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Tornados are the scariest natural disaster, right?

Latvian Hitman

Latvian Hitman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,752
Norman, OK
Stiler said:
Well he survived it, but his wife (that was downstairs in the kitchen) sadly didn't, seems like that size of tornado it was basically up to chance.
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Everything's up to chance in a violent tornado. The guidelines I posted are the ones that maximize your chances for survival.

Also- highly unlikely that the downstairs kitchen was an interior room. Kitchens rarely are. "Well he survived it" doesn't make what he did smart. That would be like arguing against wearing a seatbelt in a car because of one particular wreck where a guy wasn't wearing one and lived.
 
Stiler

Stiler

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
6,659
Latvian Hitman said:
Everything's up to chance in a violent tornado. The guidelines I posted are the ones that maximize your chances for survival.

Also- highly unlikely that the downstairs kitchen was an interior room. Kitchens rarely are. "Well he survived it" doesn't make what he did smart. That would be like arguing against wearing a seatbelt in a car because of one particular wreck where a guy wasn't wearing one and lived.
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I know, I wasn't dismissing your advice or saying what he did was smart (it wasn't).

Was merely pointing out that he survived it, because it seemed highly unlikely he would have standing at a window literally staring it down. Supposedly a chimney crashed down around him and pinned him til some people helped him out of it.
 
Syriel

Syriel

Banned
Dec 13, 2017
11,088
Spinluck said:
As a native Floridian, I've lived through a fuckton of hurricanes. They are pretty shitty and are capable of inflicting damage across 1000s of miles across different states or even countries.

Yet, I don't fear them as much as say an earthquake, tsunami, or a fucking tornado.

The idea that something can just pick you up and toss you is terrifying to me. Like it just strips you of your agency and you're helpless. And the destruction that it leaves behind is just brutal. You can take precautions against a hurricane, but what the fuck do you do for a tornado?
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Depends on where you grew up. As a Chicago suburban kid, tornadoes are just another storm.

Earthquakes and hurricanes (dat storm surge) can be much more devastating.

You can hide from a tornado. Can't hide from an earthquake or hurricane.
 
PhilosopherDirtBike

PhilosopherDirtBike

Member
Nov 1, 2017
3,203
Tornados are scary but at least you have a heads up and you're probably fine if you're in any kind of remotely urban place. Earthquakes come out of nowhere and are caused by huge sections of the earth rubbing up on each other and there's nowhere you can run from them. I'd take a tornado over an earthquake any day.
 
LunaSerena

LunaSerena

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,525
Syriel said:
Depends on where you grew up. As a Chicago suburban kid, tornadoes are just another storm.

Earthquakes and hurricanes (dat storm surge) can be much more devastating.

You can hide from a tornado. Can't hide from an earthquake or hurricane.
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A house that follows a well made building code will resist an earthquake with no problem. My house resisted an 8.8 (I'll give that it was probably less than that but more than 8.0 since I wasn't near the epicenter) with minor damage.
The main issue is that people dislike following building codes since they make construction more expensive in countries where they have forgotten what it means to have a big quake every ten or fifteen years.
 
Cranster

Cranster

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,788
PhilosopherDirtBike said:
Tornados are scary but at least you have a heads up and you're probably fine if you're in any kind of remotely urban place. Earthquakes come out of nowhere and are caused by huge sections of the earth rubbing up on each other and there's nowhere you can run from them. I'd take a tornado over an earthquake any day.
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Tornadoes are more dangerous in urban area's as that creates more debris.
 
Nepenthe

Nepenthe

When the music hits, you feel no pain.
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
21,055
Tsunamis scare me the most.

Like, you see the entire ocean suddenly pull back in preparation for pure catastrophe. By that time it's too late for you to really do anything.

And the thought of drowning is sheer horror. I'd rather die from the blunt force of a tornado then suffer a drowning. No thanks.
 
Mr. X

Mr. X

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,495
Volcano eruption and earthquakes seem way worse than the others. Earthquakes can even make tsunamis.
 
Toxi

Toxi

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
17,552
Cranster said:
A Tornado touched down just North of Orillia in 2013 and there was no severe weather or even warnings at the time.
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Shit. Still, there were no injuries or major damage caused by that one. In general, the really bad tornadoes come with a good amount of warning because they need such specific atmospheric conditions.
 
robot

robot

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,474
Been a while since I looked this up, but from what I remember heat waves/droughts are actually the deadliest weather phenomena. They kill old people in droves. Something about how mundane and wide-spread they are makes them much more insidious to me than the "flashy" disasters.
 
