Fleeing a tornado may be safer than hiding from it

Ann Arbor News ^ | 6-17-05 | Bruce Seeman

[MizSterious]

Actually, they're stepping away from that lately, and have returned to the underground storm cellar idea. Our local weather guys always say, go to a cellar, but if no cellar, a central room, etc. But they always stress a cellar.

[janetjanet998]

oh please...statisicly speaking the odds of a tornado hitting your house are very low...even in oklahoma...do you want a lighting rod to be required too...you know theres that 1 in a million chance

[thackney]

Part of me thinks I'd flee if time permitted and if I knew the tornado was bad enough.

Just how are you going to make those decisions? I suggest you ponder and consider the options while sitting in a storm cellar.

[battlegearboat]

MAY 3RD, 1999 - OKLAHOMA CITY - F-5

[MizSterious]

Very low? Not for those who are actually hit by one (or more).

[dirtboy]

oh please...statisicly speaking the odds of a tornado hitting your house are very low...even in oklahoma

I lived in Oklahoma and Texas for 11 years and never saw a tornado nor had one come near where I lived. Had to move to Pennsylvania to be around tornados - had two come within a couple miles of my house last year.

But the difference is, you get a lot more bad-assed tornados in Oklahoma, so the consequences of not being prepared can be quite severe, especially if you live in a tornado magnet trailer park.

do you want a lighting rod to be required too...you know theres that 1 in a million chance

There's a lot better chance than that of a lightning strike hitting your home and causing signficant damage, especially to electronics.

[Protagoras]

Personally, I think it should be the law that every private home must come with one of those--

Boy, it doesn't take long around here to get a liberal "solution" to any problem or risk.

[evets]

30 were killed in the small town of Jarrell Tx on 5/27/97.
An F5, a mile wide moving at about 20 MPH with winds of 300 MPH.

Jarrell tornado
I saw a man on the news, who said that he got in his truck and left when he saw it coming aound 3 p.m.
When he returned, his storm shelter was gone. All of the cement blocks were sucked from the ground, and the 3 ft. thick 6 x 9 wide slab concrete roof... gone. Glad he ran!

[thackney]

A few folks are having a small hardened concrete cell built within their house. That's about the only above-ground shelter that would might work in an F5.

Some F5 will lift the pavement off the roads.

[MizSterious]

I agree with YOU. Of course, convincing Janetjanet might be another matter, LOL! (Obviously, someone who has never seen one of these beasts.)

[Protagoras]

"I agree, homes and apartments built in areas where tornadoes are common should be required to provide a tornado shelter"........Hillary Clinton.

< /sarcasm>

[Indy Pendance]

Here's a report from the Oakfield tornado.

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT

MOVED THROUGH OAKFIELD WITH F3 TO F4 DAMAGE IN 200 YARD WIDE CORE. ABOUT 2 MILES EAST OF OAKFIELD...PATH NARROWED TO 100 YARDS AND F5 DAMAGE NOTED. NEW HOME SWEPT CLEAN...2 AUTOS AIRBORNE FOR 300 TO 400 YARDS. REMAINS WERE UNRECOGNIZABLE. STEEL REBAR SUPPORTS FROM HOME FOUNDATION BENT AT 60 TO 90 DEGREES. CORN CROP SWEPT CLEAN WITH 1 INCH STUBBLE LEFT.

[rockrr]

Opinions anyone?

Can't speak for anyone else, but the last time I just stood there (like a moron) and video taped.....

[RegulatorCountry]

"Fellow Freepers, some of you have been in a tornado before. What do you do?"

Advising people to attempt to outrun a tornado is going to shift the statistics. Does anyone honestly think that, en masse, people are going to be thinking rationally about strategy, trying to flee something so primal, so evil looking? I don't. You'll start seeing more people killed in accidents than were killed by the storm.

[Rodney King]

Fleeing from it makes the best sense from an individual standpoint. The problem, however, is that in a populated area if everybody attempts to flee there will be a traffic jam and everyone will be worse off than if they were in a closet in their house. I love on the NW corner of OKC, and if the storm is coming my way I can easily drive south down to Yukon to get out of the way, but I would think in the middle of the city one could not count on clear roads.

[janetjanet998]

yes very low..you only hear about houses being hit not the 1,000,000+ houses that didn't get hit..most tornadoes don'teven hit any strcutures since most areas are nothing but farmland/rural .and even if it did get hit it you need an f-3 or above to destroy it

[brothers4thID]

I grew up in Georgia and rode out many a tornado in our underground basement. I wouldn't think of trying to ride one out in a mobile home or even an "interior" closet.
That said, I was once trapped in a car during a tornado. The tornado was on the opposite side of the shopping center sucking the roofs off stores and all I could do was watch. (I was 15 with a broken foot and didn't have the car keys) Those where the most terrifying 2 minutes of my life.

[HairOfTheDog]

I think the safest thing to be is an amatuer storm chaser... I mean, with no real training, what are my odds of actually predicting where to be and finding one?

[alley cat]

I agree with you that there is probably an interaction here.

Most tornadoes are the smaller ones (in Fujita terms). For those, one is probably safer hiding.

For the biggies, no place in its path is safe, so better to get out of its path altogether.

[Protagoras]

Fine. If you don't want one, don't build one--but such people should also be banned from using their health and property insurance. Folks like you make my insurance rates go up.

It gets worse by the minute.