The World's Deadliest Tornadoes | Mega Disaster | Spark

Wow tornadoes about unpredictable volatile [Music] the whole country looked like it was in a nuclear blast at some time to be so I kept talking to myself thinking well this is it I leave behind the flitter rated towns there were no houses left they were all gone and the will of scientists it's not an exact science each tornado is unique dangerous a few deadly from the tremendous to the terrifying to the tragic this is a countdown to a mega tornado one that experts believe will devastate a major American city [Music] the most ominous tornado warning comes when an apocalyptic light darkness fills the sky these clouds are precursors to a powerful storm a supercell most tornadoes form when a violently rotating column of air stretches down from that supercell to touch the earth in general the faster the wind speeds the more dangerous the tornado surprisingly relatively little is known about these giant killers scientists are literally chasing the mysteries of tornadoes across the great plains of the United States better known as Tornado Alley more than 400 tornadoes threatened to wreak a path of destruction here every year far more than any other place in the world the main reason ideal atmospheric conditions the mountains to the west the Gulf of Mexico to the south and the fact that there are no physical barriers between here and the North Pole means that we are frequently changing air masses from warm to cold and back again tornadoes are measured using the F scale f4 dr. Theodore Fujita who classified tornado strength by estimating wind speed based on devastation the smallest twisters are a of zeros they can reach 116 km/h about the equivalent of a small hurricane at the other end of the scale our f5s whose winds reach speeds of up to 512 the tornadoes profiled here rise up the Fujita scale and from an f2 that rips the roof of a house to an f5 that lays waste to an entire neighborhood it's all leading up to a mega tornado one that some scientists fear will ravage of primary city 111 kilometers southwest of Wichita lies the small town of antic Arkansas just over six hundred people live here it's a town you could easily miss on May 12 2004 a tornado didn't on that day the blue skies over Harper County filled with storm clouds shortly after 6:00 p.m. Dan Smith Eisler heads into Attica I did some work for the banker in there and I told his wife I said you know it's going strong today several thunderstorms form over southern Kansas one look at these storms tells 30-year veteran meteorologist chuck DAWs well they might be a breeding ground for tornadoes one of the important ingredients that produces a tornado that we're pretty sure is the wind at low levels has to change direction and speed rapidly with height we call that vertical wind shear the vertical wind shear typically spins the air into an invisible cylinder as the wind speed increases it Rises the tornado intensifies and the core pressure drops condensation from the dropping pressure builds down the funnel creating a visible tornado that's exactly what's happening in the southern Kansas sky Harper County Emergency Management Director Mike lorig gets the first tornado warning at 6:45 and when they start giving us those warnings we listen and we say hey we need to start warning our public from there we do not know if this is going to be an f0 or it's going to turn into the monster in Kansas meteorologists carefully follow the thunderstorm as it tracks towards Attica about 7:25 in the evening a f2 tornado and made it to ground right up here just on this hill the path of it was right across here as lorig watches in astonishment the tornado tears the roof of a home directly in front of him this act of violence is just one of many the angry skies at the Kansas are far from finished we thought okay hopefully things are over we got emergency crews set up for that and then it distorted us suddenly it took a life on its own still chases trekking the Kansas supercell relay information to meteorologists using mobile Doppler radar they report the tornadoes wind speed location and one other startling fact the storm is producing multiple tornadoes storm chaser Yvette Richardson seen a supercell create more than one tornado before very dangerous situation because often people will be looking at the main tornado and feeling that as long as they're far enough away or there they've taken cover that that they should be completely safe her team and others report seeing 16 tornadoes they vary significantly in size and power the biggest is an f4 roughly 160 kilometers per hour faster and with corresponding wind force about three times larger than an f2 the air for head straight for Dan and Donna Smith hi slurs home I was listening to the radio and the TV and they had exactly pinpointed they knew exactly where it was at knowing a tornado's path gives potential victims an average of 12 minutes warning enough time to save their lives the Smith highs let's get the warning but Dan ignores it mesmerised by the Gulf full-sized tale that often precedes a tornado he refuses to join his wife down in the basement that scared me and so I start scream and get down the dog would not come down he's what sugar won't come and she was going in the door out the door in the door dogs are smart they know so when I