'Atomic Bomb-Like' Tornado Damage in Oklahoma

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A reporter from local news station KFOR called it "the biggest, most destructive tornado in the history of the world," and estimated it was two to three times the magnitude of the massive tornadoes that hit Oklahoma in 1999.
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Very scary
 
Condolences to the affected living in OK.

Just picked up on the thread, surprised that this wasn't at the top of list in OT and not moving quickly. Seems like an absolute disaster.
 
I grew up in the midwest (Iowa) so I knew the comparison in the title wasn't hyperbole. But those pictures still dropped my jaw. Unbelievable level of destruction; a mile wide down for that long is just horrifying.
 
TylerD said:
Here are some 200mph/300kph bike flybys. Seriously fast. Imagine metal or debris hitting a house...

http://vimeo.com/53551115
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You don't have to imagine it.

The University I attended (Texas Tech) is has a program recognized worldwide for studying how building materials fail under wind and wind-carried debris stresses. They have a lab with a few giant air canons designed to propel 2x4's and other simulated debris at tornado and hurricane speeds. Their big indoor machine can simulate drebris flying at 250 mph, but they usually dial it down to more "survivable" speeds.

To give you an idea of what it looks like when a wall stud traveling at tornado speeds (in this video the laboratory's air cannon was dialed in to propel the simulated debris at speeds between 88 and 200 MPH) looks like hitting a wall, here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pot7UI5SLb8

As you can see, at higher speeds, the debris (even though it's only wood) will go right through stone, brick, and masonry. Please also note, this only shows the effect of propelled debris impact. There's no way to simulate the sheering force of a huge wall of wind like in a tornado.
 
Protein said:
I've seen an F5 tornado in person. Probably the most terrifying thing you will ever see in your life as a human being. I nearly fainted when I saw one.


an F5 tornado
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I know that feeling. I was about 1/4th mile away from the edge of an F5 in 1998, at like 8 or 9 pm, total darkness. Which seems worse, as you couldn't see it. You could only hear it, and feel everything in the house shaking and moving (wind and fluctuating air pressure). Time slows down and it just filled me with a sense of dread and panic.

One of those "I think I'm about to die" moments.
 
Diseased Yak said:
Tornados typically are accompanied by shitloads of rain, and if they move over any water at all (streams/rivers/etc) they suck up even more and drop it.

They just said it's entering Arkansas, yay me :(
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I imagine broken pipes in the house could flood a basement if the water pressure was still there.
 
Cystm said:
How do you... What the fuck are you supposed to do in that small of a window?
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That's about normal for a tornado warning. The schools have 'tornado' drills like fire drills here in Oklahoma and I assume in othe central US states. When I was in school the drill was to get in the hallway kneel over into a ball at the wall. Obviously if the school has a basement you go there. For home owners with no storm shelter or basement it's go to the center of the house in a room with no windows or get in a bath tub and cover it with a mattress.

The debate about houses needing to be built with rock/stone. A 2x4 screaming through the air at 200 mph cuts through stone/rock like paper. An F4 F5+ storm is not usually survivable unless you are underground.

Lived in central OK my whole life not much you can do when this happens other than hope people took shelter.
 
DrluNZu.jpg
 
The kids that died were apparently in a reinforced, masonry hallway, according to the local feed I'm listening to.

...


StUnNeR H2K said:
That's about normal for a tornado warning. The schools have 'tornado' drills like fire drills here in Oklahoma and I assume in othe central US states. When I was in school the drill was to get in the hallway kneel over into a ball at the wall. Obviously if the school has a basement you go there. For home owners with no storm shelter or basement it's go to the center of the house in a room with no windows or get in a bath tub and cover it with a mattress.

The debate about houses needing to be built with rock/stone. A 2x4 screaming through the air at 200 mph cuts through stone/rock like paper. An F4 F5+ storm is not usually survivable unless you are underground.

Lived in central OK my whole life not much you can do when this happens other than hope people took shelter.
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Yeah, in N. Texas, we had regular tornado drills at school.
 
I snapped this from the live stream

n5ycIvw.jpg



That's the kind of shit that can happen when 200+ mph winds are kicking shit around. That's WOOD getting stuck into the side of walls. Not shattering, just impaling.
 
AlphaDump said:
holy fucking shit dude.

what people dont understand, questioning the integrity of structures is the debris is; the air is just loaded with all kinds of shrapnel and doesnt give a shit where it is going, at 200+ mph.
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Is her name Jo and did you appear in a 1996 movie with Bill Paxton?
 
Wow, how the fuck I missed this? Thought the title would be an exaggeration but holy shit. I hope not many died.
 
PsychoRaven said:
Really? Really? I'm going to assume you're just ignorant. Yes they can happen any time of the day or night just like any other form of weather.
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Yes I am ignorant. I never read about tornadoes. I assumed they are result of heat exchange like typhoons but maybe at night the temperature are different or something because I never heard of night tornadoes.

Weenerz said:
Does it rain at night?
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Yes.

Konka said:
Yes.
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Okay

piratepwnsninja said:
Please say you're joking.
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No. Don't mock ignorance. I'm genuinely asking.

Pristine_Condition said:
Yes, of course. But in the one I lived through, it didn't matter. Day turned to night from the cloud. The automatic streetlights in the area of town I was in, (not hit) turned on during the storm. It was like a solar eclipse.
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It must be frightening. So I imagine, it's pitch black and you got this amazingly loud sound and stuff falling on your head as the only clue there's a tornado around you... Good god...

Lonestar said:
As I just wrote, yep...
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What you wrote is breathtaking, I don't think I could endure that :(
 
Yagharek said:
Brick homes are no safer, but reinforced steel and concrete houses should be the best option.

In my state, homes in cyclone districts have to be built to category 5 standards. Is there an equivalent minimum standard in cyclone and tornado prone parts of the USA? Or are storm shelter bunkers enough?
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Category 5 in Hurricane/Typhoon/Cyclone terms starts in the EF3 range for tornadoes. While they affect much smaller areas, tornadoes are, as a rule, far more destructive than tropical storm systems are over the area they do affect.

EF4 and EF5 tornadoes simply go into the category of destruction where all but the most extreme feats of human engineering fail.
 
Absolutely terrible :( I was right in the middle of the April 27th 2011 outbreak here in Birmingham (I live in Pleasant Grove where it cut a path right through) and seeing this is making me sick to my stomach. I had to change the channel a few minutes ago as I couldn't take seeing any more of it :(
 
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