought to myself, I hope this glass doesn't break. All of the furniture and wind chimes blew off the front porch sideways, due north, only horizontally. I covered my head with my arms. A huge rain started, I peeked with my eyes. This rain, it too was going sideways, horizontally. This rain was NOT coming down. It was LOUD.
At this point, the downstairs neighbor opened his door, exclaiming, "What in the blankety blank is going on? I was trying to get some sleep. Blankety Blank." Then he noticed me in the stairwell crouched down, then he looked out the big front door. Then he noticed the rain going sideways and said, "wwwwwhhhhoooooaaaaa." Both of us hung out there at the landing of the big front door watching the sideways rain for a few minutes. It seemed like a small eternity to me. He said, "Are you all right?" I moved my arms to my sides as I uncovered my head.
I nodded my head up. He smiled.
The wind stopped blowing as the sideways rain stopped, this happened at the same time. There was a moment of silence. I thought to myself, "ugh oh." It thundered, lightening flashed, and then rain started coming DOWN. So I relaxed a bit and finished walking down the stairs. It was not nearly as windy maybe 10-15 mph. It rained hard for 10-15 minutes. This rain too was LOUD. When it stopped raining, the downstairs neighbor and I went out the big front door onto the porch.
The neighbor stated how some of his belongings were gone as I watched the next door neighbors come out of their houses. I went out into the yard and said," Wanna go check out the neighborhood to see if everybody's OK?"
The downstairs neighbor chimed in and "Yea! I want to find my frisbee."
One of our neighbors who were in the yard, "Yea, I got my phone."
We took off walking going east from around 14th and Vermont. There were four of us in our group. In the front yard, it looked like snow because somebody's sleeping bag had blown apart and left polyester pillow stuffing everywhere.
I went on the south side of the house while my downstairs neighbor went on the north side of the house. All four of us met up in the back yard. I noticed that my sage I had growing in a pot was completely left untouched, while two "end of truck" city trash dumpsters had moved due north 15-20 feet. I noticed that a few of the small window pane glasses were broken in the apartment below mine. There was not anyone in the downstairs apartment below mine at that time. There was broken glass pieces in the yard and black roofing paper.
The downstairs neighbor chimed in and "Yea! I want to find my frisbee."
One of our neighbors who were in the yard, "Yea, I got my phone."
We took off walking going east from around 14th and Vermont. There were four of us in our group. In the front yard, it looked like snow because somebody's sleeping bag had blown apart and left polyester pillow stuffing everywhere.
I went on the south side of the house while my downstairs neighbor went on the north side of the house. All four of us met up in the back yard. I noticed that my sage I had growing in a pot was completely left untouched, while two "end of truck" city trash dumpsters had moved due north 15-20 feet. I noticed that a few of the small window pane glasses were broken in the apartment below mine. There was not anyone in the downstairs apartment below mine at that time. There was broken glass pieces in the yard and black roofing paper.
The temperature was colder than what it had been before the storm/ microburst had started. I walked to the alley, taking note of the dumpsters changed positions and wondering why my sage had not even been touched.
There were a lot of tree branches down, we all decided to check around the neighborhood. I walked on the south side of the Mass Street Music Store building and saw the Central Junior High damage. There was a tree with the diameter of 18-20 inches thick and the length of the tree was taking up both south bound lanes and one north bound lane of Massachusetts Street with the sound of an ambulance coming from the north. I looked around for my group to see if they would help.
Sure enough, I asked one of my neighbors close enough for loud talking distance, "Can you get me some help for this tree?"
Neighbor, Luke said," Be right back."
I walked over to the tree hoping we would get it out of the street before the ambulence came through. There was a photographer for the newspaper. I asked him, "Will you help me move this tree?"
The Photographer said, "Do you care if I take your picture first?"
I said something to the effect, maybe not exactly, "Well, hurry up, can't you hear the ambulance coming?"
I think the Photographer said something to the effect of, "Give me just one second."
Then my group showed up with 2 other men and we all moved the tree off of Massachusetts Street onto the northwest side of South Park. Luke, Matt, Logan, I, and two other men moved this tree. I never got the two other gentleman's names. By that time, there were several people by the Central Junior High and South Park. Around 40-50 people showed up and had to begun to clear off Massachusetts street. We all spent some time picking up branches, boughs, and limbs to clear Massachusetts street to make it passable. There were also big pieces of copper tin in sheets of 5- 10 feet long 4-6 feet wide all crumpled up spread out across South Park.
Once Massachusetts Street was "clear enough," our group Matt, Logan, Luke and I went further east along 14th. There were big branches down everywhere. Concrete parts of the Central Junior High were broken. The vents on the roof top of the school were blown down. The aluminum bleachers were folded, turned over and had moved no less than 75 feet into the field.
New Hampshire and Rhode Island on 14th appeared to be drivable. There were people cleaning up their yards. We asked people if they were alright, they all nodded their heads, kept picking up tree branches, and said, "Hi, we're doin' OK."