screamed at sugar then she came down he came down we started hearing this popping noise well we had Iraq a Canada air and those contra popping from the the pressure change it sound like popcorn going off over there the tornado batters down and Donna's home with winds estimated at more than 322 and that's when I got hit on the head with cement or something you know I can still hear myself groan when you're just gonna like go with it and that's where I was when he said we're not gonna make it and that woke me up and I said oh yes we are too you know and you pray really hard the savage winds ripped unrelenting they over the Smith noiseless home when they finally stopped the couple emerged from their basement and into a war zone and I thought hoarse the car and my next thought was where's the garage the twister destroyed the couple's two-story home five bonds dismantled five cars and killed their dog sugar the terror down there was the worst part the terror the Smith iyslah's are lucky to be alive with estimated wind speeds near 400 km/h the f4 tornado easily destroyed their home but even the earlier f2 with winds estimated at 240 km/h was capable of ripping the roof off this home complex physics transform air into a force a concept scientists are laboring to understand what we're trying to do is simulate the tornado as best as we can so we're actually comparing the wind which we generate here with with the measurements made in the field and the match is pretty good sokka's tornado simulator is the first of its kind in the world it uses dry ice to create a visual display of the wind inside a vortex his machine can produce tornadoes up to 1.2 meters in diameter and 2.4 meters tall it can reach peak wind speeds of 86 km/h when combined with scale models he's able to replicate damage much larger and faster tornadoes inflict on homes and other structures normally a portion of the roof fails and create a hole in the building which then the fluid starts getting inside which then creates more load on the on the walls and eventually those walls start failing sokka's experiments conclude that the destructive force of circulating wind in an f3 or stronger tornado is at least three times more powerful than straight-line winds since few structures in tornado alley are designed to withstand even an F one's winds this is stark proof that even the weakest tornado is capable of causing damage the residents of Attica were thankful to have survived the fury of the 16 tornadoes that struck southern Kansas but when a single f4 twister strikes a small Texas town it's bizarre behavior and surprising power threatens to destroy the entire city and later a mega tornado strikes a major American city something experts saying will happen in 2004 a single cancer storm produced a swarm of tornadoes that ravaged homes and destroyed property and terrorized hundreds but the power and damage of that outbreak was far surpassed by the stunning force and unpredictable behavior of a single Texas twister Pampa Texas has had its share of luck the town has prospered since oil was discovered here in 1921 today 17,000 residents work the hard soil farming ranching and refining oil but the town's location and the Texas Panhandle is also its biggest flaw this is Tornado country on the afternoon of June 8 1995 Amber's luck ran out Randee Stubblefield is a lifelong resident of Pampa in his two years as sheriff he's seen his share of violence but nothing compares to what he's about to confront about four o'clock in the afternoon we received a call that there was a large tornado was building on the south side of the Emerald Highway just about a mile and a half from where we're standing now Stubbins Healy Greg says Ken Peter and rushes towards the twister now watch the building on the farmland and the north side of the railroad tracks and as you started building getting bigger and bigger meteorologist Chuck does well is also chasing and filming the Pampa tornado the evolution of the Pampa tornado with respect to the parent thunderstorm was very unusual in my experience I've never seen anything quite like it what does will cease is remarkable the tornado is almost standing still they suddenly the tornado makes a sharp right turn this on behavior stuns Doswell tornadoes move in a particular direction because they're tied to the storm that's producing them and the storm that's producing the moves in a particular direction because it's embedded in a wind field which is pushing it in that direction but the Pampa tornado isn't moving in the same direction as the storm after a series of sharp turns the twister loops almost 270 degrees around Doswell these erratic and unpredictable movements make this a very dangerous tornado let's go and I am completely mystified as to what was going on with that storm they didn't start travelling north and hit a industrial complex Belinda Woodruff works in that complex with her father she isn't listening to the news I learned that there was a tornado outside the building when my dad came to the door of the office I was in and said Belinda there's a tornado on the ground west of us I'm curious I said can we look at it and he said oh no we don't need to look at it we need to get under some cover Belinda and her father dying for shelter as the twister slams towards them you could hear the tornado approaching