Central Florida here. I'm more afraid of the tornadoes from a hurricane than the hurricane itself. Hurricanes are scary but you can prepare for them (unless you're on the coast), tornadoes, especially nocturnal ones are freaking terrifying.
Central FL as well. Most twisty boys from Hurricanes are F0 and short lived. Don’t stress it.
Our houses are rated to a stand cat three or higher, it’s the sustained cat 3/4/5 winds for a few hours that I worry about 🙏🏻🤙🏻
I know, and that's completely rational. However there was a f4 that went right over the future spot my house now exists from a hurricane in the 60's. So my butt still puckers a bit when we're in hurricane season.
And since the last 40 years I've not experienced more than cat 1 winds here in Lakeland.
I feel ya! Not sure where you are in Lakeland, but Ian for sure produced cat 3 gusts on the east side of 98. Many of us were without power for 5-6 days.
When I was a teen, Hurricane Charley hit us really, really badly. It still haunts me a bit, but made me a much better prepped these days. We had no power for weeks and ran out of food. Thankfully we had friends and family, but not everyone is as fortunate.
Good luck out there my fellow Lakelander 💪🏻
Generators are a must. You can’t survive here up north in Vermont in the winter, we’ve gone a week without power from snowstorms before, and in those temperatures, you’re dead. Highly highly highly recommend investing in a generator. It’s so nice being able to shower, make food, use your computer, etc. even when the power is out, but the real benefit comes when those rare 5+ days without power come
I’ve been following hurricanes closely for the past 30ish years. I’ve always been morbidly curious about them.
So ofc when we moved from PA, I made sure the house was built to post-Andrew code, wasn’t in danger of floods, and met the needs of the family.
I’ve got a handful of DIY hurricane fortification efforts to get done before august. Things like caulk, brace gable ends, make covers for roof vents, etc.
I do miss the seasons though. And getting snowed in.
For the longest time I didn't know either (don't live anywhere near where hurricanes are a major threat). I remember thinking "Well, they can be devastating but there is ample time to prepare and gtfo, or hunker down at least!"
I used to think if I were in that situation myself, I would stay and camp out in my house. Until I learned they can also spawn tornadoes ontop of the huge multi day storm system. F that noise
I'm in North Central Florida and tornadoes freak me out more than hurricanes. Like you said, we have time to prepare at least but the suddenness of tornadoes and the destruction they bring is unsettling.
Awesome UN btw!
Agreed, we live in OK and have a place in FL on the Gulf coast too. Been through both.
There IS a difference here in Oklahoma- we usually know days in advance that there is a specific day to pay attention to. When that day comes the forecast becomes more accurate and when those storms go up, the whole world is on them. Channel 9 in OKC (6 in Tulsa) has the best severe weather coverage in the world.
There are around a dozen professionals on the ground, all or most have done it for two decades, they’re tracked, positioned and steered by meteorologists at the station (mostly off air) and of course these days there are a myriad of fantastic radar apps- Radar Scope and…I’ve forgotten the other; maybe Radar Omega are both excellent.
My point is that we are advised block by block exactly what is where, when, what direction it’s going etc and they don’t stop coverage until danger is clear.
So while it can be and is scary, the coverage is such that it’s just hard to be taken by surprise and if the storm with the ability to produce a tornado is anywhere near you- we know. We can watch it live on any network and they’ve even got helicopters up following these things.
Much of the state is pretty flat too so if it’s light outside you can see it coming. Sometimes it’s best to stay put, hunker down if you’ve got a shelter but sometimes it’s best to bolt…get behind the storm because tornados don’t go backwards…at least they don’t go miles backwards and because so much of the state has roads every mile going in 4 directions it’s not too difficult to get back behind one with the potential of producing a tornado.
Heck, I’d go so far to say storm season is another sport…baseball, football, basketball and storms. The news goes wall-to-wall, often no commercials either tracking every cell in the state.
I have ridden with professionals twice. The first time was at night and before radar on our phones so it was much scarier, we were completely reliant on the CB or cellular and the station, often the #2 meteorologist at the station who is responsible for positioning and keeping up with locations. I’ve got war stories but I’ll save them…
My point is we’ve got a lot more notice because we are in OK and even at night we know where they are and where it is…within a city block or less.
I don’t know who perished in this one and it’s horrific but because of these news stations and their teams we are more educated and prepared every year.
We were camping in the TX hill country fifteen years ago, I saw a tornado warning for our area and the signature hook on the storm…and not one radio or TV station said a word. That was insane to me- why wouldn’t they at least put a graphic up or something but I guess it’s uncommon and people just don’t follow like they do here. In that case we loaded up the pickup and got behind it until it passed.
