To many San Diegans, like Carol Osselaer, the destruction is incomprehensible. She went to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center’s IMAX film "Tornado Alley" after watching news coverage of the devastation on Thursday morning.
"I'd like to know maybe what it feels like, what it looks like from a different (vantage). And you know, this affects the rest of our country. We're used to earthquakes, but I have not been through a tornado," said Osselaer.
Escondido resident John Russell brought his three grandsons to the film. He said he wants the boys to understand what people in the South are going through.
“I have a lot of feelings for them because when you’re going up against Mother Nature, you can’t do anything. You have no recourse, you have to go with what is dealt you. The towns and houses get destroyed, you can rebuild them. Lives you can’t.”
Nancy Boyden and her daughter, Sophia, said they've never seen a tornado, but they came to the film to learn what to do if they ever experience one. "Natural disasters happen, and it's always good to prepare," Boyden said.
"Tornado Alley" was made by San Diego filmmaker and storm chaser Sean Casey. It documents a scientific effort to intercept tornadoes and gain knowledge about how they form.
At least 280 people were killed in the past two days across six states - more than two-thirds of them in Alabama, where large cities bore the half-mile-wide scars the twisters left behind.