it was like a gyrating roof just a turning that just got gradually more intense and louder began to flicker as the pressure was building and then the lights went out when you first start seeing the real debris the metal the group tops know that that's when it hit the first series of steel buildings in the industrial complex and then an explosion the vacuum just took me up off the floor and slammed me into numerous things and was pulling me backward like rag doll you're gonna see some vehicles going into the air transport trailers and truck combinations now these units weigh probably twenty two thousand pounds empty these were sucked up and in the tornado and we're going round and round stubble field and Doswell are among the few to ever fill more tornado snatching out three ton trucks this is a massively powerful twister one that has Belinda Waltrip trapped in its ferocious Griffin if everything's dark and I've just tried to keep my eyes closed to protect my eyes kept talking to myself thinking well this is it and at that time I just had a feeling of helplessness because there's nothing you can do I mean there's no way you can stop it you know or make it go another direction anything like that and it was just a sick feeling that dropped me out here into the parking lot and just dropped me on my back and I could see the cloud and the tornado it looked like a white ghost just going up and taking off Belinda's encounter with the tornado is over but Randy's is just beginning but when I realized he'd want to go into the city of Pampa Stubblefield jumps back into his car and races down the road directly into the path of the tornado one of my deputies gets on there says watch after too close you know you too close when debris starts coming in the car with you I had my windows down and in the trash from the circulation was coming into the car with me it was headed right straight from the sheriff's office in the downtown section well I had at that time about 65 prisoners in jail and you know we have big strong building but this big strong tornado the twisters tranqs Pampa destroying or damaging 200 homes and 50 businesses most buildings on the industrial park have ripped off their foundations Belinda is badly injured and in shock of course I was just stunned and I really couldn't feel anything I felt like my legs were probably broken I couldn't get my bearings because there was no building there were no landmarks that I recognized at all and I was just taken back fearing the worst Belinda desperately searches for her father he was draped over a motor he looked dead honestly he was limp and he wasn't moving I managed to scoot over close to him and started rubbing him he woke up and turned his head and you can there was blood and you could just see this white eyeball just you could just terrified look and and I always remember that just stark and he immediately said help me out help me out but not I can't help you if I can't get up either emergency workers rush Belinda and her dad to the hospital both are in serious condition five other residents also suffer injuries miraculously there are no deaths as the wounded began they recuperation experts study Stubblefield and Boswell's remarkable footage the tumble of two or three ton pickup truck along the ground and then wasted in the air this takes incredible wind speeds probably in excess of a 150 miles per hour Dave Llewellyn researches the strange and complex forces at work inside tornadoes in a tornado the wind is not just swirling around it's actually spiraling strongly inwards Llewellyn believes that once an object like a vehicle is airborne it can be slammed to the ground by powerful Center downdraft winds then hold back skywards by updraft winds this brutal cycle renders the debris unrecognizable before it's finally spat out at a high speed amazing that was 4,600 pounds four into the crane Scott Schiff and his team at Clemson University are studying the damage a tornado old car can do we're really testing there's a roof slab here and this was designed to be a shelter it's about 10 inches thick of solid concrete with a double mat of steel reinforcement so it's heavily reinforced it's really designed to be able to take large debris impacts a slant begins to crumble impact we now have a permanent deformation in the slab that rebar that's down and that bottom mat here started to heal under the load and we started to see some more concrete falling down below there to counter multiple impacts Schiff is designing a steel mesh net to catch loose debris if that works it'd be a huge step forward in tornado protection we are safe during the event and right after the event despite the Pampa tornadoes unpredictable movements and incredible power no lives were taken six hundred and eight kilometers away another Texas town isn't so fortunate when a massive f5 twister turns tiny bits of dirt and wood into lethal weapons and later a mega tornado one that scientists believe could destroy a major American city [Applause] the powerful f4 pamphlet or NATO toss trucks destroyed buildings and threatened the lives of hundreds one notch out the Fujita scale and f5 twister turns into a killer speaks of good Jerell Texas was founded in 1909 located 64 kilometers north of Austin that I'll never fully recovered from the decline of the cotton industry in the 1920s