On May 26 2011 02:23 Bleak wrote: I have a question, I hope noone gets offended because I don't know anything about housing in US, just asking out of curiosity.
As far as I can see, those homes are really fragile, and not really build of strong concrete. So I am curious, why not build stronger homes which won't be demolished by tornadoes in an area where there are a lot of tornadoes happening every season?
The biggest problem with 'stronger' homes is that the construction costs would be significantly higher, thus not attractive to potential homeowners.
Hmm, so it is just better to make fragile homes and risk your life instead of spending some extra money? The homes look like they are made of freaking wood, how much more expensive is it to use some concrete and steel so that stuff doesn't start flying around when tornadoes appear? One doesn't have to build a skyscraper, just a two story small house similar in archithecture to the ones in the area but made of concrete and steel would be enough. Windows might be broken and stuff could fly around, but that should be easily handled by some safety measures inside the house. It is obviously better than whole thing collapsing on you.
I just don't understand...I've always thought housing as cheaper in US.
If people can't do anything because they can't afford it, then the State should do something about it. Either close off the area for living, or build strong enough homes to survive the tornadoes.
Thanks for this. My wife is actually in Dallas now and she told me she was experiencing golf ball sized hail storms and the sirens were going off. We were really scared.
I've had three close encounters with tornadoes in my life. (Live in Kansas City, Kansas side) Weirdly enough it was always the telephone poles flying through the air and cars flipping that I was worried about, not my home being ripped asunder.
Then again maybe that is just dumb luck that one never touched down in my back yard.
Tornado sirens went off here today 2 times but never saw much weather. It all passed north of me. I live in Arkansas and we've had some pretty bad stuff this year. Definitely a bad year for severe weather. I had a few friends get some wind damage and my college had tons of down trees, even had to cancel our finals for the spring semester due to power outage/down power lines and trees.
Flooding has been a bad problem here in Arkansas this year. We've had several deaths from that alone. I had a friend that lost pretty much everything in a flood. Everything was floating.. Really sucks to see it.
Apparently today the guys from "Stormchasers" from the discovery channel were here with the Dominator. They were about 45 minutes away but far as i know we never saw much in the way of Tornadoes. Definitely prayers to Joplin and Missouri as well as Alabama and everyone else effected.
I was born and raised in Oklahoma and even though I'm in Korea now, my whole family is still there and they were telling me about all this. Even though I've seen dozens of tornadoes, it's still unnerving because all you can do wait and hope it misses you. I've talked to some people whose house didn't get touched but the next door neighbors' house was demolished. I'm always so grateful when it misses my family but I feel so bad for the people who weren't so lucky.
The only thing that happened besides some heavy rain late in the storm when it was almost past us when it was starting to cross the river into Memphis where I live. The image is splashed all over the news and internet:
I live in TN and we get tornado warning feels like at least twice a months a lot of the times. Worst part is in Tennessee it is mostly rocky ground so most homes do not have a basement.
On May 26 2011 02:52 Bleak wrote: If people can't do anything because they can't afford it, then the State should do something about it. Either close off the area for living, or build strong enough homes to survive the tornadoes.
About 50 people die a year in the US from tornadoes. At least 50 million live in areas where tornadoes occur. One in a million odds of dying are not dangerous enough to warrant not living there or paying significantly higher prices to build houses.
On May 26 2011 02:52 Bleak wrote: If people can't do anything because they can't afford it, then the State should do something about it. Either close off the area for living, or build strong enough homes to survive the tornadoes.
About 50 people die a year in the US from tornadoes. At least 50 million live in areas where tornadoes occur. One in a million odds of dying are not dangerous enough to warrant not living there or paying significantly higher prices to build houses.
In any case, there is a risk of death that nobody knows when it will hit them. The tornado might go over your house, or might not touch it at all. You just don't know about it. This is a big risk, I just don't understand the logic of letting people live in structures weak against tornadoes while there is that big of a risk. The numbers mean nothing, it is human life we are talking about. Any of those 50million people, assuming that their homes are weak, are in threat.
At least the buildings could be strengthened, not sure what can stand against that thing besides a concrete structure though.
You can easily go your entire life living in tornado alley and never even see a tornado. If Joplin is like every other town I've lived in in the midwest they sound the sirens for every little thing (straightline winds, large hail, etc) and people get used to it - certainly in my current town that is the case... if we ever got a major tornado here hundreds would die. The trouble is every time there's a super cell the TV hack meteorologists hype the hell of it.
In a situation like the Tuscaloosa EF4 tornado there had already been tornadoes in the area most of the morning with the sirens sounding frequently... people just got fatigued and started to ignore them.
That being said, most people here have no idea what to do if a tornado is bearing down on them... and most don't have storm shelters or basements.
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