On September 25, 2000, 19-year-old Kevin Hines attempted to end his own life by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. Plunging over 220 feet at a speed of 75 miles per hour, he hit the water below, shattering three of his vertebrae and narrowly missing severing his spine by two millimeters. Despite the odds, he miraculously survived the impact.
Upon realizing he was still alive, an intense will to live surged within him. Yet, the weight of his clothes continuously pulled him beneath the surface of San Francisco Bay. For what seemed like an eternity, he struggled to resurface briefly, gasping for air, just enough to hold on to life.
Suddenly, he felt an unusual force from below lifting him above the water's surface, where he remained until the Coast Guard arrived. It was only later that he discovered the mysterious presence keeping him afloat: a sea lion had been supporting his body until the rescue boat arrived, as eyewitnesses had observed.
His story gained major media coverage and he has since become a motivational speaker and advocate for suicide prevention.
On this date during 1999, a historic tornado outbreak produced an F5 tornado that affected the areas of Amber, Bridge Creek, OKC, Moore, Midwest City, and Del City. Bridge Creek and Moore, from which it takes its colloquial name, were both heavily affected. The tornado was sampled by a DoW mobile radar as having winds up to 321 mph just above the surface, when coupled with extreme damage, this has led many to crown the tornado the strongest observed, though we have so little data on earlier major Plains tornadoes. That said, their educated argument in favor of the title is strong. Well built homes and buildings were reduced to granulated debris, all types of vehicles were torn apart and thrown, road networks scoured away, foundations and driveways cracked, victims pulled from overpasses and left unrecognizable, and Red clay deeply scoured. Some victims, even outside the overpasses, were left unrecognizable. A freight car was thrown nearly a mile and left mangled. Vehicle damage was absolute. The tornado claimed 36 lives directly and 583 were injured over a 38-mile path, which lasted 1 hour and 22 minutes. Known as "tornado A9", it was the 9th of 14 tornadoes produced by its associated storm.
Source: NWS and News 9
TRAGIC ๐ Authorities confirmed that seven bodies, including two believed to be missing Oklahoma teenagers, were found on a property in Henryetta. Here's what we know: https://t.co/44tKbKY0kP