DIYbanter - View Single Post - US homes vulnerable to Tornados ( wooden), why not use concrete?

(Joseph) wrote:

I noticed that US citizens build their homes from wood even though
they are extremely vulnerable to Tornados, after the victims` homes
has been destroyed by tornados, people rebuild their homes from wood
again.
Isn`t that a foolish thing to do?

You are either being very silly or have failed to grasp the size of
the US and, thus, the relative risks involved. I live in a very large
urban area in tornado country. Every year we have a handful of
tornados in the area and sometimes there is a bit of damage to a few
structures out of hundreds of thousands. Rarely (very rarely) there
is lots of damage to lots of structures. My house and all the hundreds
of houses around mine have been here for 30 years and have never been
damaged by a Tornado. 30 of my 35 years have been spent in tornado
country and I don't personally know anyone who has lost their home or
even suffered significant damage because of a tornado.

Most tornados only hang around for somewhat less than an hour. Very
often they don't ever touch the ground or only do so for a brief
period. Most tornados have a very small area of effect if they do
touch down. The central US where tornados usually occur is a very
large patch of ground and I assure you that only a tiny, tiny fraction
of that terrain sees tornado damage in any given year.