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speedbump305

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Chapman, in my opinion, because of the railroad tracks, vehicle and machinery damage, and overwhelming contextual support. In Rochelle, the sidewalk does indicate 200+ MPH to me, but there are also some context issues with that one.
Ohhhh i completely forgot about the Railroad and Vehicle damage lol Chapman no joke produced Andover Vehicle damage
 

speedbump305

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I will say this. The Railroad damage done by Chapman was just absolutely intense and was BY FAR one of the most intense instances of tornado damage ever done. Warping modern railroad tracks is absolutely incredible
 

buckeye05

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One thing that gets overlooked regarding Chapman, is the fact that it ripped that brick farmhouse from its foundation with such force, that it tore away a small portion of the reinforced concrete basement foundation stemwall. That to me, indicates an insane amount of force.
620628
 

speedbump305

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Based on what I’ve seen before they nail them down they bend quite easily. The question is what kind of wind or impact pushed the rail road ties out.
if i remember correctly, i don’t know if Chapman hit any buildings next to the railroads. if it’s true tho, it just makes it more remarkable because of no debris impacts really. Same thing with Bassfield tree debarking. Debarking is done by mostly debris and bassfield was only near one structure that only suffered EF3 damage.
 

pohnpei

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I think Rochelle imo was a bit stronger than Chapman though, what do you think was stronger? Chapman or Rochelle
The question about Rochelle was there were almost no debarking trees and no mangled cars that I can find along its path. The main factor that pushes Rochelle into the candidate of EF5 was the house it destroyed was relatively well built. But Chapman literally mangled every vehicle it encounters as a ball or pieces of engines and frames, just like El Reno-Piedmont or Bridge Creek. The ground near US40 was so severely scouring and full of completely debarked branches. Let along saying that the EF4 rating house was particularly well built and the reinforced concrete basement foundation stemwall damage as well as incredible CWR damage.
One last thing need to remember was this beast lasted 93 minutes and the CWR/EF4 housing damage was near the end of its track. There were many parts of tornado's path was likely phenomenonal strong based on its increible visual apperance and landsat photo after the tornado. It hit very little along its entire 93 minutes lifespan so the potential of this tornado was very high even with the incredible damage now present.
 
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speedbump305

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The question about Rochelle was there was almost no debarking trees and no mangled cars that I can find along its path. The main factor push Rochelle into the candidate of EF5 was the house it destroyed was relatively well built. But Chapman literally mangled every vehicle it encounters as a ball or pieces of engines and frames, Just like El Reno-Piedmont or Bridge Creek. The ground near US40 was so severely scouring and full of completely debarked branches. Let along saying that the EF4 rating house was particularly well built and the reinforced concrete basement foundation stemwall damage as well as incredible CWR damage.
One last thing need to remember was this beast lasted 93 minutes and the CWR/EF4 housing damage was near the end of ita track. There were many parts of tornado's path was likely phenomenonal strong based on its increible visual apperance and landsat photo.
Chapman was undoubtedly an EF5, there’s an image of rochelle with tires torn from some car, but i forgot where the image was lol
 

pohnpei

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if i remember correctly, i don’t know if Chapman hit any buildings next to the railroads. if it’s true tho, it just makes it more remarkable because of no debris impacts really. Same thing with Bassfield tree debarking. Debarking is done by mostly debris and bassfield was only near one structure that only suffered EF3 damage.
I have a pic to show and you can also check the map that there was no building in the upwind direction of the railway road. It was just open field.
Besides, based on the fact that the railway road was extremely close to the ground level, I don't believe any debris can be such wide and thin to take part in this damage and the scale of this damage of quite large. What's more, there was evidence from the DOW team that tornado winds extremely close to the ground were likely only 60-70% of the 10-20m level.
QQ截图20200124130103.jpg
 
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buckeye05

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Based on what I’ve seen before they nail them down they bend quite easily. The question is what kind of wind or impact pushed the rail road ties out.
There weren't any upwind structures based on aftermath images and aerial photos. That means it was likely just the force of the wind. If the tornado was able to do that to the concrete foundation stemwall, what happened to those railroad tracks isn't really even much of a stretch in comparison.
 

andyhb

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@locomusic01 posted some ridiculous vehicle/tree damage from the 5/3/1999 Bridge Creek/Moore tornado that I’ll let him post, but holy smokes.

Edit: Another tornado I’d like to see more pictures from was the one that devastated Silverton TX on 5/15/1957. Per Grazulis’ entry it seemed quite bad, but I can’t find much whatsoever on it.
 

buckeye05

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This actually makes me think El Reno wasnt as overrated as we think. To be honest, i have a feeling it did debark trees, i just havent seen any images of debarking yet, and it did scour a gravel road. But that vehicle damage is high end
You said the same thing about Washington, IL. You can’t just say “I think there was scouring/debarking, but I have zero photographic proof or eyewitness accounts to support this.” That’s not making an educated inference, that’s just guessing with zero basis.
 

buckeye05

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One notable tornado from the 5/3/1999 tornado outbreak is the Dover OK F4. It debarked trees, nearly leveled a reinforced concrete structure, wrapped mobile home frames around trees, and mangled cars.


61082525_10214025759094849_6363295461238898688_n.jpg



Interesting seeing another example of a storm shelter being compromised by a violent tornado besides Hackleburg and Vilonia. Maybe it isn’t as super rare as many think.
 
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