We walked to Connecticut and two members of our group disbanded and 2 of us kept walking. Connecticut had a lot of damage, trees on top of cars. There were trees that had smashed in peoples houses while they were sleeping. Some people were upset. We never heard about anybody being trapped in the area we walked in.
We headed west on 13 Street back to Massachusetts and to Vermont. We visited with several people along the way.
We headed west on 13 Street back to Massachusetts and to Vermont. We visited with several people along the way.
There were no officials running around to say if it was okay to go back into our homes. There was no yellow tape of caution established, within 2 hours after the drastic winds. Everyone went freely around to and fro their homes.
I would also like to clarify:
1) The morning of March 12, 2006 the tornado sirens did not go off to warn anybody to go take shelter. There were RADIO announcements.
2) No one in Lawrence, Kansas had ever heard of the word microburst, unless they have had prior meteorology training.
1) The morning of March 12, 2006 the tornado sirens did not go off to warn anybody to go take shelter. There were RADIO announcements.
2) No one in Lawrence, Kansas had ever heard of the word microburst, unless they have had prior meteorology training.
3) The FPP Tornado Scale (Fujiti Pearson) bases their decisions on damage and debris of tornadoes, not size nor travel. According to: The Fujita - Pearson (FPP) Tornado Scale, what I saw with my eyes is somewhere between F0 to F2 scale of damage in the areas of 13th through 15th Streets of Vermont through Connecticut Streets.
I walked up the stairs to my desecrated home. I had left the door open. I walked to where I had been meditating. There was shattered glass on the floor, where I had been sitting before I walked down the stairs.
Then I walked over to the bathroom. Any and everything that was on a shelf had blown into the tub. Everything in the drawers was still in tact. The top drawer was open and everything was still there. There were brown metal flakings in it.*** see note 1
I walked back into the kitchen area noticing brown flakes *** on the floor. These flakes were like splinters *** they were up to 1/4 inch long to dust metalic particles. ***see note 2
I noticed that there were brown metal particles*** all over the landing that I normally swept and mopped on a weekly to twice a week basis. There were smaller amounts of brown metal flakings*** on the stairs on the stairs where I had taken cover. ***see notes 3 & 4
There were brown metal flakings *** on top of my stove and underneath the top of it. Out of the four years that I had lived there I had never seen these brown metalic particles until the microburst of March 12, 2006 ***.
There were brown metal splinters *** that sliced through my futon, linen herb neck pillow, sheets and blankets. There were brown metal flakes and splinters etched into the carpet and linoleum.***
There were brown metal flakes in some of my clothes.*** There were brown metal flakes in the drapes that I had sewn by hand. *** There were brown metal flakes in the curtains in the kitchen that I had sewn by hand.***
There were brown metal flakes *** on top of my belongings that blew into the bathtub. There were brown metal flakes on the bathroom floor.
There were brown metal flakes on my silverware that I used to eat with.*** There were brown metal splinters in several of my cooking utensils.***
***see notes 5, 6, 7, 8, & 9
Just stating the facts, these brown metal flakings *** came through the window that broke out and other air leaks; these brown metal flakes came from a source outside of the house. I also noticed these brown metal flakings ***around the Brook Creek Area, Lawrence, KS in OTHER people's homes. There were or are these brown metal splinter debris *** in the north Lousianna area of Lawrence, KS. ***see note 10
I am very blessed that the brown metal flakings did NOT perpetrate my music studio due to my strategies of sound proofing. Although there was contamination from normal everyday air circulation while quarunteening and evacuating the area due to lead/pb contamination and other heavy metal debris.
One thing I have noticed about these brown metal flakes is that they like to leach with objects that have pre-existing lead/pb. Venetian blinds are a good example and light sockets***. Lead Leaching is where the lead/pb attaches onto other articles that have lead/pb in them; lead/pb leaches even more when there is heat applied. So think about it, Venetian blinds*** guard against the heat of the sun and light sockets heat up when you flip the light switch both items are known to contain lead/pb. ***see note 11
By using techniques suggested by visiting with a specialist from the National Lead Center, taking a Lead/pb Safety Works Practice Class as suggested by US Poison Control, receiving counsel from the Center for Disease Control as a health care provider, I quite successfully quarunteened all of my salvageable belongings while protecting my body from the aftermath exposure of lead/pb splinter debris that was stirred up from the winds of the March 12, 2006 microburst.
Since the Lawrence, KS Community does NOT have a contamination waste office readily available for the safety of general public, especially in regards to lead/pb contamination, the lead metal flake damaged articles not salvageable and lead/pb flakings, but contained in plastic unfortunately went into everyday trash even after notifying the landlords, the City Planning Commission, the Douglas County Health Department, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, EPA Region 7, and the United States Poison Control.
I attempted to be as responsible as I could be for myself and all other people considered. It's too bad that the community at large was not encouraging about woodashing hazardous waste materials and is so willing to continue to contaminate the very grounds they live on. I am very willing to bury all contamination in woodash. I felt like I was being looked at like I was crazy figuratively speaking.