and 30s in 1997 a tornado threatened to wipe Jerell off the map from the beginning the Gerald tornado smacks of something strange on May 27th a supercell forms over Central Texas the Gerald tornado is memorable for a couple of things one was it was a it formed in conditions that at the time we thought were very unusual the massive supercell lacks strong vertical wind shear an essential ingredient in typical tornado formation meteorologist bill galas teaches tornado forecasting utilizing a virtual reality tornado simulator to get a tornado in nature you need to have really two things you need a very strong updraft or updraft and downdraft to help stretch the air in the vertical and you also need to have some source of spin present strong wind shear usually provides a tornado with its source of spin before Jerell the conventional wisdom was that without strong wind shear you don't get violent tornadoes but the unusual atmospheric conditions over Central Texas are about to prove the conventional wisdom wrong dead wrong here the warm moist air rises so forcefully it generates a super strong updraft creating a very powerful and dangerous tornado as the skies blacken and the winds rage ladonna peterson and her eight-year-old son leave their mobile home for the safety of her mother-in-law's brick house I went outside and started watching the clouds outside because they were getting real thick real dark real heavy and all of a sudden I could hear in the distance because the wind had picked up the alarm going off in town Kaine Adams doesn't hear the turn alarm he's asleep and the dog woke me up and I could tell that dog was really scared I knew something was wrong but I don't hear well but I could feel it it was like a thunder that you couldn't hear you know but but you could feel it La Donna's sister-in-law and young daughter joined her in their mother-in-law's home news reports place a tornado three kilometres away my sister-in-law and I went to a window and we could actually see the tornado in the distance but it was like it was just sitting there just turning not moving at all in fact the tornado isn't standing still it's forward movement is part of a slow pace of 16 km/h but its internal wind speeds are reaching more than 420 km/h now a killer f5 it descends on the women's refuge they'd all of a sudden we felt the gust of wind hit the house we could actually see the asphalt being pulled up off of the street up the road from us who's in there and I said God please don't take my family we felt a big gust of wind hit the house and the bathroom door flew open at that point we just started feeling like mud and stuff start coming in Hey minutes later when Ken Adams walks outside to see why his dog is barking he comes face-to-face with a nightmare it was so big at the base probably a half a mile or three-quarters of the that I didn't realize it was a tornado and by the time that I did realize that it was too late to go anymore ran to the house opened the back door and as I did the door flew out of my hands and the roof of the house came off I was sort of be picked up the house would fall on me again suddenly the tornado is gone the whole country looked like it was in a nuclear blast of some time when I first looked up I thought I was dead I mean I really did Kane is wrenched back to reality when he's forced to take in the horror that surrounds him more than 300 head of cattle were killed or injured by the tornado many that survived had to be shot because of the extent of the injuries oh it was terrible there's about 300 acres over there and most of it you couldn't walk very far without smelling that old death smell la Donna's family emerges from the rubble of their home and into a wasteland nearly every home and their subdivision is obliterated many of their neighbors are nowhere to be seen others are badly injured mrs. LaFrance was pinned under a tree and her daughter was laying in the mud and had some really severe injuries to her legs and her arms it was raining and it was she was saying it was hurting her hitting the open wounds so the only thing I could find was a dirty blanket laying on the ground to cover her up with just to keep the rain from hitting the wounds so bad later we found out that mr. LaFrance had been killed in the tornado and the daughter had been crying through the whole thing wanting to know where her dad was 27 people died that day our four children entire families killed [Music] [Applause] as scientists study the Jerell tornado several intriguing facts came to light the thing that the tornado itself was interesting for was that it was moving very very slowly and was large and it collected a lot of debris to where the high wind speeds associated with the tornado were there for minutes in locations rather than just for a few seconds the tornado traveled approximately 16 km/h significantly slower than the average 48 km/h twister another oddity was that most houses in the tornado's path were completely obliterated study experts found an answer visitors Dave Llewellyn's computer models illustrate their findings you can actually have thousands of tons of dirt in that debris cloud at any given time and that dirt can change the internal structure of the tornado as the general tornado passed over the Oakland Texas plane it picked up massive amounts of dirt slowing down