I want to point out the irony:
The week before this,wasn't it like 12 or so people died?
Then, this week, they announced the new storms PLENTY in advance (obviously also in a lesson due to the many fatalities in the previous week) TO WARN
PEOPLE.
And those who died, the Stormchasers, didn't die because they were surprised by the storm, rather, because they knew exactly when and where the
storm(s) would hit - meaning their knowledge about the storms was actually their demise. IRONIC...
When I lived in the US, tornadoes were (and still are) nightmares for me, gladly I never really saw one up-close although we had several scary
encounters, for example once riding through a large storm system all the way from FL up to IL with green/black sky and warnings basically all the way
through the trip. The fact that my then wife was histerical about tornadoes didn't really "help" either.
Let's put it that way, if I were to see a tornado, I would likely pee in my pants and freak out.
The fact that MANY homes in the US are relatively flimsy wooden structures WITHOUT A EFFING BASEMENT doesn't make things better, for sure.
Back in IL, the "basement" was only an area approx. 3ft below ground level (if houses even had one), but not really a "basement" in that sense as I
know a "basement" for.
As for the wooden/brick house difference...is actually moot because there were some instances where people died in IL, in a nearby town people who
seeked out shelter and went in the ONLY solid, brick building (!!) however a tornado killed them, I think they were even in the shelter. The tornado
simply leveled the entire home and didn't care that it was an old, brick building.
Also...if you read the CNN article, you can read that the Stormchasers vehicle was "flattened like a can", point is not even the most bada$$ "like a
tank" looking vehicle might save you when a tornado will directly hit it. There is nothing which can stop the incredible force of a tornado.
edit on 3-6-2013 by flexy123 because: (no reason given)