Severe weather

[the game]

So I've been a Skywarn storm spotter for a number of years now. Basically I spot for tornadoes when the situation arises and report them to the National Weather Association. However I've never been on the victim end of a tornado or a hurricane. Have any of you been on the victim end? I mean have you ever lost a residency or maybe a loved one during a tornado or a hurricane? How well did you deal with the situation? How long did it take for things to get back to normal afterwards for you?

[Medusa Cascade]

Last severe weather we had was a bit of rain

[Deleted]

What I don't get is when people build houses out of twigs in the Tornado Alley, then lose everything, and proceed to build a new house out of twigs in the same spot. I can appreciate the "this is my home" -sentiment, and I can even appreciate being poor and not being able to even consider any other kind of way of building than the typical twig house, but I mean... You'd think some people would at least try.

[Wildtree]

Yeah, had the pleasure to taste the fun of an F2 tornado 3 yrs ago.
No one was injured, but the property suffered some 45k damages.
Trees crashed, siding damages around the whole house, roof damages and basement flooding.

It was quite a scary thing, but once it was over it provided some great experience.
The way the entire community worked together to clean up the town, that was really amazing.

I should say, that the touchdown was actually a half mile outside the town limits. And still the winds, hail and rainfall caused immense damages.

[Gheld]

What I don't get is when people build houses out of twigs in the Tornado Alley, then lose everything, and proceed to build a new house out of twigs in the same spot. I can appreciate the "this is my home" -sentiment, and I can even appreciate being poor and not being able to even consider any other kind of way of building than the typical twig house, but I mean... You'd think some people would at least try.

Because Tornado alley is a gigantic region encompassing most of North America's agricultural capacity.

People need to work there so people need to live there. Otherwise all the other people sitting on their high horse dissing them for living in tornado alley would starve.

[Reeve]

So I've been a Skywarn storm spotter for a number of years now. Basically I spot for tornadoes when the situation arises and report them to the National Weather Association. However I've never been on the victim end of a tornado or a hurricane. Have any of you been on the victim end? I mean have you ever lost a residency or maybe a loved one during a tornado or a hurricane? How well did you deal with the situation? How long did it take for things to get back to normal afterwards for you?

My car got messed up in Hurricane Ike, but I was in Africa when it happened.

- - - Updated - - -

What I don't get is when people build houses out of twigs in the Tornado Alley, then lose everything, and proceed to build a new house out of twigs in the same spot. I can appreciate the "this is my home" -sentiment, and I can even appreciate being poor and not being able to even consider any other kind of way of building than the typical twig house, but I mean... You'd think some people would at least try.

Because twigs are cheaper and easier to rebuild than stones/bricks/concrete, which ALSO get destroyed by powerful tornadoes.





It takes extremely well constructed heavily concrete reinforced very expensive buildings to withstand the full force of a tornado. And even then, nothing is protecting your building when the tornado picks up a tractor trailer and throws it at your walls.

That, and because your chances of your house scoring a direct hit from a tornado powerful enough to destroy it are extremely low.

[Crissi]

What I don't get is when people build houses out of twigs in the Tornado Alley, then lose everything, and proceed to build a new house out of twigs in the same spot. I can appreciate the "this is my home" -sentiment, and I can even appreciate being poor and not being able to even consider any other kind of way of building than the typical twig house, but I mean... You'd think some people would at least try.

There's only so sturdy you can build a house. An EF 4 or 5 is still going to tear even a well built house down to its foundation / basement. Also, tornadoes happen in the vast majority is states so just not living in an area with tornadoes isn't feasible.

Oh, and my familyhasnt been affected, although we've had a few near misses (tornadoe was within a mile).

Also, back in 2000 a tornado hit Downtown Ft Worth!

This is from an F3:



Also, further proof that concrete and steel can be hurt:

[Kalis]

No tornadoes or hurricanes, but we had a bit of a strong breeze the other day - it blew my napkin off the garden table! Scary stuff.

[Deleted]

It takes extremely well constructed heavily concrete reinforced very expensive buildings to withstand the full force of a tornado.

Well, the shape of the building matters as well. Of course if you're dead set building a box-shaped building in tornado country, then no amount of concrete is going to help you. Here's a few examples of "tornado proof" or "tornado resistant" buildings I could find.