the funnels forward movement while increasing its destructive power I think down low that Gerald tornado probably acted like a giant sand blaster Llewellyn and others believe that instead of blowing apart homes with strong winds like some tornadoes the Jarrell twister destroyed structures via the massive force of windblown debris the Jerell tornado was as ironic as it was tragic experts advise never to try and outrun a twister but some who died in Jarrell could have escaped the slow-moving storm in cars experts advise potential victims without storm shelters to hide in interior rooms like closets or bathrooms but some in Jarrell did exactly that and died anyway when their entire home swept away still because no two twisters are ever the same experts advise that the best option is an underground shelter or safe room and built two specific codes the Jerell tornado changed the way experts watch for twisters they now view storm systems with low vertical wind shear as possible violent tornado producers but no amount of vigilance or insight could stop the deadliest tornado in US history from killing hundreds and later and make a tornado unseen in modern times threatens millions the Jerell twister killed 27 people while changing the way experts keep vigil for potential tornado producing storms but there was no way to prepare for the deadliest tornado in US history a brutal f5 that tore through three states killing hundreds on march 18 1925 a single tornado slaughtered 695 people in Missouri Illinois and Indiana the behemoth f5 blasted a 322 kilometre path of unstoppable annihilation have lasted for hours survivor accounts of chilling the air was filled with 10,000 things boards poles whole sides of little framed houses in some cases the houses themselves were picked up smashed to the earth and living beings - a baby was blown from its mother's arms children all around me were cut and bleeding they cried and screamed it was something awful the destruction was of mythic proportions primarily because the killer struck an extremely vulnerable population people had very few ideas about how to deal with tornadoes the country was largely rural instead of mostly metropolitan and they had essentially no way to communicate with each other the town of Murphysboro were more than a hundred people were killed actually was hit more than two hours after the first fatalities from the tornado and people wondered why hadn't any word but gotten down downstream down the telephone lines or telegraph lines that something was coming in 1925 several million people lived in small rural towns throughout Tornado Alley earth today tens of millions call it home modern communication means better warnings but evacuating a major city before an f5 strikes is still impossible on May 3rd 1999 the people of Oklahoma City faced the worst f5 in modern history the Mather 1999 tornado that went through Moore in southern Oklahoma City was one of the most damaging in the history of the United States no matter how we look at the data late in the afternoon of May 3rd 1999 weather forecasters and Oklahoma carefully track multiple supercell storms and then the tornado reports but begin flooding here at home with her eight-year-old son Dana grim watches the local news we have been watching the coverage for hours he said it just kept building momentum getting bigger and bigger and if you were above-ground you weren't gonna make it the storm system is intense complicated and growing weather trackers watching or and shocked as multiple storms produce multiple tornadoes seem like just about every thunderstorm cloud that formed eventually produced a tornado at some point and there were times when you had the main tornado happening and then we had what we call satellite tornadoes that would rotate around it they're completely separate tornadoes within the same storm system at about 625 p.m. a large tornado touches down just outside Amer our globe Doppler radar record sits wind speed at 512 kilometres per hour the fastest twister ever documented this is a monster and it's hurtling towards Dana driven home and they had said that it was a mile wide and just ferocious and it was just destroying everything in its path [Music] we win just 1.6 kilometers away Dana and her son Hina be positive I remember my son he was screaming and crying he said are we gonna be okay if we're gonna be fine he said what do we do and I said we prayed dana's Pia turns to panic when she hears the tornado strike there was kind of a high-pitched squeal to it and then of course the sound of everything the the windows just blowing out the house was shaken we could hear the the beams and the roof breaking the walls just lifted up and we could feel really cold air rushing underneath and within seconds of that the house just blew up I couldn't breathe that I had sucked in so much dirt that I couldn't even breathe anymore this is it and I remember just praying that God if this is it I'm ready of the brink of death the first tornado spares Dana's life by lifting her under the suffocating dirt when it slams her back to the ground she's paralyzed with fear realizing that I didn't have my son so I started screaming for him and he came running over and it was really it was just a miracle of God because we were both barefoot he came running over to me did not have one puncture