There are probably YouTube videos of both News 9 and Channel 4 in case you’re interested in seeing what we do.
Hurricanes give plenty of warning, but tornado prediction is getting better every year and most pay close attention.
When the sirens go off anywhere in the country people go to their storm shelters. In Oklahoma, everyone goes outside to watch.
No opinion as to whether it’s smart…it just is. And it’s surreal seeing “The Dominator” fueling up or the NWS mobile Doppler radars in town.
It’s pretty hard to be taken by surprise. Of course it happens but it’s pretty rare.
It’s a way of life in the Midwest. The last threat we had during the day time was the first one since 2018. Everything is always over night now. It sucks!
I've actually tossed around the idea of moving to Kansas or OK and doing just that . Build a small house above ground to accommodate days where I just want some sun in the windows , like a very small 1 bdr and a half bath cottage , then have the main living area in the larger basement .
There aren't a lot of basements here; the rocky clay soil makes building them a bitch and a half. You could still do it, to be sure, but it wouldn't be cheap.
Not everywhere in Kansas and Oklahoma. The state soil of Kansas is Harney silt loam which is great for building. The further west you go, the more clay.
I've heard that , but also , as eyebrowshampoo pointed out , that the more east you go , the better the soil conditions get . I also like the more hilly terrain as opposed to flat open plains , so I'll have my homework to do when I get serious about planning .
I think somehow only 2 people were lost out of the 60 or more homes that are gone. We are very fortunate. My house is 3 houses away from the destruction path. Easily the most terrified I've been in my life.
you can clearly see that the homes that were not well built at all were built with cinderblock foundations. there's just no way in hell some of those homes would survive ef3 winds. yet some of the houses that were hit that looked much more sound still had walls standing
this is most likely going to be ef3 damage
I’m not sure, but photo 18 to me shows EF4 damage. There’s a brick home on a foundation that was leveled and the slab is visible. I don’t know if the NWS released specifics about where they found EF4 damage.
I live here in Barnsdall in a brick home and can confirm we don't all live in trailers. The tornado indiscriminately took well built and poorly built homes alike. Half of the petrochemical plant here in town was destroyed as well. It was a very serious tornado. I felt my entire home shaking, but am fortunate not to have any severe damage.
They're actually on the ground inspecting, whereas we're just looking at pictures on Reddit. Of course they're seeing clear evidence for specific ratings, and we're not.
After the survey is finalized, you can go to the [NOAA Damage Assessment Toolkit ](https://apps.dat.noaa.gov/stormdamage/damageviewer/)and view all the damage indicators and the surveyor notes. Often there are images attached. Pretty fascinating stuff.
I feel fairly confident given the debarking present and a few well-built homes being slabbed that it won’t be downgraded. Especially since it was initially given an EF3+ rating and then upgraded later. We’ll see, though.
Did not realize my comment would bristle so many people. I made a snap judgement based on what I see. If you disagree, that’s cool.
Edit; and it’s an EF4 from the rating that was just released.
EU guy here with a genuine question. I see a lot of these destructive images and in my EU-mind I go: why don’t they build houses out of brick? Is there a reason almost all houses in the US are made entirely out of wood?
Also, in the strongest tornadoes brick doesn't stand. Ef5? Damaged anyways.
Some places in the US also can't be made with brick. (earthquake zones and erosion areas) but also these areas aren't usually in tornado zones. {Your house is actually weaker than wood for those natural disasters}
But overall it's just more cost effective with wood, but I think in places with disasters like this brick should be more prominent.
Your brick house is still going to be trashed and everything thrown in a Tornado like this. Maybe most of the outside walls kinda stay up, but that’s about all that would be somewhat salvageable.
Plus what are we considering survival? Some walls are up? Does that matter if every window is blown out, the roof is torn off and your stuff is launched?
Well, a strong tornado will destroy a brick building the same as a wooden one. Wood’s much easier to dig victims out of, and it’s cheaper to rebuild with. Many homes and buildings *are* built with brick, it’s just slightly less common than in the EU.
I live near here. That is in fact a real stone house no veneer at all. Made in the 1930/40's when things were made well. There are several in this state like those, 2 on my block alone. I even used to live in one.
I still have feathers in my hair & eat buffalo.... Well bison now. s/ but ended up being true now that I thought about it. 🤣 Lived in Ok all my life some on a farm, and never rode a horse.
