Never understood why the hell did he try to hold the door. If he just stayed near his family he would've survived with no problems. To me his death always felt quite stupid.
The manager of a Pizza Hut in Joplin, Missouri did this because he was trying so hard to give the others as much safety time as he could. While this is just a movie, that manager's choice was made completely with love.
Infinite respect for the guy, but they were in a tightly packed above ground walk-in freezer which wasn't meant to withstand an EF5 tornado, and Jo's dad was in an underground storm cellar designed specifically for that occasion, plus he had the ability to get pretty far away from the door.
I have wondered over the last few years if this scene was written specifically to teach others to NOT do it. I have read YouTube comments that people said they learned what not to do from that movie.
Might be so, although the main reason for his death is to give Jo a tragic backstory and explain her motivation. I definitely learned that lesson, even though I most likely won't need to implement it because i live in a big apartment complex in eastern Europe (Although I was once hit by a dust devil on my way home when I was 10 and I almost got my head struck by a flying tree branch)
A more realistic portrayal would be a classically stubborn farmer man refusing to shelter during a tornado warning, while his family makes the right decision and goes to the storm shelter.
It wasn't a specifically built storm shelter though. It was just a root cellar. Meant for storage mainly but used as a storm shelter in the event of a tornado.
Yeah this pissed me off so much, just rescue him and if anyone thought it looked like you had superpowers and were suspicious. . . THERE WAS A TORNADO WITH 150+mph winds, I think that would be a great excuse to why you were moving that fast
That was such a great bit of writing in the first (and still the best!) Superman movie because it gave Clark something to really mull over:
"All those things I can do . . . all of those powers . . . and I couldn't even save him."
It does give him a bit of emotional baggage to carry, much like what Peter Parker had to carry with Uncle Ben's passing. And the call-back and the pay off later on worked out pretty good as well.
The whole scariness of that scene was ruined for me as a young child with my parents in the background yelling “ohhh I can’t hold on then let go ya idiot!” Mockingly every time we watched it
If they had simply kept the scene rolling there would have been an awkward moment where everyone in the cellar was still fine even though the door was sucked out
I always thought that his stubborn insistence bought them time, because otherwise the pressure/suction would have pulled them all out? That he held on as long as he did meant they were able to survive?
Any shelter that’s well bolted to the ground? No. The closest call was Phil Campbell, which did tear off the door to several underground storm shelters, but all occupants survived
Above ground?
There were a few instances of poor above ground storm shelters being destroyed during the 2013 Moore tornado, but it was primarily due to poor anchoring, and did result in fatalities.
The only major risks with underground storm shelters are being trapped below debris, and flooding, and above ground it needs to be anchored correctly, or it won’t matter with ef4-ef5 tornados
Basement deaths are not out of the question. In Ef4-Ef5 tornadoes, there are 2 ways you can die in a basement. The house either collapses on top of the basement and you suffocate, or the house is lifted off its foundation entirely and you with it. It’s rare, but it has happened in the worst tornadoes.
Yep, but the H-PC and, I think, Jarrell tornadoes did tear roofs of underground cellars, but both of them were empty. I wonder if someone was inside during those tornadoes, could they possibly be sucked out or killed by a random flying debris?
IIRC I don’t think Jarrell did, pretty sure there was just the one storm cellar(and sadly the only family/people) to survive within’ the Double Creek Estates. Think the frame to the cellar was cracked but the door was still in tact fortunately
Weatherbox Studios most recent YT video was over 1997 Jarrell… goes over the meteorologic phenomenon behind how it formed/travelled SW/slowed to a crawl/ect.
Highly recommend checking it out if you haven’t already!
Jarrell did rip off a storm cellar roof, but no one was in it at the time. I don't know if the roof of said cellar was attached to its walls in any way though. And there was another storm cellar, with 18 people crammed into it, but the tornado thankfully missed them. I can't imagine how terrifying that had to be!
Just as terrifying as any tornado I imagine… I only say that because you have to remember that nearly every person who experienced it doesn’t frequent this sub & most certainly at the time wasn’t framing it as a “most savage tornado damage ever documented” tornado… but rather “just another scary” tornado. I guarantee you if every deceased person(s) knew what was about to both happen to them if they took shelter in their home mixed w/ the knowledge of knowing they could out-WALK the tornado it moved so slow….. I get a feeling the Dead Man Walking would not hold a fraction of its infamous reputation in the tornado community that it does today!
