Greensburg, Ks. pics

These are ariel shots of the tornado devistation in Greensburg, Ks.
http://www.kansas.com …des/050507torna​doaerials/

Wow! I have never seen such devastation in one place by a tornado.

I heard on the news that like 95% of the town was destroyed.

Thanks for posting.

Hmm. I got as far as photo 20 and it stopped showing me photos.

IMHO they need to search the debris carefully for people's posessions and then start building tornado-proof homes. Most homes in the UK are made of brick. Only the rooves and windows are failure prone. We can build better homes than these poor guys had. Instead of using the nasty wood and plastic construction, how about using decent materials, folks?

rhys wrote in post #3166545
Hmm. I got as far as photo 20 and it stopped showing me photos.

IMHO they need to search the debris carefully for people's posessions and then start building tornado-proof homes. Most homes in the UK are made of brick. Only the rooves and windows are failure prone. We can build better homes than these poor guys had. Instead of using the nasty wood and plastic construction, how about using decent materials, folks?

There is no such thing as a tornado proof home, or hurricane proof either for that matter. A WWII style bunker would work but would you really want to live in one. An F5 tornado will destroy a brick home without missing a beat.

Tornados dont care what its made of it just eats. It may get your house but leave the house 20ft away. A tornado of this size will eat everything. You see about the only thing left standing is the grain elevator made of concrete.

Holy indiscriminate crapload of destruction! O_O It looks like it was just...horrible.

rhys wrote in post #3166545
Hmm. I got as far as photo 20 and it stopped showing me photos.

IMHO they need to search the debris carefully for people's posessions and then start building tornado-proof homes. Most homes in the UK are made of brick. Only the rooves and windows are failure prone. We can build better homes than these poor guys had. Instead of using the nasty wood and plastic construction, how about using decent materials, folks?

I've attached two pictures of the brick and mortor 3 story tall high school from Greensburg, KS. You'll notice that its lacking the 3rd story now and that part of it has been reduced to rubble...

If you're suggesting that you can build a home better than the way that school was constructed I'd love to see it. The quality of the buildings had very little to do with why the damage occured the way it did. All of the buildings in the down had significant damage done to them.

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But the lower stories survived intact. More than can be said for the glue and balsawood of the rest of the town.

Many brick homes were destroyed as well. Whether the studs were lumber or metal, a standard home won't withstand 200+ mph winds, especially when the storm's forward speed isn't particularly fast.

Building a home that can withstand EF5 winds is technically possible, but the costs would be astronomical. You would simply have to model the entire structure after the 'safe room' design. There is a FEMA site somewhere with plans and all the details, but basically it's one of your walk-in-closets built with 1 foot thick walls (or thicker) from cinder blocks, with the inner area reinforced with rebar and filled with concrete. The door is made from a heavy duty steel or similar material. Quite a few people in the 'alley' are opting to go with the built-in safe room in their new homes. Their worth was proven when a number of these structures were left standing on the slab alone, while the rest of the house was completely removed, during the May 3rd, '99 Moore, OK F5 tornado.

Scott

zorm wrote in post #3173062
I've attached two pictures of the brick and mortor 3 story tall high school from Greensburg, KS. You'll notice that its lacking the 3rd story now and that part of it has been reduced to rubble...

If you're suggesting that you can build a home better than the way that school was constructed I'd love to see it. The quality of the buildings had very little to do with why the damage occured the way it did. All of the buildings in the down had significant damage done to them.

Our family cottage in Wales would survive well aside from the roof as it's a medieval stone cottage with walls 3 feet thick.

Wow! Don't mess with Mother Nature.

rhys wrote in post #3174140
Our family cottage in Wales would survive well aside from the roof as it's a medieval stone cottage with walls 3 feet thick.

If you have the money to build a modern home with 3 feet thick walls, by all means do it.

Saferoom technology seems to be the affordable answer. The power of this storm was just incredible...the shots of the water tower really tell a story.