and we moan about our weather!

[Irn-Bru]

https://i.imgur.com/ZuiSiXN.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/StuT9Bl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/F7hFRAM.jpg

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22604251

91 dead.
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KTM 990 SMT & Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM

[pinkyfloyd]

That death toll will keep climbing. Theres a vid of the thing on the BBC website. Its mahoosive!
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

[Rogerborg]

[.....]

[pinkyfloyd]

What I find insane about tornado season is they always seem to happen in or around caravan parks. Seems many people build their houses out of the flimsiest materials ever and then when a tornado rips through them it destroys the house completely.

Surely if they can build buildings in Belfast that are bomb proof and they can build sky scrapers earthquake proof surely they can build houses out of stronger materials than wood.... Like bricks!
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

[J0Al1]

Mums always said to us, we might not have a warm sunny climate, but we dont have the problems som other conteries have.

Stable rubbish weather
or
Lovely climate with blasts of destrucive nastyness.

[fatpies]

[chris-red]

Yank houses are mostly shit in terms of quality compared to ours. I think they don't that the right sort of clay to make bricks so they are really expensive over there.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[SpicyBlimp]

As has been said, why build houses out of wood in a tornado risk area. Same as when you see the hurricanes and the only house standing is the brick built one.

[Benno]

[Rogerborg]

Same answer as to this:

[esullivan]

[Rogerborg]

Maybe if they pray a bit harder this time, and get rid of all them hom-ar-sex-y'alls...

Prompted by the "thoughts and prayers" twitterspam at the moment. Oh, that's nice, just what they need, job done.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[N cee thirty]

much like the Africans, don't have a fucking population base where its known to be bad

The foolish man builds his house on the sand.
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'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30 Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

Jewlio Iglesias wrote: I actually did vote BNP once

[CaNsA]

https://i.imgur.com/olWUbXB.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/CINAZ0t.jpg

[Hetzer]

https://i.imgur.com/StuT9Bl.jpg

I'm seeing a lot of salubrious properties destroyed in this pic, vs many tenament-style cheapies spared. Maybe there is a god after all.

Nah. Just fortune does sometimes favour the poor.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[yaigi]

Do they not get warnings of a tornado coming, like, with enough time to get the fuck out of there/find shelter?
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What would you do in life, if you knew you could not fail?
Currently own - Fazer 600, 2000, Red. (But no riding as baby on board atm)

[pinkyfloyd]

[yaigi]

[Irn-Bru]

Death count has dropped significantly now for some reason:

[metalangel]

Yes, Americans are so stupid.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/hands-off-our-land/9716075/Why-were-these-houses-built-on-a-flood-plain.html

Why weren't these houses built on stilts or watertight so they could float? Honestly. Thickos or wot.
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Previous: 2002 Honda CB500 (sold), 2007 Suzuki SV650SK6 (crashed), 2005 Yamaha FZ6 Fazer (sold). Currently bikeless
"A faired bike will get you 10x more clunge than a unfaired one." -Marlboro Matt

[TheManWithThe...]

I don't think houses made of bricks would have fared much better against a tornado as big as this one. Its the sort of thing where its cheaper in the long run to just keep rebuilding cheap homes, expecting them to get destroyed, rather than spending lots of money on a brick and concrete house, which could be destroyed pretty much as easily, or cost the same to repair after a storm.

I remember hearing about an example where a guy had set his house into a 2ft thick concrete slab, only for the whole thing to be lifted up and tipped over.


What might be a better idea is to build houses made of wood to save on costs of inevitable rebuilding, but with a central concrete core to act as a safety cell in case of similar storms
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MBK Nitro 50, Sold. Kawasaki ER-5, Honda ST1100
"Anyone can jump a motorcycle! The trouble begins when you try to land it..."

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

It's one thing for developers to build inadequate but affordable housing that lacks the appropriate storm shelters. But when they build schools this way the relevant parties need to be executed in public.
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"Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent."

Mobylette Type 50 ---> Raleigh Grifter ---> Neval Minsk 125

[Vracktal]

For all those saying "Why don't they build the houses tougher...?", the answer is because a re-enforced house would cost many times more than a cheap non-reinforced one, and since many people can't afford that cost they end up having to play the odds.

When you think about it, the most powerful tornadoes recorded are 1-2 miles wide and runs about 200 miles maximum (ish) before it dies out. The record for stateside tornadoes in a year stands at just under 360.

Which sounds terrible, until you rack up the odds. Assuming:

1) Each tornado is the most powerful they can get and runs the maximum length they can, 200 miles long, 2 miles wide to give a total devastation area of 400 miles² per tornado.

2) No tornado overlaps where a previous one has hit that year, so multiplying 400 miles² by 360 equals maximum 144,000 miles² of America which could be affected by tornadoes in a year in an absolute worst case scenario.

The tornado belt in America accounts for about 1/5 the total landmass by traditional classification, although many scientists are speculating the old model might be wrong as the number of tornadoes occurring outside the defined area is increasing year on year. But for sake of the numbers, let's run with the 1/5th figure, which works out as a total surface area of 3,794,100 miles²

So in all that 3,794,100 miles² of land, 144,000 miles² can expect to be hit by a tornado in any given year, assuming every tornado is the most powerful we've seen *and* they get hit by as many as have happened in the most prolific year on record.

Which works out as a 3.79% chance per year, or 1 in 26 if you prefer.

Unfortunately, the cost of tornado-proofing 1/5 of America when each individual household is only at a 4% risk of being affected by one means it's unlikely we'll see much change in house construction in the tornado belt anytime soon.
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2007 BMW R1200R: On road
2009 BMW G650X Challenge: On road
1975 Norton Commando 850: Off road, awaiting recommissioning

[metalangel]

Lots of information (and arguing) here: linky

The short version is that private citizens can't afford* to build a house out of concrete that's as strong as a nuclear power station, because THAT is the only structure that can survive the strongest tornado.

*One reason to live there is that it's cheap. Others include it otherwise being a pretty beautiful, peaceful part of the country and that someone has to live there to be a farmer!
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Previous: 2002 Honda CB500 (sold), 2007 Suzuki SV650SK6 (crashed), 2005 Yamaha FZ6 Fazer (sold). Currently bikeless
"A faired bike will get you 10x more clunge than a unfaired one." -Marlboro Matt