Tornado-like winds rip through Orland Park -- sirens go off 5 minutes after they pass

The Tornado emergency warning system in Orland Park sounded Sunday night, about 5 minutes after the tornado-like winds and hail storm passed through the village heading east.

A little late folks. The siren is supposed to go off before hand, in theory. But the reality of emergency notifications is that by the time tornado-like winds are detected, they pass by so fast by the time the tornado siren is set-off, it's too late.

So, why do we have emergency sirens?

To remind us that what we just witnessed could be bad?

-- Ray Hanania
www.ThemediaOasis.com

A tornado in Orland Park last week?

JUST MY POINT EXACTLY. No one ever really cares about the Southwest Suburbs. Orland Park DID have a tornado but no one reported it, until now, a week later. Even the local papers missed the story. Here's a story in the Chicago Tribune that finally came out today and that officially confirms what many people in Orland Park have been saying all along. There was a tornado here, albeit not a huge whirlwind. (I say many because a few just were so drunk that during the tornado they thought they were sober.)

The wind ravaged my bedouin encampment in the backyard and I think my hookah got wisked away in one of those August 4th zephyrs. Trees were bent at 45 degree angles. The unkempt lawn at the Award Winning Orland Park Police Station -- which the village insists is an open lands project -- was howling in the wind. The debri that often covers the parking lot of the 151st Street and West Avenue strip mall just vanished, the winds were so bad. A above ground pool a few blocks away was lifted up and relocated in a neighbor's yard (and the village cited them for excessive water use during the summer water drought ban whatever.) The suburban stereotype of swingers and wife-swapping was replaced by garbage can swapping.

All we heard about was Bolingbrook, Bloomingdale and Griffith, Indiana.

All that and nary a mention in the local gossip pages. Isn't it like the news media and everyone everywhere else to just ignore us?

It's not just Orland Park that everyone is ignoring. It's the entire Southwest Suburban region. To the bosses in Chicago -- who control some of the politicians right here in Orland Park, hint, hint -- Orfland Park doesn't exist.

Here's my top 10 list of pet peeves about how the Southwest Suburbs are ignored:

10 -- We have a tornado and it takes 9 days for anyone to officially acknowledge it

9 -- Why is it the state has spent the past half century building expressways to serve the Northwest and North suburbs and all we get is some far out extension to help voters in Will and DuPage County?

8 -- Why is it that everyplace else get's efficient and round-the-clock public transit and all we get in the Southwest Suburbs is "After Thought." PACE, Metra ... the undependable lines.

7 -- The terms "Southwest Side" and "Southwest Suburbs" are often misused by the media usually to describe murder and mayhem in other areas like Little Village, or the far South Side. The far south side is NOT the Southwest Side.

6 -- The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times (which steals copy from the Southtown) takes very seriously issues of importance to residents in Winnetka and Skokie and Evanston, but they barely take notice of our region.

5 -- Political corruption and mismanagement are headline grabbing leads in other areas of the region, but very few serious journalists pay any attention to government corruption, waste, lying and deceipt when it takes place in Orland Park.

4 -- Why does the Southwest Suburbs have more racial hatred than other regions -- people are still steaming over the building of the mosque here

3 -- Chicago has made a pitch to bring the Olympics to the city in 2016 and the grand plans for the events involve every place else except the Southwest Suburbs.

2 -- Coffee at Starbucks in Buffalo Grove tastes exquisite, but in the three franchises in Orland Park, it tastes like dead possum!

1 -- How come Bernie Mac used to come to Orland Park and smoke his cigars through his oxygen tank tubes at local cigar stores and no one ever mentioned that?

Ray Hanania
OrlandParker.com

Amateur video of tornado 66 miles south of Orland in Odell, Illinois

Amateur video of Tornado far southern town of Odell, 66 miles south of Orland Park, Illinois off I-55 ... (about 9 minutes of footage) ...

Storm misses Orland Park, but vandals strike

Vandals hit Orland Park Saturday night: Several stop signs damaged

Although the big storm of Saturday missed Orland Park and slammed several communities south of us with tornadoes, vandals struck in Orland Park -- again -- this time downing stop signs at several intersections.

(These photos were taken by my son, Aaron)

(It looked like the stop signs were pushed down by kids, rather than by their car.)

Near the stop sign damage, an SUV was smashed up. We wonder if the car was in an accident as a result of the stop sign vadalism?

Wouldn't you like to catch these vandals?

It's just a matter of paying attention, or focusing your home security cameras on the street.

Ray Hanania

http://www.orlandparker.com/

Storms hammer Orland Park and southwest suburbs

At first, I thought there was something wrong with my cable again. Comcast Cable TV is plagued with delays, signal breaks and freezing ... Wednesday night, the digital display where the time and channel show was replace dby the letters "EAS" ... at first, I was't sure what was going on because my sona nd I were playing the Wii System on the TV. The digital box displayed the "EAS," and returned to the Time and then displayed the "EAS" again.

As the sky really got dark outside, I figured maybe EAS wasn't just some scramble on the Comcast system, but a warning. "Emergency Alert System" I figured out later. Duuh!

As it turns out, the Alerts were not really for Orland Park, but for Northern Indiana and far south suburban counties where tornadoes were being predicted.

But overnight, the thunder and lightning lit up the Orland sky. The flashing blasts of lightening was right over our community. It was so loud it woke everyone in the house. The dog is so afraid of thunder that he hides under a pillow, but just can't find security anywhere.

Lightening doesn't strike twice in the same place but it did in the same town. Two homes were struck by lightning, with one home reporting their chimney had been blown off the house and tossed throughout the yard.

Some trees were damaged and even the water system seemed tested for a while. But all is reported well today.

Here's a link to a WMAQ TV news Report:
http://www.nbc5.com/news/16505604/detail.html

Ray Hanania
OrlandParker.com