The long story short is it’s cheaper, wooden frame houses are super cheap compared to the European alternatives like masonry, wood is cheap, easily available, doesn’t require super skilled workers to put it together, and houses can be built quick. They’ve been doing this for so long now there’d have to be a fairly big cultural shift as far as structural schemes go for homes to be built out of stronger materials tl;dr Cheap cheap cheap ‘murica
On the other hand (as an architect), the typical EU home would fare no better. While dramatic seeing all the debris, the result would be the same. Windows break and let in wind, roof sucks off, everything comes out. There might some walls remaining, but inside would be gone.
I reckon the typical EU home at a minimum in cases like this would provide greater protection for the occupants, if you’re in one of these US houses you’ve got a slim chance, having said that at a certain point, there’s no house in the world that’ll protect you from these unless specifically built for that purpose
yeah you’d probably be much safer, would have to smash through a few layers of thick brick walls to get to your central rooms. bear in mind we also have solid brick dividing walls in many houses too, so a lot more protection in the centre
I’ll add on two points:
1. Regulation for anchor bolts designed to withstand hurricane force winds (essentially screws and bracers that take a much more creative kind of force to wrench apart) are becoming more common as opposed to standard hammer and nail. These are industry standard in Dixie Alley already. However most houses in tornado alley are way, way too old to have had this apply to them and would require a full remodel which is untenable unfortunately due to cost and lack of other accommodation.
2. Most “bricked” houses in the US are built adjacent to wood frames which delivers the impression that actual bricked houses fail to withstand upper-level wind forces. Granted weird shit happens in your EF4s and 5s to the point where physics itself starts breaking so ymmv
I am from southern Missouri one of the worst tornadoes in US history hit the city of Joplin in 2011 killing 160 people and leveling concrete , masonry, brick buildings. There were no mobile homes these were all foundation homes. Joplin was an F5, and it was horrifying. People from my town and all the towns down here went to go help Joplin as soon as we heard what happened. The only way to describe it is to let you watch the video from the storm chaser there that day. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfdK6H9d6J0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfdK6H9d6J0)
I have seriously said we should build all buildings out of nerf and rubber, and we should all have emergency tornado suits that make you look like the stay puff marshmallow man. That way most debris will be soft and bounce, and if you get picked up and tossed you can bounce too.
In many places in the US, full brick homes are the norm. Even if the brick walls hold, though, the roof and windows will almost certainly be demolished in an EF3+. You typically get a ton of rain with tornado systems, so now you've got an open box with no top. What doesn't blow away will flood.
I still want brick or concrete for lesser storms, but in particularly violent ones the results are going to be devastating regardless.
Barnsdall resident here. Live in a nice brick home. There are plenty of nice, well built homes. But this is also an economically impoverished area and many people don't have money to build a solid home like that. It's just a rural community with mainly oilfield and petrochemical jobs being the best paying work.
If built right, yes they do. I have a “safe room” built in my house, 1ft thick concrete with rebar, 3 inch steel door with hydraulic ram to force open. Had it built after my neighbor mile down the road survived a ef3 with his kids and wife in the exact same one. It was the only thing left on the foundation of the home
The town actually has an F5 rated storm shelter not far from the tornado's path. I'm not sure how if that would be helpful in rating this particular storm or not. There's also a nursing home that took pretty significant damage that was right in the path. It's a much more solidly constructed building than a lot of the houses shown in this image gallery. The high school wasn't really in the path and as far as I know didn't take much damage.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhkvrW0A22g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhkvrW0A22g)
the reality is, surveyors have a large list of extremely specific damage indicators. if you saw how that hampton inn turned into a 2x4 pincushion, you bet your ass they have a damage indicator for that
i would not be the least bit surprised if they found 1-2 ef-4 indicators, but from what i'm seeing here, nothing to me stands out
Nah, most of the houses that seemed to be well-built are still standing. The flattened buildings looked to be mobile home/trailers.
Strong EF-3 would be the highest imo.
Fair enough. I don’t know enough about the rating system to agree or disagree. That house just stood out to me because it’s somewhat similar to my own. If an EF-3 is all it takes to do that, then that’s terrifying. Makes me realize my family would be in bad shape if there was a significant tornado.
EF-3 are extremely destructive. That's the part where it starts looking where a bomb got blown off in the center of a town when one of them hits it. People focus a lot on EF-4+ EF-5, but if you look at pictures of officially rated EF-3 tornados, it's pretty fucking devastated.
At high-end EF-3+, it's not a matter of "are houses going to be flattened or not" necessarily but whether "what type of house got flattened".
If we look at the historical reports for EF-5 tornados, Moore 1999 had two areas of EF5 damage, all being houses with solid anchor bolts to concrete pad being slabbed, and cars being picked and sent 1/4 miles away.