wound on his face the f5 continues towards the center of Oklahoma City crossing major highways filled with rush who steals them some people they abandoned they can't a desperate attempt to find that decision has fatal consequences people seeking refuge under freeway overpasses are killed by debris and the sheer force of the wind [Applause] Blanca's favorites for many others shield Boulevard in Oklahoma City essentially became a huge parking lot and it blocked people from being able to escape the tornado by the time the f5 dissipates 40 people of dead and nearly 700 engine my wife worked in the hospital in Norman that night and she worked in the emergency room and they were swamped of course she saw some really horrific injuries people came in covered with splinters of wood look like pin cushions so much wood awful things many survivors suffer multiple painful wounds from being impaled by debris Cheryl Braun studied the injuries and deaths in Oklahoma there were also injuries that were related to debris being embedded inside the body all the way from small splinters to very large objects such as two-by-fours many superlative suffered debris related injuries because the tornado destroyed so many homes as viewing countless shards of wood the material into the the Oklahoma twister leveled nearly 3,000 houses and structures 73 miles an hour chef and his team at Clemson University fire two-by-fours at more than 160 km/h into a variety of structures to represent the damage done during a tornado I think that the public understands attorney OHS are very dangerous what they don't understand is that in typical construction they have very little protection against those types of events when debris strikes a home he does far more damage than simply making a hole in a wall or window it gives the tornado a point of entry once inside in flowing air can rip apart walls and tear open the home then becomes part of the tornados arsenal further fueling the funnel with debris and making it even more destructive this type of construction is very typical for a residential you know brick veneer in front of a wood frame wall the missiles going all the way through the wall cavity most people that have this type of house would be vulnerable to an f5 tornado shifts experiments determined for a home to withstand the deadly on some debris the brick veneer must have an 8 centimeter thick backing of concrete this wall here be suitable for a shelter to resist her nails most homes in Oklahoma City were brick veneer with wood frames this common construction coupled with the sheer number of homes and the tornado's path increased the debris field exponentially Dana Grimm survived with a broken back her son with a puncture wound to his chest I truly believe that the reason that I was thrown twice if I had not been picked back up and thrown again I would have suffocated because I could not breathe in any more ten supercell storm spawned 70 tornadoes then spring day including the f5 that cut a 24 kilometer path over interstate highways and devastated several suburbs of Oklahoma City you said I think there were 14 in our own housing edition that died and it it's a miracle of God that we didn't the Oklahoma tornado caused more than a billion dollars in damage the costliest tornado in US history complete and total devastation the homes that you see over here now were completely gone it was it was a rubble pile if you had been in the open it would not have been a very pleasant place to be things would have been much worse if the tornado had vea just 16 kilometers to the west striking the heart of downtown Oklahoma City even so the Moore Oklahoma tornado and its companion twisters ranked as the most deadly and destructive outbreak in modern history they would be far surpassed by an f5 striking a major American city that would be a mega disaster one experts warned could happen every year Maine to US cities in Tornado Alley play a game of Russian roulette with massive twisters that week havoc there in 1999 Oklahoma City lost the game when a giant tornado killed 40 people injured nearly 700 and racked up costs of more than a billion dollars only sheer luck kept the tornado from striking downtown researcher Scott ray knows the next major city to be struck by an f5 may not be so fortunate Dallas is overdue for a large violent class tornado Dallas Texas is a boomtown sprawled along the southern boundary of Tornado Alley it's one of the largest and fastest-growing metro areas in the US with more than five million residents and 600 corporate headquarters Dallas is 10 times larger than Oklahoma City I was shocked a bit when I saw some of the aerial footage of Oklahoma City yeah the amount of damage that it occurred in that was pretty amazing rain assists local governments with planning for hazards especially threats from tornados to help Dallas prepare for a possible mega disaster he has modeled over 60 different scenarios of how the Dallas region would be affected by a violent tornado for reasons of credibility it was very important that we look at an event that actually had occurred somewhere else so we took the the event at Oklahoma City basically because the data was very good for that particular event and we could transpose it by just moving those same geographical characteristics of the tornado on top of the geography of dallas-fort