Significant Tornado Events (19 Viewers)

[CheeselandSkies]

Impressive tree damage near the community of Mendes Baixos, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - June 12 2018

Significant Tornado Events - Global Edition

Here we go, a new thread dedicated to past and present significant tornadic events around the globe! Anything outside the USA and Canada goes here, so we can keep track of the many tornadoes occurring around the world without them being lost in the discussions on American and Canadian tornadoes.

talkweather.com

 

[TH2002]

Yes. This guy was really lucky. We he faced was likely the peak intensity of one of the strongest of all time.

I wonder what the car in the headlights looked like after the tornado. In the video you can see it literally get blown away.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

 

[locomusic01]

Just happened to stumble upon an album of insurance photos from the Joplin tornado. 'Member when the ASCE found "no evidence of EF5 wind damage"? Good times.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a low-lying shrub as completely debarked as this little guy:

A few more assorted shots from around town:

 

[pohnpei]

https://www.tornadotalk.com/overview-of-the-calumet-el-reno-piedmont-guthrie-ef5-tornado-may-24-2011/

A summary of El Reno EF5 written by tornadotalk. When I think I won't be suprised by the sheer intensity of this tornado again, I was. Oh My God, this was almost Incomprehensible and inconceivable violent.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

Just happened to stumble upon an album of insurance photos from the Joplin tornado. 'Member when the ASCE found "no evidence of EF5 wind damage"? Good times.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a low-lying shrub as completely debarked as this little guy:

A few more assorted shots from around town:

Wonder if it's possible to find collections of insurance photos from other tornadoes?
Also, the amount of tree debarking and low-lying vegetation being shredded; unbelievable.
In the last photo you can hillside scouring in the ditch/creek bed.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

https://www.tornadotalk.com/overview-of-the-calumet-el-reno-piedmont-guthrie-ef5-tornado-may-24-2011/

A summary of El Reno EF5 written by tornadotalk. When I think I won't be suprised by the sheer intensity of this tornado again, I was. Oh My God, this was almost Incomprehensible and inconceivable violent.

This thing did debris granulation on par with Smithville at times; also, the penny wedged in the wood is something I hadn't seen before.
The devastation to the Cactus site is even more impressive with what I've read here.

 

[buckeye05]

Just happened to stumble upon an album of insurance photos from the Joplin tornado. 'Member when the ASCE found "no evidence of EF5 wind damage"? Good times.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a low-lying shrub as completely debarked as this little guy:

A few more assorted shots from around town:

I know a lot of the house construction in Joplin was iffy, but that house that was slabbed appears to have been anchor bolted and built on a proper slab foundation. Very impressive!

 

[TH2002]

Just happened to stumble upon an album of insurance photos from the Joplin tornado. 'Member when the ASCE found "no evidence of EF5 wind damage"? Good times.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a low-lying shrub as completely debarked as this little guy:

A few more assorted shots from around town:

The shrub in that first photo... good God.
Look how "clean" the top of the branches appear, almost like they have been cut by a chainsaw. Maybe that is the case here, but it also reminds me of this photo from Smithville where there had been no cutting done after the tornado:

Honestly it's not extremely surprising that an incredibly violent tornado could do this to a large tree, but SHRUBS?! It almost seems "too intense" to be true. Maybe it's just the type of shrub or there actually was some cutting done after the tornado, but I did have to give it a second thought.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

The most violent pre-1880 tornado outbreak in Grazulis's book is the March 20, 1875 GA-SC outbreak. 7 F4s occurred which makes it one of the most violent in history and 96 people were killed making it one of the deadliest outbreaks too.

Harris County GA F4:
This massive and violent tornado, described as a "dense volume of black smoke rolling along the ground" devastated plantation after plantation in Harris County. At one location a large 2-story frame house was "literally torn to pieces" with the sills being carried away. In this same area, ground scouring occurred as the US Army Signal Corps surveyors reported that "the ground was torn up by the fury of the wind, the dirt being thrown up high up against the bodies of the broken trees."