Joplin 2011 got its EF-5 rating from, once again, concrete-slab anchored houses being slabbed "EF-5 rating was given to those homes that were swept clean of their concrete slab foundations." (22 in total iirc, the hospital didn't even meet EF-5 damage criterias)
Both damage reports mentions "houses being swept clean off their foundations before it reached their EF-5 strength". An EF-3 tornado can ABSOLUTELY leave houses as a pile of chopsticks on the ground. If the house is well-built, however, it has a better chance of standing.
If we look at some noteworthy EF-3 tornado, the little Rock 2023 received high-end EF-3 after "[...] two neighboring two-story homes were completely flattened. These homes were anchored with nails rather than bolts, earning a high-end EF3 rating."
The Connerville-Bromide 2016 also received EF-3 rating due to "an unanchored home [being] obliterated and swept away, killing the occupant and leaving little debris behind. A pickup truck from the residence [was] thrown 250 yards into a wooded area and severely mangled."
The David-Sulfur-Roph, Oklahoma 2016 also received EF-3 rating due to "one unanchored home in this area [being] swept completely away at high-end EF3 intensity, and outbuildings were destroyed as well."
The point isn't that "oh the house was slabbed, it's EF-4+", EF-3+ can all slab a house, but an EF-3 won't be able to sweep a house that's properly bolted down to a concrete slab. An EF-5 will pick up anything it fucking wants.
That first house doesn't look like it had a concrete pad at all, which probably means it won't meet the criterias for EF-4+ damage indicators.
You'd have to get your house inspected to see if you're anchored.
But in general, from my understanding anchored means that there is a concrete pad (reinforced or not) that your house is bolted (better) or nailed (worse) into, so you are literally pinned to the ground, adding greater structural strength in the case of disasters and other troubles.
We had an EF3 nearby which turned massive trees into missiles. Brick ranch houses didn't blow away, but the airborne trees crashing through rooftops did enough damage to render residents homeless. Screw EF3s.
Some of these homes were shoddly built and cheap. Possibly even pretty old. Others came out with walls up. Makes you wonder just how well your own home is built.
Being in direct path is important here too.
It can just be chance. Some tornadoes are picky.
We had an EF4 nearby and a family member's older, frame home was perfectly fine. The neighbors had one entire side of their home ripped off. It was also frame and looked like an open dollhouse with half the furnishings carefully removed. The creepiest part was that things like framed art on the walls were untouched.
The next house in line was flattened. Dumb luck.
It’s really hard to believe some of these before and afters. Just utter devastation. I really hope these folks are able to find safety and comfort quickly.
Absolutely horrible. I hope those people are getting help
I stare down cat5 hurricanes every year and I’m here to say F that
Central Florida here. I'm more afraid of the tornadoes from a hurricane than the hurricane itself. Hurricanes are scary but you can prepare for them (unless you're on the coast), tornadoes, especially nocturnal ones are freaking terrifying.
Central FL as well. Most twisty boys from Hurricanes are F0 and short lived. Don’t stress it. Our houses are rated to a stand cat three or higher, it’s the sustained cat 3/4/5 winds for a few hours that I worry about 🙏🏻🤙🏻
I know, and that's completely rational. However there was a f4 that went right over the future spot my house now exists from a hurricane in the 60's. So my butt still puckers a bit when we're in hurricane season. And since the last 40 years I've not experienced more than cat 1 winds here in Lakeland.
I feel ya! Not sure where you are in Lakeland, but Ian for sure produced cat 3 gusts on the east side of 98. Many of us were without power for 5-6 days. When I was a teen, Hurricane Charley hit us really, really badly. It still haunts me a bit, but made me a much better prepped these days. We had no power for weeks and ran out of food. Thankfully we had friends and family, but not everyone is as fortunate. Good luck out there my fellow Lakelander 💪🏻
Generators are a must. You can’t survive here up north in Vermont in the winter, we’ve gone a week without power from snowstorms before, and in those temperatures, you’re dead. Highly highly highly recommend investing in a generator. It’s so nice being able to shower, make food, use your computer, etc. even when the power is out, but the real benefit comes when those rare 5+ days without power come
We moved to coastal central Florida a few years ago. The first 2 big purchases we made were accordion shutters and a standby generator.
Good thinking! It’s definitely a life savor, literally
I’ve been following hurricanes closely for the past 30ish years. I’ve always been morbidly curious about them. So ofc when we moved from PA, I made sure the house was built to post-Andrew code, wasn’t in danger of floods, and met the needs of the family. I’ve got a handful of DIY hurricane fortification efforts to get done before august. Things like caulk, brace gable ends, make covers for roof vents, etc. I do miss the seasons though. And getting snowed in.