Galactor

Galactor

Banned
Nov 11, 2017
619
As a Native from a ring of fire country with a huge earthquake culture, tornados and hurricanes scare me a lot more
 
Gobias-Ind

Gobias-Ind

Member
Nov 22, 2017
4,032
I'm more disturbed by the flooding here in Oklahoma than all the tornadoes that have touched down near me over the past 30 years. Seeing all those buildings and landmarks submerged, erosion tearing through the concrete, the neighborhood just downhill of me about 8 feet under water, reports that say fun stuff like "we're releasing more water, all we can do is wait and see the impact."

Been freaked out about floods ever since seeing videos from the Japan tsunamis. I did not recognize what I saw there as a force nature was capable of producing.
 
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chuckddd

chuckddd

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,308
Earthquakes are definitely first on the list. No warning, no shelter. You can hide from tornadoes and run from hurricanes and volcanoes.
 
Latvian Hitman

Latvian Hitman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,752
Norman, OK
LunaSerena said:
A house that follows a well made building code will resist an earthquake with no problem. My house resisted an 8.8 (I'll give that it was probably less than that but more than 8.0 since I wasn't near the epicenter) with minor damage.
The main issue is that people dislike following building codes since they make construction more expensive in countries where they have forgotten what it means to have a big quake every ten or fifteen years.
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With a lot of these weather events it comes down to what the particular region is prepared for. A 7 or 8 magnitude quake in Oklahoma or Missouri would destroy immense amounts of property, because none of the building codes from the west coast are in place.

By the same token, a mile-wide EF5 tornado with measured wind speeds above 300 mph struck the south OKC metro in 1999 and killed "only" 38 people. Contrast that with the Joplin, MO tornado of 2011, which was a slightly weaker (but obviously still devastatingly violent) storm, and it kills 158. Why the difference? OKC residents have much broader access to underground shelters and are much more used to "the drill" of taking cover in the proper spots.
 
latex

latex

Member
Jul 5, 2018
1,414
I think earthquakes are the most terrifying natural disaster. There is absolutely no warning and they can trigger massive tsunamis and volcanic activity.

Earthquakes seem to have generation long aftermath.
 
Kangi

Kangi

Profile Styler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,953
I grew up simultaneously fascinated and terrified by tornadoes. A mile-wide EF5, sirens crying into an endless black sky, the world coming apart and being flung through the air, as this dark behemoth aims to bulldoze everything you've ever known... and something like that can just up and spawn out of a storm cloud any day now.

...That said, hard to top the terror of a tsunami.
 
Rocket Man

Rocket Man

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,509
Has to be a tsunami (which I guess at the end of the day is caused by an earthquake). The level of damage, death, fear on that large of a scale is insane. The feeling of helplessness of being swept by a tsunami is unimaginable.
 
LGHT_TRSN

LGHT_TRSN

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,210
Earthquakes themselves are not that scary depending on where you live. You can just go outside during one (assuming there's no risk of falling debris) and you'll be fine. It's the ancillary impact of earthquakes (tsunami's, volcanic activity, fires) that make them scary.
 
More_Badass

More_Badass

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,655
Tsunamis are the worst IMO. Just quiet normalcy, followed seconds later by an unstoppable surge that sweeps away everything in its path in a battering ram of debris and watery death

iDon3hY.gif
 
SpecX

SpecX

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
1,822
Never experienced a tornado, but kinda have to agree. Spiraling winds just appearing with minimal warning destorying everything it touches till it ends is crazy. Quakes are rolling the dice.
 
thewienke

thewienke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,097
TheCthultist said:
I'd say hurricanes are... but I guess ultimately, they're just giant, hundreds-of-miles-wide tornado. So you're still technically right.
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That's why I'd rank hurricanes over a tornado and I'm kinda surprised more people aren't saying the same.

If I'm reading my scales correctly, a Category 5 Hurricane is basically a massive F3 Tornado.

F4 and F5 tornados are more acutely destructive but I don't think their sheer widespread destruction compares in any way.
 
