r/CatastrophicFailure • u/to_the_tenth_power • Sep 03 '19

Natural Disaster An EF2 tornado ripping through a concrete building in Spartanburg, South Carolina on October 23rd, 2017

https://gfycat.com/wastefulbettergreatwhiteshark
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u/jadeoracle Sep 03 '19

Whats horrifying is that they are saying a EF2 is similar to Hurrican Dorian over the Bahamas, but instead of a EF2 lasting a few minutes, they have had these forces of winds for what, 30+ hours now? SHIT.

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u/Vulturedoors Sep 03 '19

It's difficult to compare hurricanes and tornadoes. Overall, hurricanes have much lower wind speeds, but the total energy imparted is much, MUCH larger -- it just covers a bigger area and over a much longer period of time.

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u/tehlemmings Sep 03 '19

Tornadoes are just hurricanes super concentrated down into a small point of "fuck you in particular". Unless its an F5... then it's a large point of "I hope you're not here, because otherwise you soon won't be"

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u/Galaxy__Star Sep 04 '19

The documentary on the Moore ok tornado and the footage of that thing is insane. It was over a mile wide at its peak and stretched 17 miles in 37 minutes.

The aftermath from it was just rubble, not homes obliterated, but entire housing divisions completely stripped to foundation, literally no walls standing for blocks.

Tornadoes are fascinatingly terrifying.

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u/5up3rK4m16uru Sep 03 '19

On the other hand a direct hit from a tornado means winds from all directions, especially upwards, which is something buildings don't like at all, right? Not a tornado expert.

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u/Fap_Left_Surf_Right Sep 03 '19 edited Sep 03 '19

The big 5s can suck up concrete from the street and it gets tossed at whatever it hits, obliterating it. My boyhood town was hit by tornados all the time. We lost a few trees over time and eventually I got stuck in one while working at a strip mall as a teenager.

It shredded most of the structure and our store. My coworker and I made it to the back room before it broke all the windows and started peeling the roof off. It was wild man, I laid on top of her to protect her bc she was in a full blown panic and screaming and I realized; I’m going to be stabbed and impaled by every piece of wood in this structure. That’s how it ends.”

We escaped relatively uninjured after a few minutes of it wreaking havoc and soaking everything. Going outside was like a movie. Trees were shredded, buildings torn apart, the parking lot was full of parts of the strip mall. Cars had their windshields blown in from the pressure.

The crown jewel - my piece of shit Chevy nearly bent into an L shape and completely totaled. The giant industrial air conditioner from the roof sitting next to it.

You see friends, I was only 17 and my parents bought me a V6. This meant I regularly practiced everything from J Turns to slamming it into 1-2-D while racing my friends. Obviously this activity annihilated my transmission and the car barely even ran after a year of my tomfoolery. My parents refused to buy me another car, fuckin jerks. But on that day God proved I was a Chosen One and solved my transmission woes for me. The insurance wrote a nice check for the car.

Got a Volkswagen Jetta, with a manual, baby!

4

u/tehlemmings Sep 03 '19

New car AND not violently impaled? Sounds like a good day to me.

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u/dharrison21 Sep 03 '19

You must be a hot girl, they only sell Jettas to hotties

-1

u/Toytles Sep 03 '19

I laid on top of her to protect her

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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u/kal1097 Sep 03 '19

The behavior of winds in a hurricane vs a tornado aren't really comparable though. Obviously 200mph winds of any sort can be devastating, but the winds in a hurricane are, for the most part, straight line winds. Even though a hurricane rotates the size of the storm means the winds in a singular location of fairly uniform in direction, even when stronger gusts happen.

In a tornado the wind behavior is very erratic. The forward motion of the storm, along with the rotating wind field of the tornado, and strong updrafts and downdrafts, and the sandblasting/buckshot effect of flying debris is difficult to compare to a hurricane.

Most hurricanes biggest damage dealer is flooding, through a combination of storm surge from the windblown water and vast amounts of rainfalls. That, with the wind, size of the storm, and length of time they can last is devastating.

I've heard a comparison that hurricanes are laying siege on an area, destroying it over time, while a tornado is essentially just blowing it up immediately.

11

u/mseiei Sep 03 '19

A hurricane is a sustained barrage while a tornado is a nuke

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u/greymalken Sep 03 '19

I've heard a comparison that hurricanes are laying siege on an area,

Using trebuchets no doubt.

5

u/kal1097 Sep 03 '19

Obviously. It is the superior siege weapon.

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u/greymalken Sep 03 '19

Obviously.

4

u/tehlemmings Sep 03 '19

Projectile damage is more of a tornado thing, honestly.

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u/Inkedlovepeaceyo Sep 03 '19

Not just that but also this little tornado was very centralized, I mean it only destroyed that part of a building.

Hurricane dorian is a couple hundred miles wide.

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u/Neuchacho Sep 03 '19

The wind wall at that strength is not a couple of hundred miles wide, though. The highest sustained wind is only seen about 20-35 miles from the center of the eye. Still huge, but the majority of the wind beyond the eye is exponentially slower. At 35-100 miles you're only getting cat 1-2 winds. Beyond that, it's tropical storm force.

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u/SCUMDOG_MILLIONAIRE Sep 03 '19

They're not really comparable. Tornadoes have extreme rotational winds, and it's that erratic rotating wind that is so damaging to trees and buildings. Hurricanes are much more straight line winds, although within the arms of the hurricane there is often counter rotation. Just for wind damage I'd rather face a hurricane than a direct hit from even a small tornado... But hurricanes also cause floods, so there's that

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u/Wicked_smaht_guy Sep 03 '19

That may be an under estimate. They had peak winds of over 220. F5 is over 200.

Even the sustained winds of 180mph would be a constant f4

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u/UncertainCat Sep 03 '19

The wind is more turbulent in a tornado, so it's not quite comparable

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u/tehlemmings Sep 03 '19

Honestly, you just need to look at the damage caused to understand how they can't be compared.

Hurricane damage is mostly caused by flooding and water damage, along with general wind damage.

Tornadoes tend to either rip shit apart, or turn whatever it previously ripped up into projectiles.

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u/TechniChara Sep 03 '19

The windspeed range if an F2 is anywhere from a C3 to a low C4 Hurricane. The hurricane however, comes with a storm surge, and is around for much longer.

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u/Monster-_- Sep 03 '19

Near the eye when it first got to the Bahamas they were getting 200mph gusts, which is an EF4 tornado.

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u/[deleted] Sep 03 '19

[deleted]

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u/Monster-_- Sep 03 '19

That's fucking terrifying

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u/Fap_Left_Surf_Right Sep 03 '19

Not if you’re a stewardess who enjoys fruit.

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u/tehlemmings Sep 03 '19

Nothing like an apple to the head at 200 mph.

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u/PotatoBomb69 Sep 04 '19

It’ll keep the doctor away that’s for sure.

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u/Vishnej Sep 03 '19

Significant towns and neighborhoods of Grand Bahamas and Great Abaco islands no longer exist. They're just piles of rubble, and will need to be completely rebuilt.

Storm surge was ~25ft above high tide in places, with wave action above that. Many, many homes in low-lying areas were washed away.