With no disrespect toward anyone harmed: Nocturnal Tornadoes would be a kickass band name.
I had no idea hurricanes could spawn tornadoes. TIL.
For the longest time I didn't know either (don't live anywhere near where hurricanes are a major threat). I remember thinking "Well, they can be devastating but there is ample time to prepare and gtfo, or hunker down at least!" I used to think if I were in that situation myself, I would stay and camp out in my house. Until I learned they can also spawn tornadoes ontop of the huge multi day storm system. F that noise
I'm in North Central Florida and tornadoes freak me out more than hurricanes. Like you said, we have time to prepare at least but the suddenness of tornadoes and the destruction they bring is unsettling. Awesome UN btw!
Agreed, we live in OK and have a place in FL on the Gulf coast too. Been through both. There IS a difference here in Oklahoma- we usually know days in advance that there is a specific day to pay attention to. When that day comes the forecast becomes more accurate and when those storms go up, the whole world is on them. Channel 9 in OKC (6 in Tulsa) has the best severe weather coverage in the world. There are around a dozen professionals on the ground, all or most have done it for two decades, they’re tracked, positioned and steered by meteorologists at the station (mostly off air) and of course these days there are a myriad of fantastic radar apps- Radar Scope and…I’ve forgotten the other; maybe Radar Omega are both excellent. My point is that we are advised block by block exactly what is where, when, what direction it’s going etc and they don’t stop coverage until danger is clear. So while it can be and is scary, the coverage is such that it’s just hard to be taken by surprise and if the storm with the ability to produce a tornado is anywhere near you- we know. We can watch it live on any network and they’ve even got helicopters up following these things. Much of the state is pretty flat too so if it’s light outside you can see it coming. Sometimes it’s best to stay put, hunker down if you’ve got a shelter but sometimes it’s best to bolt…get behind the storm because tornados don’t go backwards…at least they don’t go miles backwards and because so much of the state has roads every mile going in 4 directions it’s not too difficult to get back behind one with the potential of producing a tornado. Heck, I’d go so far to say storm season is another sport…baseball, football, basketball and storms. The news goes wall-to-wall, often no commercials either tracking every cell in the state. I have ridden with professionals twice. The first time was at night and before radar on our phones so it was much scarier, we were completely reliant on the CB or cellular and the station, often the #2 meteorologist at the station who is responsible for positioning and keeping up with locations. I’ve got war stories but I’ll save them… My point is we’ve got a lot more notice because we are in OK and even at night we know where they are and where it is…within a city block or less. I don’t know who perished in this one and it’s horrific but because of these news stations and their teams we are more educated and prepared every year. We were camping in the TX hill country fifteen years ago, I saw a tornado warning for our area and the signature hook on the storm…and not one radio or TV station said a word. That was insane to me- why wouldn’t they at least put a graphic up or something but I guess it’s uncommon and people just don’t follow like they do here. In that case we loaded up the pickup and got behind it until it passed. There are probably YouTube videos of both News 9 and Channel 4 in case you’re interested in seeing what we do. Hurricanes give plenty of warning, but tornado prediction is getting better every year and most pay close attention. When the sirens go off anywhere in the country people go to their storm shelters. In Oklahoma, everyone goes outside to watch. No opinion as to whether it’s smart…it just is. And it’s surreal seeing “The Dominator” fueling up or the NWS mobile Doppler radars in town. It’s pretty hard to be taken by surprise. Of course it happens but it’s pretty rare.
It’s a way of life in the Midwest. The last threat we had during the day time was the first one since 2018. Everything is always over night now. It sucks!
These things really are bastards.
I need to just build a underground bunker and live in it.
I've actually tossed around the idea of moving to Kansas or OK and doing just that . Build a small house above ground to accommodate days where I just want some sun in the windows , like a very small 1 bdr and a half bath cottage , then have the main living area in the larger basement .
There aren't a lot of basements here; the rocky clay soil makes building them a bitch and a half. You could still do it, to be sure, but it wouldn't be cheap.
Not everywhere in Kansas and Oklahoma. The state soil of Kansas is Harney silt loam which is great for building. The further west you go, the more clay.
I've heard that , but also , as eyebrowshampoo pointed out , that the more east you go , the better the soil conditions get . I also like the more hilly terrain as opposed to flat open plains , so I'll have my homework to do when I get serious about planning .