Go dome or go home.

Also, here's a couple pictures of houses that took a hit. The latter took an EF4.




Windows blown out and a lot of damage but hey, it's still standing.

[Gheld]

^^ Concrete itself is actually a relatively weak building material. It has about the same tensile strength as glass of the same thickness. The fact that you can pour it as a liquid and set it into any shape you want and is extremely fire resistant makes it good for setting steel in. And steel structures are expensive.

A steel framed residential sized house would run into the millions of dollars, and still, only the frame would have any chance of surviving a powerful tornado.

- - - Updated - - -

Well, the shape of the building matters as well. Of course if you're dead set building a box-shaped building in tornado country, then no amount of concrete is going to help you. Here's a few examples of "tornado proof" or "tornado resistant" buildings I could find.






Go dome or go home.

Also, here's a couple pictures of houses that took a hit. The latter took an EF4.




Windows blown out and a lot of damage but hey, it's still standing.

Of course, all those idiots just need to build multi million dollar custom homes. Why didn't they think of that?

[boyzma]

I live where things like this just don't happen. Well, no...it has happened, tiny tornadoes and real freak incidences....couple times, but miles away. I don't think I could live where there's tornadoes...would always be looking over my shoulder. same with hurricanes...no thanks. Here unusual weather consists of over a foot of snow in winter.....but it does happen. Other than that...beautiful summers, mild winters....just too many friggin californians buying all our land.....go away!

[Gheld]

Also structure visually intact immediately following event does not =/= structure seriously compromised

[Crissi]

How expensive are those? If its out of most peoples price point, a basement or storm shelter is still going to be the better option. Especially as for the latter picture, you're still going to need a shit ton of work to fix it. Also, blown doors and windows will still let debris in that can kill you.

[Reeve]

Well, the shape of the building matters as well. Of course if you're dead set building a box-shaped building in tornado country, then no amount of concrete is going to help you. Here's a few examples of "tornado proof" or "tornado resistant" buildings I could find.






Go dome or go home.

Also, here's a couple pictures of houses that took a hit. The latter took an EF4.




Windows blown out and a lot of damage but hey, it's still standing.

Those are hideously ugly, though, and not especially practical to live in compared to more traditional homes. Why subject yourself to living in one of those (which probably cost more to build than a standard wood frame house) for that 1% chance that you'll have to deal with a tornado? You could live in a much nicer house, and have a 99% probability of never dealing with a tornado. And if a tornado DOES come, you have insurance to help you rebuild.

[Shinra1]

Raise your hand if you've been victimised by a tornado!

[Gheld]

Those are hideously ugly, though, and not especially practical to live in compared to more traditional homes. Why subject yourself to living in one of those (which probably cost more to build than a standard wood frame house) for that 1% chance that you'll have to deal with a tornado? You could live in a much nicer house, and have a 99% probability of never dealing with a tornado. And if a tornado DOES come, you have insurance to help you rebuild.

Not to mention as you said before, if a tractor trailer were picked up by the tornado and hurled at their super house, it would probably instantaneously turn into a concrete coffin for anybody inside.

[Orby]

Last time anything of extreme weather happned in my area in the UK was when this happened (I use the word extreme losely as the extremes we get now days are just heavy dopwnpours of rain lol).... I was 7 years old at the time... :P

[grandpab]

Been through a few hurricanes, kinda. The mostly missed us. The worst one only left us without power for a few days.

[Deleted]

Those are hideously ugly, though, and not especially practical to live in compared to more traditional homes. Why subject yourself to living in one of those (which probably cost more to build than a standard wood frame house) for that 1% chance that you'll have to deal with a tornado? You could live in a much nicer house, and have a 99% probability of never dealing with a tornado. And if a tornado DOES come, you have insurance to help you rebuild.

I don't know. I watched Storm Chasers, and the couple times they went to towns that were completely flattened, the people there seemed to be completely and utterly distraught and destroyed. They lost everything. All of their memories, all of their stuff, all of their valuables, everything. Their entire lives, their history, got wiped off from existence. And, of course, some of them died, to make it even worse.

Maybe it makes sense to gamble like that, even if it is 1%, or even less. Who knows.

[Independent voter]

This is why they believe in the Old Testament God in the Midwest.