5/5/2003: Tornado damage
 

http://cellar.org/2003/tornadodamage.jpg

Wish we had a bigger version of this --

What can an F5 tornado do to your house? Even a nice suburban cul-de-sac house is no match for it. As I look at this it occurs to me that all the advice about where to go in your house would have meant nothing.

Mrs UT and I took the 30 seconds needed to figure out where in the house we'd go in a tornado situation, but without a basement, there really is no safe room, is there?

To me it looks like the square concrete on the front of each house is the foundation for a garage that no longer exists. And then there's the SUV in the back yard...

It's preferable to be as low as possible, of course. But failing that, you should find an area with no windows, like maybe a hallway or a closet.

Personally, I like the people who try to outrun tornados with their car. Somehow, it just doesn't work for them..

But, they did it in Twister :-^)

no basement
 

yup - had people tried to have hidden somewhere 'safe' on the main floor they would have bit it.

if there had been a basement however, the floor joists are usually bolted to the foundation and as long as any basement windows didn't blow in, it would be tough to pull the floor away.

what happened to every backyard having a coldwar bunker in it??

It looks like there's still "stuff" on the first floor. Since the tornado pulls most of the house up and away rather than collapsing it, you might survive flat on the floor away from flying debris. I say might because I've seen plenty of pictures of bare slabs in the aftermath. I have read if you lay flat under your car (if it's high enough), you probably won't get picked up even if the car is.

F5? Is this from the recent storms? I thought they were "only" F3.

That may be as I was going by an early report.

Read Elspode's post in current events.

The KC area tornadoes are estimated at F2-F3, but final determination won't happen until all damage is assessed.

I don't know about the other locations around the Midwest, though. I just saw some video from Pierce City, MO, and it looks like downtown Baghdad. Unbelievable, and total, destruction. Makes what happened in my neck of the woods look almost tolerable by comparison. Pierce City is dead. Looks like it had to have been F4-F5 there.

You Sunk My Battle Ship!!

With seat belts, sprung upholstery, air bags, side intrusion bars, rollover protection and maybe something like gaffa tape on the windows a modern suv could be the safest place. The ones in the photo don't seem too badly beaten. Then again, I don't know if I'd have the nuts to sit in my car and stare down a twister.
I've met folks who are amazed at the variety of deadly fauna in Australia then I find out they're from tornado territory. I'll take my chances with the spiders and snakes mate.

SUVs not safe at all.
 

How well are you going to do when the tornado picks up your SUV and throws it at the ground at 30 mph sideways? And then a 100 mph rock comes through the window and hits you in the face?

I'd drive towards cover.

You get warnings about the tornadoes coming. I don't think there's much in the way of an early alert system for redback spiders ...

Hey UT, how far are you from that development that got creamed a couple years back up near the nuke plant?

Re: SUVs not safe at all.
 

True, that's not a pretty picture you paint, but at least you're mobile and the chances of getting hit by flying debris would have to be amplified by cowering inside a structure that turns into debris.
WOLF, maam, most of the critters are fairly predictable as far as habitat requirements go so being a card carrying coward I follow Mr Miyagi's plan." Best defense...no be there"
'no place like home'