Tornado last night, touched down near Nashville TN and move East for approx 50 miles. As of now death toll is at 23. 16 in Cookeville alone, a college community. Our Rescue Squad was paged out to help. We found/recovered one body, helped others gather what they could .. https://www.newschannel5.com/

 

Cookeville is ~75 miles east of Nashville. I never worried about tornados in East TN or during my sojourn at CookieVille and don't even remember a warning. Alabama a whole nother story...

 

The old TN State Prison, where the "Green Mile" was filmed suffered extensive damage ..
https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/overnight-tornado-damages-historic-tennessee-state-prison/

 

The bummer was the hour it came through. Most people were sleeping. Can't speak for down there in Nashville but up here when the tornado warning sirens sound we hardly hear them. One day I went to leave the house, walked outside and walked back in telling my wife the tornado warning sirens were going off. Watching the morning news as daylight came and the hours passed the number of dead kept increasing each time they went back to the story. My heart goes out to them.

Ron

 

Just wondering why the building codes have not been updated to include tornado force winds.

Here in California, buildings must withstand an earthquake with a peak ground acceleration of 1.0 G without collapse. Florida codes require buildings and homes to withstand a wind speed of 170 MPH. Although a home or building cannot be made tornado proof, it is possible to design a structure that is at least "walk away safe".

 

It is much easier to build hurricane proof than tornado if that's even possible. I have seen everything from horizon to horizon left bare after a tornado in Alabama. It looked like the forest had been clearcut except they left the trees on the ground. An entire tiny town gone. All the was left were the basement walls. All of the entire ~20 stores and homes gone. The tornado was over a mile wide. I actually heard it from 10 miles away in the wee hours of the dark morning. Got up that morning and it was on the news about some town in Alabama being destroyed and didn't know it was right next to us. Never gave any thought to them living in TN or now on the coast of GA. You did pay attention to them in AL and if there was a warning issued found a dark hole to hide in.

 

I remember back in 1975 when an F5 with winds in excess of 300 MPH took Xenia, Ohio off the map. It killed 33 people. I really don't see a good defense against an F5 tornado or for example a Cat 5 Hurricane in a city like New Orleans, LA. In the latter I never saw building a city below sea level as a good idea despite the charm of New Orleans.

Ron

 

Interesting twist on the search for the missing people.... https://www.wymt.com/content/news/Skeletal-remains-found-in-tennessee.html

 

I always wondered what could be built to protect you from a tornado, provided a warning in advance is received. Kind of a basement?

For decades, the press here failed calling "tornado" to strong winds. Now, we are having more and more frequent real ones.

 

"Storm shelters" are a common thing here in the south. We have a local vendor that sells fiberglass in the ground shelters. Brick houses usually fare better than most other construction, but they will be destroyed if they are in the path.. Below ground is usually your best bet..

 

Tornado warning? Basement, that's where we go. Lacking a basement of cellar I would dig one. I remember the 50s and people getting bomb shelter plans which was foolish. When it comes to a tornado people need to ask themselves the risk? If I build and invest in a tornado shelter I am betting I will need it or could that money be better spent?

Ron

 

How much time/labor for every new household to have a proper shelter or be built and shaped to stand it ? What's the geology in the the tornado alley ? Can you build under ground shelters without water destroying them or the foundations ?

 

How much time/labor for every new household to have a proper shelter or be built and shaped to stand it ? What's the geology in the the tornado alley ? Can you build under ground shelters without water destroying them or the foundations ?

Sure you can. There are WWII underground bunkers which despite no maintenance are in relatively good shape today. Just a question of what are the odds?

Ron