Hobbit hole? That’s what I’m thinking I need to go for.
I don't even know these folks and these pictures make me cry. I hope so badly they will be okay and get therapy...
I think somehow only 2 people were lost out of the 60 or more homes that are gone. We are very fortunate. My house is 3 houses away from the destruction path. Easily the most terrified I've been in my life.
I'm looking but I don't see any basements.
A lot of people in Oklahoma have underground storm shelters outside. I hope all these people had them and are okay…
Basements aren’t as common in Oklahoma due to red clay in the soil.
That’s devastating to say the least.
No one deserves this. Ever.
…. I don’t even have words….
Blows my mind still how dangerous mother nature can get.
My 5 year old son always ask me what I fear the most and I always tell him “ Mother Nature “
that fog on 18 is just eerie
That’s easily EF4 damage. Absolutely horrifying. And it went directly through town. Edit; NWS has confirmed there is EF4 damage present.
you can clearly see that the homes that were not well built at all were built with cinderblock foundations. there's just no way in hell some of those homes would survive ef3 winds. yet some of the houses that were hit that looked much more sound still had walls standing this is most likely going to be ef3 damage
The rating was just listed. It’s an EF4.
Just saw they released preliminary ef3+. I wonder what they saw that constituted ef4
I’m not sure, but photo 18 to me shows EF4 damage. There’s a brick home on a foundation that was leveled and the slab is visible. I don’t know if the NWS released specifics about where they found EF4 damage.
Is there an indicator for brick houses? I assumed brick would be more vulnerable to the large debris and not do great. I ain't know shit tho
I live here in Barnsdall in a brick home and can confirm we don't all live in trailers. The tornado indiscriminately took well built and poorly built homes alike. Half of the petrochemical plant here in town was destroyed as well. It was a very serious tornado. I felt my entire home shaking, but am fortunate not to have any severe damage.
They're actually on the ground inspecting, whereas we're just looking at pictures on Reddit. Of course they're seeing clear evidence for specific ratings, and we're not.
That's great but I'm not questioning their rating, I'm just wondering what they saw
Makes sense
are you a human?
No?
that's ok. have a nice day
After the survey is finalized, you can go to the [NOAA Damage Assessment Toolkit ](https://apps.dat.noaa.gov/stormdamage/damageviewer/)and view all the damage indicators and the surveyor notes. Often there are images attached. Pretty fascinating stuff.
Prelim is ef4 they are still surveying
I feel fairly confident given the debarking present and a few well-built homes being slabbed that it won’t be downgraded. Especially since it was initially given an EF3+ rating and then upgraded later. We’ll see, though.
I agree with the ef4 too.
You cannot tell based on these photos.
[удалено]
Did not realize my comment would bristle so many people. I made a snap judgement based on what I see. If you disagree, that’s cool. Edit; and it’s an EF4 from the rating that was just released.
Live here. It destroyed everything in its path. Well built brick homes and trailers.
Terrible. 😞
JFC that’s awful.
EU guy here with a genuine question. I see a lot of these destructive images and in my EU-mind I go: why don’t they build houses out of brick? Is there a reason almost all houses in the US are made entirely out of wood?
Also, in the strongest tornadoes brick doesn't stand. Ef5? Damaged anyways. Some places in the US also can't be made with brick. (earthquake zones and erosion areas) but also these areas aren't usually in tornado zones. {Your house is actually weaker than wood for those natural disasters} But overall it's just more cost effective with wood, but I think in places with disasters like this brick should be more prominent.
Your brick house is still going to be trashed and everything thrown in a Tornado like this. Maybe most of the outside walls kinda stay up, but that’s about all that would be somewhat salvageable.
studies done on house destruction from tornados found one story brick houses have a higher liklihood of surviving tornados and often do.
For lower rated tornadoes sure, but ef3 and higher? Not so much
Plus what are we considering survival? Some walls are up? Does that matter if every window is blown out, the roof is torn off and your stuff is launched?
Well, a strong tornado will destroy a brick building the same as a wooden one. Wood’s much easier to dig victims out of, and it’s cheaper to rebuild with. Many homes and buildings *are* built with brick, it’s just slightly less common than in the EU.
Worth noting there’s a stone house in image 17 that was also leveled in image 18. Likely a veneer and not a solid stone wall.
Those are super popular near me. It's pretty but not helpful in a storm.
I live near here. That is in fact a real stone house no veneer at all. Made in the 1930/40's when things were made well. There are several in this state like those, 2 on my block alone. I even used to live in one.
Everyone thinks we still live in trailers and teepees...
