[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by swake

God no. Tornadoes are tiny. Living in Oklahoma your odds of ever in your lifetime personally being hit by a tornado are infinitesimal. Much, much less than 1%.

That means I'm a "one percenter". Nichols Hills 1998. Thing went straight down our street. The guy who lived across the street had gone to Minnesota via air travel. When he left his car was in his driveway. When he came back the car was half in his garage and half in the driveway and his garage door was destroyed.

That thing was F2 or F3. It tore heck out of two or three streets.

[bawac34618]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

That means I'm a "one percenter". Nichols Hills 1998. Thing went straight down our street. The guy who lived across the street had gone to Minnesota via air travel. When he left his car was in his driveway. When he came back the car was half in his garage and half in the driveway and his garage door was destroyed.

That thing was F2 or F3. It tore heck out of two or three streets.

I think it's higher than 1% if you live in OKC, but swake is correct that tornadoes themselves are not as destructive as hurricanes. However, major hurricanes usually don't hit major cities but once every few decades. Miami had Andrew in 1992 and hasn't had a major one since. New Orleans had Katrina in 2005. Oklahoma City on the other hand gets hit by small tornadoes every year and usually experiences a big one 2-3 times per decade. Once you add in ice storms, hail damage, and severe thunderstorms, I would say it balances out. I would say the real difference is in hurricane zones most of the time you don't have to think about them. In tornado alley, it's always at the back of your mind.

[swake]

Originally Posted by eddie gein

That means I'm a "one percenter". Nichols Hills 1998. Thing went straight down our street. The guy who lived across the street had gone to Minnesota via air travel. When he left his car was in his driveway. When he came back the car was half in his garage and half in the driveway and his garage door was destroyed.

That thing was F2 or F3. It tore heck out of two or three streets.

Where you injured or your house damaged?

[swake]

Originally Posted by bawac34618

I think it's higher than 1% if you live in OKC, but swake is correct that tornadoes themselves are not as destructive as hurricanes. However, major hurricanes usually don't hit major cities but once every few decades. Miami had Andrew in 1992 and hasn't had a major one since. New Orleans had Katrina in 2005. Oklahoma City on the other hand gets hit by small tornadoes every year and usually experiences a big one 2-3 times per decade. Once you add in ice storms, hail damage, and severe thunderstorms, I would say it balances out. I would say the real difference is in hurricane zones most of the time you don't have to think about them. In tornado alley, it's always at the back of your mind.

The Oklahoma City region has had 13 major tornadoes since 1890, about once per decade.
Since the 2013 storm four years ago the area has had 10 tornadoes with no deaths and 19 injuries.
In the last 20 years the OKC region even including the monster storm in 2013 the OKC region has had 29 deaths and 121 injuries from tornadoes. This is out of 1.4 million people. The danger of a tornado is no where close to say that of driving.
I'm not aware of any deaths from hail or ice storms.
https://www.weather.gov/oun/tornadodata-okc-table

I can't find the same data for Tulsa, but the numbers are much lower. This is for Tulsa County only not the whole of metro Tulsa and only since 1950. Tulsa County has had only 1 death in the last 20 years and 30 injuries.
Since 1950 27 people have been killed in Tulsa County, but that's out of 700,000 people over almost 70 years.

These are very low odds. Stop the fear mongering. The Flu has killed more people in Tulsa County this year so far than Tornadoes have killed in the last 40 years combined.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by swake

Where you injured or your house damaged?

No personal injuries or structural damage. Just uprooted trees. It just made me have a healthy respect for what they can do. That one was just F2-3. It pulled up some huge trees through there.

When I think back there have been three or four that have hit close by where I was living. I remember standing in the street as a little kid in the southern part of Enid in 1965 or 1966 watching one tear up North Enid.

[swake]

Hurricane v Tornado

Tulsa was hit with its worst tornado in decades a couple of weeks ago. An 18 story building took a direct hit and may have to be torn down. A 15 story building next door was unhurt. Directly next door. Luckily there were no deaths.

Harvey is going to drop 25+ inches of rain on an area the size of South Carolina.

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by bawac34618

I think it's higher than 1% if you live in OKC, but swake is correct that tornadoes themselves are not as destructive as hurricanes. However, major hurricanes usually don't hit major cities but once every few decades. Miami had Andrew in 1992 and hasn't had a major one since. New Orleans had Katrina in 2005. Oklahoma City on the other hand gets hit by small tornadoes every year and usually experiences a big one 2-3 times per decade. Once you add in ice storms, hail damage, and severe thunderstorms, I would say it balances out. I would say the real difference is in hurricane zones most of the time you don't have to think about them. In tornado alley, it's always at the back of your mind.

Tell the folks in Houston.