I partially agree. Sliders coming off their foundation can be done by even EF2 winds, but with lower winds, usually the house is either entirely intact, or broken into large chunks. The granulation of the home is the impressive part. There was a pile of granulated debris along the closest treeline, but outside of that most of the home was carried away in tiny pieces.
A lot of those old farm houses were built with much stronger frames than most homes today. The lumber, plywood, nails, plaster/lath, windows, doors, etc. were all so much sturdier and denser than what we use now. Unless there were significant leaks or termites there's no reason to believe the wood could've become significantly rotted or brittle all on its own. The lack of anchoring is a MAJOR shortfall though, so I half agree with you, but I don't think the potential rigidity and strength of the homes frame should be underestimated.
In response to your first bolded point, what you are describing is how slider homes typically respond in the EF2 range. EF3s typically flatten the walls, floors, and roof of slider homes after the house separates from the foundation, and the wind sends the lighter/smaller debris downwind, while the main parts of the house end up in a pile nearby. This is exactly what happened in Gary.
Regarding the second bolded point, what you’re describing isn’t really what happened. A majority of the home was
not carried away in tiny pieces or genuinely granulated. The
main structural components of the home, which are what matter the most rating-wise, were left in a heap next to the foundation with a clear space in between. That’s what that heap is in the aerial photo. Yes other debris was carried downwind, but this was smaller and lighter debris. This is consistent with what I described in paragraph one above. You’re essentially trying to say that an unimpressive, textbook slider debris pattern is an impressive debris pattern, when it just isn’t. Any time there is a significant pile of debris separated from the foundation, it’s not an impressive debris pattern, regardless of additional small debris scattered farther away. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that Gary could be used as the textbook case study of what the EF3 slider debris pattern looks like.
My next point is related the third and fourth bolded sections, regarding the potential structural integrity of home. You’re saying “well
unless these environmental things happened” as if these things are unlikely. They aren’t unlikely. In fact, these things are essentially an inevitability when dealing with a historic wood frame house of this age. And that’s not all. There’s also dry rot, which happens slowly and pretty much inevitably over time regardless of any termites or moisture. There’s also the structure’s gravity-related weakening, warping and settling over time. Drive through any old Southern of Appalachian town with old wood frame buildings. You will see some of them are visually off-kilter or askew from this phenomenon. In fact, I remember eating breakfast at an old wood-frame historic inn in North Carolina where the second floor dining room noticeably sloped downward from the front of the room to the back. If you set a ball down, it would roll. It was quite sketchy. Basically, you’re insinuating that old historic wooden farm homes should be assumed as sturdy, when the opposite is true. Even if they were in 1900, they certainly aren’t in 2025, and that’s because of the inevitable wear and tear of the elements and plain old time. Old wood frame homes are usually frail, bottom line.
That brings me to my final point,
it’s still a slider. That literally renders everything else null. You can talk about the hypothetical structural integrity of the house itself all you want, but when all that house is in the process of sliding and tumbling off a foundation, the structural integrity is no longer relevant. You say “Yeah it’s pretty much unanchored, BUT…” What you’re not understanding is once that’s established, there are no buts. When it’s unanchored/a slider and the main structural debris is left nearby in a heap, you can throw your EF4 rating out the window, period.
I give you credit for arguing some counterpoints, but it just doesn’t hold up under scrutiny. There’s simply far more going
against an EF4 rating than there is to support it. As I said, Gary is a straight-up textbook example of how slider homes respond to an F3/EF3 tornado. I’d even go as far as saying that if a large, modern, well-built home was sitting there instead of an old farm house, we’d likely see some intact interior walls left behind.
