Weather....

With the absolutely terrible weather that has ripped through the area, (I saw the tornado that hit Port Clinton on my way back from Cleveland) I was wondering if any one knew how Cedar Point is holdin up. I heard reports of houses actually ending up in L. Erie. I don't know how well those rides are built to sustain in winds up to 60-70 mph with all that rain too. I also don't know actually how many people are out at the Point right now either. If anyone knows, that would be great. I hope everyone is all right.

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CP Top 3:
1) Mean Streak
2) Gemini
3) Disaster Transport
I love that large wooden structure!

I think that MF was built to withstand hurricane winds, so it should be fine. I suspect that the B&M's have the same tolerances. I think that someone said that the storms were further south of Cedar Point.

I know of at least one fatality in Van Wert...someone discovered them outside a convenience store. :(

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Launch: Tophat: Twistage: Brakes...

...Denial is an ugly thing.

Yup, CRAZY weather out here tonight (i'm in Toledo)

4 confirmed tornadoes, 4 confirmed dead, derailed train, overturned semi trucks, houses destroyed, hospital was hit.

Here is a short vid I shot with my digi cam earlier tonight http://members.accesstoledo.com/bwiatrak/tornado1.avi

I'm sure Cedar Point is ok, but I guess we'll find out soon enough...

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Great Ohio Coaster Club member #335
*** This post was edited by Bryan 11/10/2002 7:40:33 PM ***

Well My brother lives in Twinsburg (which is east of cleveland) and he said a Tornado touched down right by his house, which Kind of weird. Anyways, we almost had one here in Medina, and Brunswick (where Jeff lives) was really close to one also. But that's all I've heard. I don't know about the Sandusky Area, I wasn't up to the house this weekend, but I would assume they got hit pretty hard also.

I didn't know anything was going on. I was at Chi-Chi's in N. Olmsted then at the Odeon in the flats watching chicks get naked at the Lords of Acid show. I barely saw any rain.

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP
"There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, when it's all in your mind. You gotta let go." - Ghetto, Supreme Beings of Leisure

The weather in WNY was pretty nasty a couple hours ago. A lot of rain and thunder.
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Hey.... Whatever
http://coasterplace.web1000.com

The weather here in Toledo didn't get all too bad. It got a little windy, but nothing as bad as south of here.

Jeff...Lords of Acid, I am so jealous right now. People think that Eminem has bad lyrics, they haven't heard Lords of Acid. LoL.

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AKA...Somewhatchewy
"Some guy walked up to me on the street and asked what is punk. So I kicked over a trash can and said, thats punk. He knocked over a trash can and said, so that's punk? I said no, that's trendy." Billy Joe Armstrong, Green Day

I live 15 mintues away from CP and There were two tornado touchdowns south and north of me BUT they didnt hit me :)
*** This post was edited by fat chris 11/11/2002 6:53:31 AM ***

I was just watching the local news they had a helicopter fly over Port Clinton. Wow it looks like a tornado went from the freeway straight to the lake. some house gone, roofs gone. One lady said parts of her car flew through her back window before the roof of her house was ripped off. The news report said Port Clinton was the only are town with that kind of damage.

Well, I believe most of Van Wert was destroyed, what little was out there anyway. Here in Sylvania (15 min west of Toledo) there was nothing but lots of wind, rain, and lightning.

I wouldn't worry too much about CP. Remember, some of those buildings are close to 100 years old and have stood strong through a lot of Lake Erie beatings. Also, I read somewhere that the design of the structure for MF's lift hill could safely hold a 700 foot coaster in tornado winds.

Has anyone here seen the video of the water spout next to CP? I believe it was filmed in 1999, and the spout was on the bay right next to where Millie's lift hill currently stands. I saw it on the news once, and it was weird to see a tornado with Power Tower and Magnum in the backround.

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-Chris Woodard
"If you're standing in an uncomfortable position, that means you are in the right position because you are riding Mantis!" - Mantis ride op doing spiels on closing day.

Yeah I work in Twinsburg and it was hit hard last night, Maria was stuck there last night for a while. I know our other resident magnum freak jerry lives in Van Wert.

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magnumdan
magnum count: 2233
www.cpthrillology.com
"who knows the true secret of the dome"

Wow, has anybody heard from him?

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- John
*I resign from the game of life if I have to play with stupidity.
*It's the Internet, don't take it so seriously. Don't be a moron and we'll get along fine.

I saw that video on ABC World News back in 1999. It was really wicked. One of the employees there had a website up with pictures of the water spouts and how dark it was. She also had a page that told of the waste deep water on the midways, employees herding people into buildings, and mass chaos.

While everyone else would be running for their lives, I would probably be the lone freak that wants to get a better look at them. :)

Van Wert got smashed. They were on the the morning shows today, and there will undoubtably be reports tonight.

I suppose that trying to e-mail Jerry might be futile because of power outages and phone lines being down, but it couldn't hurt to try.

To put it into perspective, the tornado that went through Van Wert was 1/2 mile wide, caused an 18 mile wide path of destruction, and flattened 3 factories. It was an F4.
*** This post was edited by CP_bound 11/11/2002 5:10:00 PM ***

Yes,I am still here. it hit on the northwest side of town. The rest of town is alright. Our new Industrial Park was obliterated though! I live just down the road from where it hit. Our movie theaters were pretty much wiped out.

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http://www.magnummania.com
jerry@magnummania.com

Yes, your theaters were featured wuite a bit on the network news shows.

Glad to see that you are unscathed.

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Launch: Tophat: Twistage: Brakes...

...Denial is an ugly thing.

I live right down the road from Jerry and we got the same type of storms as he did just without the huge tornado and I am glad to see that everything worked out for you. All we had was a few trains tipped over.

Talked to some family that told me Sandusky was fine but Port Clinton took a pretty good hit. A couple of condos over there ended up in the Lake, from what I was told.

Now, where are all those people arguing the season should be extended longer?

Remember Chief Wahoo, severe weather can happen ANY time during the year, but is more likely to happen during the park's operating season than the rare November event that just happened. Take a look at the 1977 entry on Walt Schmidt's Virtual Midway page at:

http://www.virtualmidway.com/history/timeline1970.asp

Two separate severe weather events within two weeks in June 1977.

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Tim Howe--Charlotte, Michigan
CP every year, 1974-2002.

Yeah I had just gotten done seein Jackass for the second time in Maumee and was on my way home when the tornadoes struck. But no I didnt worry about my safety...all I could think about were the supports on the new ride fallin down...

Then when I tried to get online to check the web cams after the storm had passed I realized my internet service comes out of Port Clinton which suffered "mass destruction". I was glad to be able to get on at school though and see the ride was still standing!

That is horrible though about Van Wert...

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*~Kristi~*
'02 Trips to CP:31 (never enough)

The 1977 storm hit Camper Village pretty hard, smashing some cars and trailers. I always thought it was smart of CP to put the trailer park at the tip of the penninsula. Use that as a tornado magnet and save the rest of the park. :)

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Florida may have Disneyworld and Key West,
but Ohio has Cedar Point and Put-In-Bay.
It's great to live in Ohio!