Tornado
 

I was just wondering if anyone here has ever seen a Tornado in person. I did on Sunday and it was pretty incredible. I was home at my parents house for the weekend and it was about 11 AM and I heard the Sirens go off signaling severe weather. I didn't think much of it as it seemed sunny outside and they are usually false alarms. Then a few minutes later I heard it...just this loud noise that is really un describeable, people are saying it sounded like a freight train but I don't know if that's what I would use. So upon hearing this noise I looked out the window and saw a HUGE tornado off not very far in the distance kicking up all sorts of debris. I stared at it mesmerized for probably a lot longer than I should have then I hauled my ass to the basement. The noise got louder until it eventually passed and all was silent. My dad and I went back upstairs to find that one side of our Garage wall was torn off the foundation and foundation bricks were scattered everywhere, there were numerous holes in the siding from debris and the yard was just a complete mess. A 2x4 was sticking straight up in the middle of our roof, I wish Id gotten a picture of that actually. My dad started getting pissed about the damage until I looked down the street and saw maybe 5 houses down there were houses that were completely destroyed. I mean just gone. Anyways as it turns out this Tornado basically wiped out half the town and destroyed hundreds of homes. Attached are just a few photos I took after walking maybe 2 blocks down the street. Turns out it was an F4 tornado w/ 190 MPH winds. If you want to see more google or youtube Washington IL tornado.

Re: Tornado
 

Wow Jason. I'm glad you're OK.

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I live in Oklahoma, so... Yep. Glad you made it through okay.

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Was it anything like from that Documentary about tornados?

I think its called Sharknado.

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I don't think I have seen that doc. I might have to check that out.

Oh wait I just looked it up I thought you were serious haha

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I thought you lived in St. Louis. :P

Glad to hear you are OK regardless. So in this situation I guess your house isn't safe to live in? Were you able to save all the stuff inside?

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Can anyone explain to me why they build houses out of wood instead of brick? Serious question.

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Actually my Parents house is OK to live in. Like I said the main damage was the garage, other than that it was mainly just holes in the siding from debris and minor stuff like that. Just broke the siding though--note holes all the way through the house or anything. surprisingly no windows were broken. They didn't live in it for awhile because the power was out though. Everything inside was fine. Obviously not the case with houses right down the street though as you can see from the photos.

And Canyarion, you do occasionally see new houses built from brick but seldom are they all brick. I would assume the main reason is costs. I actually would be doubtful that even a brick house could survive 190 MPH winds but I don't know.

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Hm I did some googling and apparently brick houses aren't much more tornado-proof than wooden houses. That sucks. I guess basements and cheap building materials are the way to go after all.

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That movie is fantastic.

Re: Tornado
 

Basically this. Brick housing and reinforced concrete/steel probably help with hurricane winds, but a tornado is an incredible force of wind and destruction. You're talking about something that has driven pieces of wood through concrete.

I'm no engineer or tornado expert, but my guess is the tornado can just rip the brick right off the foundation. You might be safe in a school or hospital in some of the smaller tornadoes, but it seems like even schools have been destroyed by some of the bigger, more powerful ones.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you are okay, Jason. I was watching the Bears game and saw all the TV reports. It was a crazy storm and series of events that morning.