Hancock County GA to Edgefield SC F4:
A long-lived, large, and extremely violent tornado leveled home after home along a 75-mile long track through GA and SC. Intense vegetation/ground damage occurred as large tree trunks were reportedly carried up to a quarter-mile, the soil was blown away in fields, and trees were debarked in the GA section. Numerous homes were leveled or swept away, an example of this being a strongly-built home that only had a portion of the lower-story remaining. A house right next to the previously mentioned one was so swept clean that the surveyor could not locate its original position. At least 28 people were killed by this tornado making it the deadliest one of the outbreak.


Mt Airy GA F4:
This intense and large tornado moved directly through the town of Mt Airy GA. Many homes were destroyed in this town with some being swept away. Wind-rowing occurred in this area with fragments of buildings being strewn hundreds of yards. 6 people were killed in this town. North of Talbotton, the tornado continued to produce intense damage as a strongly-built two-story house was "torn to pieces."

Milledgeville GA F4:
This violent tornado passed just south of Milledgeville. Numerous homes and other buildings were leveled or swept away with debris being scattered for hundreds of yards. One gruesome and horrific detail that newspapers and Signal Corps mentioned was the fragment of someone's skull being carried a half-mile.

Gibson County GA F4:
The 3rd tornado in a long-tracked violent tornado family devastated rural areas of Gibson County and vicinity. Tens of thousands of trees were mowed down by this tornado in sparsely populated areas. The farms/plantations that the tornado did hit in this region were devastated with most being leveled.

Richmond County GA F4:
This long-tracked family of tornadoes and downbursts moved from GA into SC. The damage was bad enough on several farms that the families living there abandoned them and fields were heavily covered with debris. The ground was swept clean of twigs and pine leaves in some areas and homes were leveled.

Whitesville GA F4:
This violent and somewhat narrow tornado started in AL and moved into GA. Homes and trees were completely destroyed. There were reports of ground scouring when it was at its narrowest "it blew off the surface of the ground."

 

[CheeselandSkies]

The most violent pre-1880 tornado outbreak in Grazulis's book is the March 20, 1875 GA-SC outbreak. 7 F4s occurred which makes it one of the most violent in history and 96 people were killed making it one of the deadliest outbreaks too.

Harris County GA F4:
This massive and violent tornado, described as a "dense volume of black smoke rolling along the ground" devastated plantation after plantation in Harris County. At one location a large 2-story frame house was "literally torn to pieces" with the sills being carried away. In this same area, ground scouring occurred as the US Army Signal Corps surveyors reported that "the ground was torn up by the fury of the wind, the dirt being thrown up high up against the bodies of the broken trees."

Hancock County GA to Edgefield SC F4:
A long-lived, large, and extremely violent tornado leveled home after home along a 75-mile long track through GA and SC. Intense vegetation/ground damage occurred as large tree trunks were reportedly carried up to a quarter-mile, the soil was blown away in fields, and trees were debarked in the GA section. Numerous homes were leveled or swept away, an example of this being a strongly-built home that only had a portion of the lower-story remaining. A house right next to the previously mentioned one was so swept clean that the surveyor could not locate its original position. At least 28 people were killed by this tornado making it the deadliest one of the outbreak.
View attachment 11897
View attachment 11898
Mt Airy GA F4:
This intense and large tornado moved directly through the town of Mt Airy GA. Many homes were destroyed in this town with some being swept away. Wind-rowing occurred in this area with fragments of buildings being strewn hundreds of yards. 6 people were killed in this town. North of Talbotton, the tornado continued to produce intense damage as a strongly-built two-story house was "torn to pieces."

Milledgeville GA F4:
This violent tornado passed just south of Milledgeville. Numerous homes and other buildings were leveled or swept away with debris being scattered for hundreds of yards. One gruesome and horrific detail that newspapers and Signal Corps mentioned was the fragment of someone's skull being carried a half-mile.

Gibson County GA F4:
The 3rd tornado in a long-tracked violent tornado family devastated rural areas of Gibson County and vicinity. Tens of thousands of trees were mowed down by this tornado in sparsely populated areas. The farms/plantations that the tornado did hit in this region were devastated with most being leveled.

