Do you know that 2008 is a record year for tornadoes? If you go to NOAA's page on Annual Tornado Trends, the graphs are literally off the charts. Which means that professional and amateur storm chasers have had a bumper crop of videos.

The first one here is raw footage of the funnel that Hit Parkersburg, Iowa :

Here's a longer report from a group of storm charsers :

Here's a video trying to make sense of what's left right after touchdown:

And here's another one witnessing the ruin the day after:

Traditional journalism would have demanded the witness to this tragedy to create a narrative around the event. What I love about pro-amateur and citizen journalism is that the absence of the interpretation and narrative is what makes these videos more powerful and compelling.