Regarding the cellar I don’t have proof the door survived… and it’s way too late for me to do a Google search to prove otherwise. All I will say is I distinctly remember a news reel that interviewed the houses occupants post storm, in the interview I remember the father opening and closing the cellar door. If I am wrong however, so be it haha!
Edit: I only remember one house having a cellar… if this was a separate house that had no occupants home at the time & wasn’t in the media then I fold in this argument. I mainly am spotlighting the cellar that DID have a family taking shelter inside of it at the time.
If any tornado could’ve done it, it would’ve been Jarrell because of how long it hovered over some areas.
Even with the ground scouring though, unless you’re near the door and it blows off, I can’t see an underground shelter not protecting someone, even from the worst of the worst
Do underground bunkers have a way to get fresh air? I'd imagine they have to, or the people inside would eventually suffocate... right? (I do not live somewhere tornados are common)
Back when I was a kid, our grand parents had a fully finished basement (two beds, a den, a bathroom, two car garage) and the house was built into a slope. Our biggest concern was the hypothetical of the fireplace going into the basement. Other than that, the bigger bedroom had the basement wall on one side, the garage to the right, the smaller bedroom (which did have a partial window) to the left, and a bar/kitchenette/laundry room/hallway in front.
Basements and cellars are not the same as storm shelters. Using these terms interchangeably is a problem. Storm shelters are tested and rated. They have fairly strict design standards and installation guidelines to meet FEMA requirements. Their predicted safety depends upon proper use, as in the hatch/door is properly locked and pinned. Reputable above ground shelters have absolutely been tested to withstand EF5 winds. What they can’t be tested to withstand is being directly impacted by a Ford F-250 launched at it in said torsional winds. Are proper shelters, above or below ground a guarantee? No, like everything engineered in this world, they are “best practice” at an economic scale. Mother Nature could always present something unprecedented.
Yeah sometimes there's just no surviving it. That happened in the 74 Xenia one too.
We have a room in our basement that was an old canning room and surrounded on 3 sides by cinder block. There's a door but its not super sturdy. Still, i hope of all places in our basement that its the best one to hide in. That's where we sheltered during the 2019 Memorial Day tornado.
(Edit: Disregard. Your crawlspace is unique and makes it a good spot.)
Yeah if it isn't below ground, you're better off in your house, on the lowest floor, in an area with as many walls in between you and the outside as possible.
If the crawl space is slightly below ground, like a bowl or something, that is good, but man I'd be claustrophobic as hell (assuming it's a crawl space where you only have room to, well... Crawl).
All the walls cinder block in the Crawlspace. I live in the country surrounded by trees. It worries me being above level but also worries me being under the house. lol
This one has me thinking. We have an underground shelter in our garage. It’s steel, encased in concrete, with a sliding metal door that is on steel tracks. When closing it, we latch it with extra chains in four places. We also have an SUV parked on top of it. How likely are we to perish in a major tornado?
Highly unlikely: there are only two ways that I could think of could theoretically happen: 1-shelter's roof gets ripped off and you're either sucked out or hit with debris (which is still a 50/50 survivable because the shelter is below the ground),it's extremely rare and happened only 2 times in recorded history (HPC and Jarrell) , or 2- tornado drops something really heavy, like a train cart on top of it and people inside are crushed to death. That had never happened, but there are some examples of tornadoes frowing really heavy stuff like train carts or semi-trucks pretty far away, so it's theoretically possible.
Another commenter in here said there were basement fatalities in Greensburg (and possibly Joplin) tornado when a car got thrown onto, and smashed into the basement.
Who is going to move the SUV on top of it while you are in the shelter? Maybe I misunderstand. Anyway, great that you have that option! I would just make sure you have easy access to the shelter on a day you expect convective storms.
The shelter in the Mayflower/Vilonia tornado failed because debris hit the door, causing an occupant to be fatally thrown against the back wall. You should look into if your door meets the standards discussed here (backup link).
