I used to think earthquakes were scarier.

On April 28th, tornados wreaked havoc in several eastern states. Most notably, an F5 tornado (possibly the biggest ever recorded in the eastern US) touched down in La Plata, Maryland, flattened much of the downtown, then ripped a 24-mile swath eastward.

On May 2, NASA released a
satellite photograph of the tornado's path. (Check out the href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/LaPlata_lrg.jpg">larger version.) Route 301 is the north-south highway at the left of the image, and where 301 intersects the tornado's path is downtown La Plata.

I mention this because my parents live in that area, and my mother works several buildings south of that intersection, just on the edge of the tornado's path. Luckily, her work building is still standing, and she's fine. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for many of the
surrounding buildings.