I am proud to share with you 74 side effects that lead/pb causes to the human body. They are listed on What's Wrong with Lead/pb. Prior to the the microburst of Lawrence, KS March 12, 2006, I am grateful that I was already practicing some lead/pb safety skills. (I already learned healthier behavior about lead paint, lead soldering, lead/pb in bullets and fishing sinkers. I was also already practicing healthier behavior about the dangers and health hazards of mold.) I unfortunately was not educated enough about the dangers of outdoor plumbing lead/pb before the microburst of March 12, 2006.
Unfortunately, I also was misinformed about electric cords contaminated with over 5ppm lead/pb, because I had become interested about RoHS and the inside of electronics and knew that there are and always will be hazardous waste inside of electronics, including lead/pb in the late 1990's.
Due to other people's negligence and other people NOT PRACTICING good old common sense about how to properly contain hazardous waste, like outdoor lead/pb plumbing and other shenanigans of the 19-20th centuries, I am also proud to announce that I survived 65 symptoms, PHYSICAL INJURIES, due to lead/pb and other heavy metal debris, like the little brown particles that test positive for having more than 5 parts per million lead/pb.***see note 12
Unfortunately, I also was misinformed about electric cords contaminated with over 5ppm lead/pb, because I had become interested about RoHS and the inside of electronics and knew that there are and always will be hazardous waste inside of electronics, including lead/pb in the late 1990's.
Due to other people's negligence and other people NOT PRACTICING good old common sense about how to properly contain hazardous waste, like outdoor lead/pb plumbing and other shenanigans of the 19-20th centuries, I am also proud to announce that I survived 65 symptoms, PHYSICAL INJURIES, due to lead/pb and other heavy metal debris, like the little brown particles that test positive for having more than 5 parts per million lead/pb.***see note 12
I successfully regained my health from the non-protected exposure of debris (of lead/pb that lead surface tests indicate the presence of over 5ppm lead/pb metal flaking plus other heavy metal including arsenic. I just was not thinking , "Gee there might be left over asbsestos, arsenic and lead/pb from the debris," when I walked back into my old home. I achieved my health by taking action of the suggestions of a naturopathic doctor and naturopath nurse, two different reflexologists, using my own pre-existing knowledge of what is health and how to keep it. I also relied on a friends experience who lived through a remodelling arsenic and lead/pb exposure job prior to the Lead Safety Works Practice Renovation Law. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a short medical synopsis of my physical experience.
Since surviving the debris, I now apply lead/pb surface tests after any wind storm. In my opinion, I should not have ever gone back into my old home without a chemical barrier suit, due to the FACT: microbursts, tornadoes, high winds carry DEADLY debris that includes LEAD/Pb, arsenic, asbestos, BBP, Deet, etc. Speaking from experience, I suggest that anyone who cares about their health to test for lead/pb before re-entering their home after coming out of shelter from high winds.
Some of the debris that was stirred up is from historical buildings and from noncompliant factories. It is a historical fact that traditionally thru 1850's -1920's upon the invention of plumbing as a standard practice was to have attached to the water attic tanks lead/pb plumbing pipes surround the outside of the house and a lead/pb pipe running down the chimney for hot water.
My studies indicate that lead/pb was used before iron. Indoor plumbing in some areas is still not in use in some parts of the USA region in the year of 2012. My understanding is that in Kansas indoor plumbing started to be accepted in the 1920's. In Lawrence, KS we still have buildings standing from the 1860's.
Here are some links from other residents of Lawrence, KS aftermath of the March 12. 2006 microburst experience. The photos from the Lawrence Journal World are used by permission. Thank you.
The University of Kansas was closed March 13, 2006 from property damage.http://www.news.ku.edu/2006/march/13/storm.shtml
The University of Kansas had put temporary covers over roof tops until more permanent repair could take place. http://www.news.ku.edu/2006/march/16/damage.shtml
Businesses, residences Picking UP March 31, 2006,
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/mar/31/businesses_residents_picking_pieces_after_microbur/
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/mar/31/businesses_residents_picking_pieces_after_microbur/
Photos of Lawrence, KS March 12, 2006 Lawrence Journal World
Microburst Horror:
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2008/mar/30/2006_microburst/
Microburst Horror:
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/galleries/2008/mar/30/2006_microburst/
In the summer of 2011, I learned from a lady that 1 out of 3 people have cancer. One fact that several professionals have known for several years is that: Lead/pb causes cancer.
As of February 9, 2012 a friend told me the statistics that 35% of the people who live in Lawrence, KS have cancer.
Lead/pb and mold are at the top for creating illness according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, USA.
***All of these Brown Metal Flakings, metal splinters, DO NOT PASS an EPA recognized HouseHold Brand Lead Surface Test***
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This is the personal account of Natalie Cox, singer songwriter, musician's experience of the March 12, 2006 Microburst in Lawrence, KS. The March 12, 2006 microburst lead/pb debris containing metallic flakes experience demonstrates the need for HEALTH EDUCATION, environmental awareness, and a stronger enforcement and SAFER Hazardous Waste and Toxic Chemical habits for all people, especially those in EPA Region 7, USA.
©2011 started in writing by Natalie Cox