Prayers and Best wishes
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I'm sitting here watching it on the TWC, and it's heartbreaking. (and one of the news anchors had to kindly move to get a man whose standing there gawking at the camera and smiling out of the shot)
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There is no way to predict when or where a tornado will strike. If one forms outside of town then there is usually enough time to warn folks to get to a shelter but when it strikes at the town there is no notice. In this case there was only 12 minutes to contact folks and let them know that it was on the way. An EF-4 tornado is a monstrous thing that destroys virtually everything in its path.
A guy in a tower to sight and warn of tornados would just put another person in danger. The National Weather Service can spot areas that might form tornados but they don't always form and if you wrongly warn people too many times they start to ignore the warnings. Some people have shelters just outside or under their homes but most schools do not have shelters. Instead the schools are built to a higher standard of tornado resistance but an EF-4 or EF-5 (the strongest) can tear apart even the strongest buildings. I have never witnessed a large tonado but I watched an EF-0 (weakest) tornado shread a city water tower and lift a motor home off the freeway and turn it 180 degrees and then set it back down.
A guy in a tower to sight and warn of tornados would just put another person in danger. The National Weather Service can spot areas that might form tornados but they don't always form and if you wrongly warn people too many times they start to ignore the warnings. Some people have shelters just outside or under their homes but most schools do not have shelters. Instead the schools are built to a higher standard of tornado resistance but an EF-4 or EF-5 (the strongest) can tear apart even the strongest buildings. I have never witnessed a large tonado but I watched an EF-0 (weakest) tornado shread a city water tower and lift a motor home off the freeway and turn it 180 degrees and then set it back down.
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I for one wouldn't need 12 mins to dive into a basement when the klaxon goes off!
Alternatively every home could have one of these steel boxes for the family to dive into, the proper name is 'Morrison Shelter' and this is a pic of an actual one, many British homes had one in WW2 as an alternative to traipsing down to the air raid shelter. Even if the house came down on top of them they'd be safe in there.
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Lucky Jim, the tornado that hit OKC tore down trees, a school made of brick, most of the houses in it's path, where all you see are splinters of houses. The few trees that are still standing are litterally shredded. The houses are in small pieces spread all over. An EF-5 will tear the tar off roads. This was an EF-4. The box you show would be thrown across a county or two, and if you found the people that used to be in it, they would be smashed like a tomatoe under a heel.
Here in MN, we had a tornado rip through a town just about 30 miles southwest of here. The whole town was gone. Just wood planks here and there. house pieces scattered across miles of farm land. The destruction is unbelievable. Watch youtube. I'm sure people will be putting up videos of the aftermath. It's so dang scary.
Not only does the National Weather Service watch the action on radar, but most communities have weather spotters - Police and citizens that volunteer to watch the clouds. I took the course this last winter and know what to look for, as far as tornadic activity, and the possible build up of it. Then we call in w/ our cell phones to report rotation in clouds, down drafts and up drafts, etc.
Here in MN, we had a tornado rip through a town just about 30 miles southwest of here. The whole town was gone. Just wood planks here and there. house pieces scattered across miles of farm land. The destruction is unbelievable. Watch youtube. I'm sure people will be putting up videos of the aftermath. It's so dang scary.
Not only does the National Weather Service watch the action on radar, but most communities have weather spotters - Police and citizens that volunteer to watch the clouds. I took the course this last winter and know what to look for, as far as tornadic activity, and the possible build up of it. Then we call in w/ our cell phones to report rotation in clouds, down drafts and up drafts, etc.
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Yes, if a tornado went straight through the house it'd probably suck you up and spit you out unless you were in a strong basement or underground bunker, but from what I hear a lot of damage is caused outside the core vortex where winds are swirling aound horizontally at 200mph or so and the risk of being sucked up is much less.
Those horizontal winds knock houses down and send debris whizzing around so I definitely think I'd like to be in a metal box to improve my chances of survival.
The bottom line is this:- Moore proves that whatever anti-tornado systems are in place they aren't good enough.
Surely America hasn't given up on the problem and adopted a "there's nothing we can do about it" attitude?
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My prayers go out for the victims and their families.
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The only "sure" way to survive an EF-4 or EF-5 level storm is in a below grade or underground shelter. Sure, people survive in interior rooms and basements but shelters are recommended. At one time shelters were common place in prone parts of the country, but now cities have building codes about such things believe it or not.
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