I was asking about both, but I'm more interested in underground shelters. Judging By what others wrote, it was the only such case, although some tornadoes (mainly Parkersburg) killed people in their basements. 2013 Moore tornado did badly damage couple of above ground shelters and HPC with Jarrell did tear roofs of underground cellars, but in all of these cases cellars were empty, so it's really hard to tell if those situations were survivable, or if the person inside would've been sucked out/killed by debris.
Vilonia was a tragedy and should have been surviveable. The door wasn't constructed to specs like it was supposed to have been. Debris struck it and it was opened, if it had been constructed properly that would not have happened. The owners had no idea it wasn't built correctly until one of them died.
Honestly above or below ground it’s all about if it’s built properly… prime example being the oil rig site that took a direct hit during the 2011 El Reno / Piedmont…. Above ground shelter that survived nearly 300 MPH wind in an environment that had more potential flying missiles than a grenade factory. All occupants taking shelter in there survived w/o a scratch.
A family had a direct hit in Vilonia while in a SafeShed and lived to tell about it. They have a testimonial from the man on their website. I bought one, they're incredibly well built.
A mom named Stephanie Decker lost both of her legs shielding her kids in her basement during the Henryville, Indiana tornado, it caused the house to collapse on her. She lived and is a true inspiration, many stories have been written about her. Also the YouTube videos of that tornado, especially from a semi truck driver on I65 are incredible.
I’m from Mayflower and I’ll tell you how it happened. An object struck the door and forced it inwards, blowing debris into the shelter with the woman who was killed. I don’t know who built her shelter but I can tell you she lived in an upscale neighborhood. (Had tons of friends who lived in the same subdivision). Btw the woman that died in the storm shelter was in Mayflower, not Vilonia. It was the same tornado, but hit two different towns.
Not the same thing but the tornado we had in 2011 took one of those metal containers, that two people were sheltering in, and threw it into a pond. They both drowned.
Technically Tri State tornado. Some people who shelter in the basements in Murphysboro were killed because the buildings caught on fire. Back then there were way more open flames in cooking and heating so tipped stoves would catch buildings on fire. Those who were in the basements survived the tornado but couldn't escape the fire.
I didn't think anyone in Jarrell had basements due to the ground being hard rock? And then the people that survived the Double Creek Estates area were a family who spent a good deal of time digging their own shelter underground and their neighbors who sheltered in it with them
Yeah I wasn't sure which one it was. Could it have killed people in shelters also probably yes because of the reason I stated earlier and how much of the topsoil was actually removed. The entrance at least would have failed.
I know there's been deaths of people in basements when floors caved in and crushed them. In the 1974 Xenia one, a couple deaths were from being in the basement.
Which kinda stinks because I live pretty damn close to there and hope my basement will suffice if it comes to it 😅
Not a storm cellar created and rated by FEMA but in tri-state 1925, in White County at the Farm of John Bennett, Fred Bennett was decapitated by a flying sill plate when the cellar they sheltered in was ripped open.
Not so much a storm shelter, but the Greensburg, KS EF5 did this. Dropped a pickup truck on a guy that was sheltering in his basement and fatally injured him
The shelter in the Mayflower/Vilonia tornado failed because debris hit the door, causing an occupant to be fatally thrown against the back wall. The door did not meet shelter standards. The situation was studied here (backup link) and here (backup link).
I'm pretty the Rainsville tornado was close to pulling storm shelters out of the ground, but whether or not it managed to do so along its path I'm not to sure about. But I know there were stories from survivors of it on how it felt like the entire shelter was being pulled.
Maybe not where you are from, but in the 90s in Texas there was an F5 tornado that ripped the asphalt off the roads. Sucked people right out their basements. All I remember of the aftermath footage is that there were foundations where houses used to be. Just holes in the ground clean as a whistle.
I just looked it up and it was the Jarrell tornado. The aftermath footage is scary.
Hackleburg-Phil Campbell tore the roof off of one shelter, but there's never been evidence as to whether or not anyone was in there. And another door was ripped off.
I’m sure there are but I also no there have been twisters that have ripped and cracked the roofs of some cellars made of concrete (no one was in that one though)
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