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Severe weather threat 4/23/26 (Central/Southern Plains)

Been following news about a therapeutic riding center near the end of the path west of the airport, confirming significant structural damage but no casualties to people or critters; but LOOK at how close the center line path was to the barns and stables as the tornado began to wind down (the prelim track will change some but it did pass this close to the farm)

Screenshot_20260424_174441.jpg
 
So I would like some insight, how a tornado like this levels homes but no fatalities. Thankfully!! People weren’t home? Storm cellar? Safe room? Do Oklahoma houses all have that built in now? My buddy lives in eastern OK and he said basement’s or underground shelters in OK flood. The Moore tornado happened during the day and was well seen and still killed 24.
 
Kds86z said:
So I would like some insight, how a tornado like this levels homes but no fatalities. Thankfully!! People weren’t home? Storm cellar? Safe room? Do Oklahoma houses all have that built in now? My buddy lives in eastern OK and he said basement’s or underground shelters in OK flood. The Moore tornado happened during the day and was well seen and still killed 24.
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Probably locals had action plans and actual higher quality storm shelters.
 
Kds86z said:
So I would like some insight, how a tornado like this levels homes but no fatalities. Thankfully!! People weren’t home? Storm cellar? Safe room? Do Oklahoma houses all have that built in now? My buddy lives in eastern OK and he said basement’s or underground shelters in OK flood. The Moore tornado happened during the day and was well seen and still killed 24.
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Someone ought to do some kind of survey/study to find out what factors went into keeping the casualty rate so low despite the tornado being as violent as it was, and see what lessons could be learned from it!
 
Tennie said:
Someone ought to do some kind of survey/study to find out what factors went into keeping the casualty rate so low despite the tornado being as violent as it was, and see what lessons could be learned from it!
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High visibility, slow forward motion (but not too slow) and only (primarily) impacting a single subdivision is probably part of the reason. I hope there's other factors in this, because we can't really do anything about the ones I just listed
 
Tennie said:
Someone ought to do some kind of survey/study to find out what factors went into keeping the casualty rate so low despite the tornado being as violent as it was, and see what lessons could be learned from it!
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True, also Mobile homes different story. Union city I think hit one neighborhood and killed 3, injured 12 at 3-4pm. Mobile homes
 
Kds86z said:
So I would like some insight, how a tornado like this levels homes but no fatalities. Thankfully!! People weren’t home? Storm cellar? Safe room? Do Oklahoma houses all have that built in now? My buddy lives in eastern OK and he said basement’s or underground shelters in OK flood. The Moore tornado happened during the day and was well seen and still killed 24.
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It’s just been on my mind. The 2011 EF4 in St Louis killed no one, but the 2025 St Louis EF3 killed 4 or 5.
 
lake.effect said:
Call me ignorant or big city elitist, but I had no idea that tall-ish buildings all the way out in Enid, OK. Surprising!
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American small cities in general used to be far more prosperous and important than now.

Everything has tended to be more centralized. I'm not a fan. Enid....Jackson, Michigan .... Reading, Pennsylvania.....Paris, Texas......there's an awful lot of small cities that have interesting pasts. I grew up in a small town, though (are you really a small town if not under 2k??), so Enid at 50k would have seemed big to me lol
 
Kds86z said:
So I would like some insight, how a tornado like this levels homes but no fatalities. Thankfully!! People weren’t home? Storm cellar? Safe room? Do Oklahoma houses all have that built in now? My buddy lives in eastern OK and he said basement’s or underground shelters in OK flood. The Moore tornado happened during the day and was well seen and still killed 24.
Click to expand...
I'll have to look but I know a handful of F5 tornadoes back in the day didn't cause fatalities. The best example is Jordan, Iowa in '76. It obliterated parts of the town and was one of the strongest tornadoes of the decade but didn't kill anyone.
 
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