I still have feathers in my hair & eat buffalo.... Well bison now. s/ but ended up being true now that I thought about it. 🤣 Lived in Ok all my life some on a farm, and never rode a horse.
The long story short is it’s cheaper, wooden frame houses are super cheap compared to the European alternatives like masonry, wood is cheap, easily available, doesn’t require super skilled workers to put it together, and houses can be built quick. They’ve been doing this for so long now there’d have to be a fairly big cultural shift as far as structural schemes go for homes to be built out of stronger materials tl;dr Cheap cheap cheap ‘murica
On the other hand (as an architect), the typical EU home would fare no better. While dramatic seeing all the debris, the result would be the same. Windows break and let in wind, roof sucks off, everything comes out. There might some walls remaining, but inside would be gone.
I reckon the typical EU home at a minimum in cases like this would provide greater protection for the occupants, if you’re in one of these US houses you’ve got a slim chance, having said that at a certain point, there’s no house in the world that’ll protect you from these unless specifically built for that purpose
yeah you’d probably be much safer, would have to smash through a few layers of thick brick walls to get to your central rooms. bear in mind we also have solid brick dividing walls in many houses too, so a lot more protection in the centre
OK, fair, but roof and floors do come into play. I believe no one wants to find out, though. Cheers!
I’ll add on two points: 1. Regulation for anchor bolts designed to withstand hurricane force winds (essentially screws and bracers that take a much more creative kind of force to wrench apart) are becoming more common as opposed to standard hammer and nail. These are industry standard in Dixie Alley already. However most houses in tornado alley are way, way too old to have had this apply to them and would require a full remodel which is untenable unfortunately due to cost and lack of other accommodation. 2. Most “bricked” houses in the US are built adjacent to wood frames which delivers the impression that actual bricked houses fail to withstand upper-level wind forces. Granted weird shit happens in your EF4s and 5s to the point where physics itself starts breaking so ymmv
I am from southern Missouri one of the worst tornadoes in US history hit the city of Joplin in 2011 killing 160 people and leveling concrete , masonry, brick buildings. There were no mobile homes these were all foundation homes. Joplin was an F5, and it was horrifying. People from my town and all the towns down here went to go help Joplin as soon as we heard what happened. The only way to describe it is to let you watch the video from the storm chaser there that day. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfdK6H9d6J0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfdK6H9d6J0)
Wood is extremely plentiful and much cheaper in most of the USA.
brick buildings do not withstand strong tornadoes. in the event a tornado hits your house would you want hard bricks to fall on you or wood?
That’s why I exclusively build homes out of pillows and bubble wrap
I have seriously said we should build all buildings out of nerf and rubber, and we should all have emergency tornado suits that make you look like the stay puff marshmallow man. That way most debris will be soft and bounce, and if you get picked up and tossed you can bounce too.
I needed that laugh tonight. Take all my upvotes.
No
In many places in the US, full brick homes are the norm. Even if the brick walls hold, though, the roof and windows will almost certainly be demolished in an EF3+. You typically get a ton of rain with tornado systems, so now you've got an open box with no top. What doesn't blow away will flood. I still want brick or concrete for lesser storms, but in particularly violent ones the results are going to be devastating regardless.
You want bricks flying around in a tornado?
Barnsdall resident here. Live in a nice brick home. There are plenty of nice, well built homes. But this is also an economically impoverished area and many people don't have money to build a solid home like that. It's just a rural community with mainly oilfield and petrochemical jobs being the best paying work.
Preliminary ef4 and still surveying
Lots of trauma for these poor folks. They'll be reeling from this for a long time. God I wish nobody ever had to fear a tornado ever again...
I wonder if those above ground tornadoe shelters really work
If built right, yes they do. I have a “safe room” built in my house, 1ft thick concrete with rebar, 3 inch steel door with hydraulic ram to force open. Had it built after my neighbor mile down the road survived a ef3 with his kids and wife in the exact same one. It was the only thing left on the foundation of the home
Think it’ll be an EF-4?
I'm think strong EF-3, potentially weak EF-4. Either way, the town of Barnsdall will never be the same.
ef-3 to ef-3+. highly doubt they are able to find any ef-4 indicators
The high school in the town could potentially meet that, but I’m not expert of course.