worth so we got to see it kind of from our own perspective ray and his team painstakingly overlay to the exact paths taken by the Oklahoma tornadoes over the dallas-fort Worth area a mega disaster unfolds when Oklahoma's f5 tornado rampages through downtown Dallas it would easily be the worst damaging tornado event that we have had to date in the US Ray's nightmare scenario begins as a supercell storm forms over North Central Texas a 160 km/h tornado and f3 touches down in a dusty field 10 miles southwest of Dallas its first target is the suburb of copper hill into the excess of 320 km/h cars are tossed aside buildings are decimated the tornado continues northeast unrelenting in its assault on thousands of homes a twisters internal wind speeds rise past 400 km/h turning it into an m5 fueled by tons of debris the giant tornado slows as it descends on the busy freeway a clogged highway holds a heck of a lot more people than one that is moving comfortably and the other problem that you have is where do you go panic ensues as many abandoned their cars creating a traffic jam that traps thousands the 443 kilometer or wins effortlessly SWAT cars of the highway anyone hiding under an overpass is vulnerable to flying debris and violent winds cars snatched out by the powerful updraft winds are spun around in Sullivan giant vortex then shot out creating a dangerous hazard for anyone in their path next the deadly twister approaches downtown Dallas dozens of skyscrapers and tens of thousands of people crowd the city giant glass windows shatter marble and bricks are ripped off buildings a deadly shower of glass and other debris rains down onto the crowd below most of the skyscrapers in the dallas-fort Worth area are predominantly covered with glass on the outside and that's not very durable but the amount of damage from getting wind and broken glass spread out through a downtown area is gonna be pretty dramatic a packed commuter train sneaks through the city it swept off the tracks and slammed into a skyscraper killing hundreds of the Train and office buildings there is little doubt that debris would be probably the largest generator of damage in the Metroplex and it's basically because there's so much of it that can be generated and you name it it could be wood bricks gravel just about anything you can imagine can become a projectile and and with almost unlimited supply the tornado continues north leaving the wreckage of downtown Dallas behind to 180 Queens more than 500 km/h now descend on the suburban landscape of late water the 92,000 people living here have had up to 20 minutes to seek underground shelter a seemingly reasonable chance for survival but like the Gerald takes us twister those hiding in closets or bathrooms can only pray finally the worst tornado in history slowly drifts skyward and dissipates the war zone behind it is 61 kilometers I don't think there's there's any way to really sugarcoat an event it's gonna be difficult to deal with regardless so there's gonna be a lot of damage there gonna be a lot of people that need help total damages approach five billion dollars tens of thousands are homeless and scores injured the death toll is unknown fatalities are difficult to really quantifies because they involve people making decisions and there are good decisions that can be made bad decisions we don't know a decision they're going to make the best decision City plans can make is to prepare with multiple underground shelters rehearsed evacuation plans and a vigilant public but even that won't likely be enough I think he would pretty much be impossible financially to build a city that could really survive violent class tornadoes or you know any scenario like that with increasing populations in major metropolitan cities throughout Tornado Alley science is in a life-or-death race against time to understand one of mother nature's biggest secrets in an ideal world we'd have radar or other instrument measurements on every tornado that occurs in the practical world that we live in that's just not going to happen okay this storm in the next hour is gonna produce this type of tornado we're just not there yet and it's hard to say when we'll be there we've certainly got a ways to go given the limited ability to predict tornadoes there is a very real cause for concern most people think about disasters is very random events that can't happen to them and I think that holds true with tornadoes as well if you wait long enough something resembling the worst-case scenario is going to happen eventually until science learns more about these brutal forces of nature the only thing that can be done is to prepare before a mega disaster strikes

Channel: Spark

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Keywords: Spark, science photography, science explained, biggest tornado ever, worlds biggest tornado, huge tornado caught on camera, huge tornado, biggest storm, biggest tornado, biggest tornadoes, biggest tornados, biggest ef5, crazy tornado, natural disaster, natural disaster caught on camera, largest tornado ever, el reno tornado, tornado caught on camera, tornadoes caught on camera, tornados, what is the biggest tornado of all time, worlds biggest, biggest tornado in the world

Id: jmPPsoyEeIk

Length: 49min 55sec (2995 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 31 2019