Richmond County GA F4:
This long-tracked family of tornadoes and downbursts moved from GA into SC. The damage was bad enough on several farms that the families living there abandoned them and fields were heavily covered with debris. The ground was swept clean of twigs and pine leaves in some areas and homes were leveled.

Whitesville GA F4:
This violent and somewhat narrow tornado started in AL and moved into GA. Homes and trees were completely destroyed. There were reports of ground scouring when it was at its narrowest "it blew off the surface of the ground."

Being similar in time and general location to the February 1884 "Enigma" outbreak, you have to suspect much went undocumented about this outbreak, as well.

 

[CheeselandSkies]

Regarding El Reno '11, that was clearly one of the most insanely violent tornadoes ever surveyed in modern history. One of the interesting things about it (which I'd noticed before, but the full-lifecycle loop on Tornado Talk really makes it stand out) is that its parent storm was odd-looking for a high-end tornadic supercell on radar. It did not have the clean, unobstructed inflow region and classic "kidney-bean" shape with hook and debris ball widely separated from the forward-flank precip for hours on end like the 12/10 monster did. The hook and debris ball were present but somewhat "muddled" at times, rather like Joplin.

 

[locomusic01]

Wonder if it's possible to find collections of insurance photos from other tornadoes?
Also, the amount of tree debarking and low-lying vegetation being shredded; unbelievable.
In the last photo you can hillside scouring in the ditch/creek bed.

I'm sure they're out there. A handful of the photos I got for 5/3/99 and 5/31/85 came from insurance agents who'd saved their pictures, and I think I've found some photos/collections from a few other tornadoes over the years. Just have to get really lucky and/or do a lot of digging around.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

The most impressive damage I could find from the 1974 Xenia tornado. It probably wouldn't get an EF5 rating on the EF-scale as most of these homes were poorly-anchored.

 

[buckeye05]

The most impressive damage I could find from the 1974 Xenia tornado. It probably wouldn't get an EF5 rating on the EF-scale as most of these homes were poorly-anchored.

I just want to say that I don’t even know if any of the slabbed homes in Xenia were were adequately anchored. Even as a local, I haven’t been able to dig up any info to suggest anchor bolts were used at any of the homes in Xenia, however I’m curious about your use of the word “most”. Were you able to find a few homes that were anchored properly?

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

I just want to say that I don’t even know if any of the slabbed homes in Xenia were were adequately anchored. Even as a local, I haven’t been able to dig up any info to suggest anchor bolts were used at any of the homes in Xenia, however I’m curious about your use of the word “most”. Were you able to find a few homes that were anchored properly?

I haven't and I used most just in case there are any we haven't seen yet but yeah, it probably did only sweep away poorly-anchored homes, and probably isn't an F5 (if you go by the well-built definition) or EF5.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Damage from the 1953 Iosco County MI F2 (F3) tornado. This occurred on the same day as the Flint F5 and was also a killer tornado. An entire family of 4 was killed as their cabin was swept away.

 

[Juliett Bravo Kilo]

The most impressive damage I could find from the 1974 Xenia tornado. It probably wouldn't get an EF5 rating on the EF-scale as most of these homes were poorly-anchored.

This photo is from Guin, fyi:




Aside from that, all the other photos are genuine. Xenia's damage to homes reminds me quite a bit of Ruskin Heights (albeit slightly less violent) as the majority of homes those tornadoes encountered weren't well-anchored and cheaply put together.

 

[TH2002]

This photo is from Guin, fyi:

View attachment 11900


Aside from that, all the other photos are genuine. Xenia's damage to homes reminds me quite a bit of Ruskin Heights (albeit slightly less violent) as the majority of homes those tornadoes encountered weren't well-anchored and cheaply put together.

Ruskin Heights did encounter at least one home that appeared to be properly bolted to its foundation:

I would honestly be a little surprised if Xenia didn't encounter at least one home with anchor bolts, but there may very well be no photos that exist showing this, or it may actually be the case.

 

[MNTornadoGuy]

Damage from the 1939 Capron OK F5.