Barnak

Barnak

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,075
Canada
I'm glad I live in boring ass Canada where things like earthquake(rare and small), tsunami, hurricane, volcano and tornado(rare and small too) are not a worry. I'll gladly deal with a regular snowstorm during winter than any of this.
 
Bumrush

Bumrush

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,770
Tidal waves. Imagine seeing a massive wall of water coming towards you with no way to escape it...
 
Latvian Hitman

Latvian Hitman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,752
Norman, OK
thewienke said:
That's why I'd rank hurricanes over a tornado and I'm kinda surprised more people aren't saying the same.

If I'm reading my scales correctly, a Category 5 Hurricane is basically a massive F3 Tornado.

F4 and F5 tornados are more acutely destructive but I don't think their sheer widespread destruction compares in any way.
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You're correct on all counts. There's no doubt that a hurricane can result in a much greater impact over a wide area.

With that all said, hurricanes don't sneak up on anybody. You generally get days of notice and a healthy chance to vacate the area. With tornadoes, you get only minutes, if that. So, I could see why some people would find them more "scary"- even if they don't carry the widespread impact that a hurricane can.

PhilosopherDirtBike said:
Yeah but because of the way tornadoes form, they're much less likely to hit urban areas. They need a lot of open space to thrive.
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No. That's the stuff of urban legend. Tornadoes are a top-down phenomenon and are 100% unaffected by topography. There isn't a meteorologist alive that would say otherwise.
 

Deleted member 14400

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,454
Earthquakes for me since tornadoes have prior warning to some degree that earthquakes just don't. If you know a tornado is coming, you can drive away or hide underground. For an earthquake, you don't know it's coming, and if it is big enough, there is nowhere to hide.
 
Shatty McKracken

Shatty McKracken

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,963
CloseTalker said:
Earthquakes for sure. I feel like tornadoes are pretty easily avoidable compared to earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.
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As someone that almost died from a tornado I couldn't disagree more.


This tornado pathed less than 3/4ths of a mile from my house. It hit around 2:30am when everyone was asleep. Nobody heard the emergency sirens and nobody knew to get the hell out of the way.

I've always wanted to live on a coast but my wife is always like..bu..bu..bu hurricanes !!

Bullshit on hurricanes. You get a like a weeks warning on hurricanes and somewhat decent guess on what the strength may be when it hits you. If you choose to stay then that's on you.

Whereas with a tornado, these things literally fall out of the sky in any location with very little warning. Sure, a meteorologist can tell you that conditions are ripe for a tornado, but they can't be predicted. You can literally see a hurricane a week ahead of time on a satellite.
 
Duane

Duane

Unshakable Resolve
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
6,463
So, as long as we're on the subject, the NWS just gave us a Tornado Watch for the next eight hours. And it sounds like this evening's storm isn't fucking around. 😕
 
TheWooniestWoona

TheWooniestWoona

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,881
I've lived through an EF4 tornado. Don't even want to be in one again. They're horrifying.

However, I also grew up in an area where we constantly heard about how one day we'd get a repeat of the New Madrid earthquake, and how it would destroy everything, so I'm also quite scared of that.

I just want to live someplace where nature leaves me alone.


Duane said:
So, as long as we're on the subject, the NWS just gave us a Tornado Watch for the next eight hours. And it sounds like this evening's storm isn't fucking around. 😕
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Yeah, I can't wait to drive back to the other side of the city in that. (I'm assuming KC, what with your avatar and all).
 
Lonestar

Lonestar

Roll Tahd, Pawl
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
3,570
Night Time tornadoes are the worst, because you can't see them (except for seconds when lightning flashes), you can only hear them.
 
YaBish

YaBish

Unshakable Resolve - One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,346
I always thought that Earthquake + Tsunami seemed the scariest to me. Maybe that's me growing up in Tornado Alley though.
 
TickleMeElbow

TickleMeElbow

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,668
Compare the deadliest tornado outbreaks in history, to the deadliest earthquakes.

Tornadoes don't even come close.
 
thefro

thefro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,996
Earthquake scares me more since there's no warning or maybe seconds if you're in a country like Japan with a warning system.

With a tornado here there's some warning (at least here in the Midwest, there's radar that can detect rotation/funnel clouds 10-15 minutes before anything touches down) and you're usually relatively safe in a basement. With the emergency alerts on your phone you're probably not going to sleep through them.
 
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