Me neither, but I didn't see the damage. Usually those buildings are some of the most well built in the area
The town actually has an F5 rated storm shelter not far from the tornado's path. I'm not sure how if that would be helpful in rating this particular storm or not. There's also a nursing home that took pretty significant damage that was right in the path. It's a much more solidly constructed building than a lot of the houses shown in this image gallery. The high school wasn't really in the path and as far as I know didn't take much damage.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhkvrW0A22g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhkvrW0A22g) the reality is, surveyors have a large list of extremely specific damage indicators. if you saw how that hampton inn turned into a 2x4 pincushion, you bet your ass they have a damage indicator for that i would not be the least bit surprised if they found 1-2 ef-4 indicators, but from what i'm seeing here, nothing to me stands out
Nah, most of the houses that seemed to be well-built are still standing. The flattened buildings looked to be mobile home/trailers. Strong EF-3 would be the highest imo.
That first house does not look anything like a mobile home and it was ripped off its foundation and scattered like match sticks
You're right, good catch on that, but I still maintain that I don't think it will receive EF-4 based on the damage of those pictures alone.
Fair enough. I don’t know enough about the rating system to agree or disagree. That house just stood out to me because it’s somewhat similar to my own. If an EF-3 is all it takes to do that, then that’s terrifying. Makes me realize my family would be in bad shape if there was a significant tornado.
EF-3 are extremely destructive. That's the part where it starts looking where a bomb got blown off in the center of a town when one of them hits it. People focus a lot on EF-4+ EF-5, but if you look at pictures of officially rated EF-3 tornados, it's pretty fucking devastated. At high-end EF-3+, it's not a matter of "are houses going to be flattened or not" necessarily but whether "what type of house got flattened". If we look at the historical reports for EF-5 tornados, Moore 1999 had two areas of EF5 damage, all being houses with solid anchor bolts to concrete pad being slabbed, and cars being picked and sent 1/4 miles away. Joplin 2011 got its EF-5 rating from, once again, concrete-slab anchored houses being slabbed "EF-5 rating was given to those homes that were swept clean of their concrete slab foundations." (22 in total iirc, the hospital didn't even meet EF-5 damage criterias) Both damage reports mentions "houses being swept clean off their foundations before it reached their EF-5 strength". An EF-3 tornado can ABSOLUTELY leave houses as a pile of chopsticks on the ground. If the house is well-built, however, it has a better chance of standing. If we look at some noteworthy EF-3 tornado, the little Rock 2023 received high-end EF-3 after "[...] two neighboring two-story homes were completely flattened. These homes were anchored with nails rather than bolts, earning a high-end EF3 rating." The Connerville-Bromide 2016 also received EF-3 rating due to "an unanchored home [being] obliterated and swept away, killing the occupant and leaving little debris behind. A pickup truck from the residence [was] thrown 250 yards into a wooded area and severely mangled." The David-Sulfur-Roph, Oklahoma 2016 also received EF-3 rating due to "one unanchored home in this area [being] swept completely away at high-end EF3 intensity, and outbuildings were destroyed as well." The point isn't that "oh the house was slabbed, it's EF-4+", EF-3+ can all slab a house, but an EF-3 won't be able to sweep a house that's properly bolted down to a concrete slab. An EF-5 will pick up anything it fucking wants. That first house doesn't look like it had a concrete pad at all, which probably means it won't meet the criterias for EF-4+ damage indicators.
What do you mean by anchored? Could my 1970's apartment be unsecured and crumble away?
You'd have to get your house inspected to see if you're anchored. But in general, from my understanding anchored means that there is a concrete pad (reinforced or not) that your house is bolted (better) or nailed (worse) into, so you are literally pinned to the ground, adding greater structural strength in the case of disasters and other troubles.
We had an EF3 nearby which turned massive trees into missiles. Brick ranch houses didn't blow away, but the airborne trees crashing through rooftops did enough damage to render residents homeless. Screw EF3s.
God, please help them.
Some of these homes were shoddly built and cheap. Possibly even pretty old. Others came out with walls up. Makes you wonder just how well your own home is built. Being in direct path is important here too.
It can just be chance. Some tornadoes are picky. We had an EF4 nearby and a family member's older, frame home was perfectly fine. The neighbors had one entire side of their home ripped off. It was also frame and looked like an open dollhouse with half the furnishings carefully removed. The creepiest part was that things like framed art on the walls were untouched. The next house in line was flattened. Dumb luck.
Wow. Only the WELL built homes survived WITH damage. EF4 looks about right.
It’s really hard to believe some of these before and afters. Just utter devastation. I really hope these folks are able to find safety and comfort quickly.
Oh mannn
Some of the newer houses, post 1991, have concrete safe rooms built into them in and around wichita.
😭
That's awful. Everything these people had is just gone. I hope the residents of those homes are okay.
I think only 1 confirmed death and 1 man is still missing.
The contractors should be sued for the way these homes were built. Absolutely shameful.