Why No Fatalities from tornadoes in DFW last week?

[hazelmaryjackson]

I have been wondering why there were no fatalities from the tornadoes in DFW lasst week. I imagine most of the houses do not have basements. There seemed to be a number of houses which were built of brick, which lost their roofs but otherwise stayed standing. Is this relevant? Where did people shelter?

 

[Zach Young]

I'm not sure I can answer your question specifically, but it seems to me that there was an extraordinary amount of luck involved.

 

[Bob Hartig]

I'm sure that a number of factors came into play, one being that this was an extremely well-warned event.* No one in the area could say, "We had no warning." Another was the intensity of the storms. Not to detract from the lethality of even a "weak" tornado--and some of these were strong--but the Dallas storms were nothing like those of April 27, 2011, or the Joplin tornado. The environment, at least as I recall it, was borderline, not an extreme double whammy of massive instability and insane helicities. In other words, the tornadoes in themselves were more survivable.

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* ADDENDUM: Let me qualify that. By "well-warned," I don't mean highly anticipated. But as the OFB which caused the trouble pushed east, it became apparent that it was a supercell-breeder. As storms began firing and tornadoes dropped, chasers and weather spotters were all over them, the NWS was on top of them, and the public had plenty of opportunity to respond in a timely fashion.

 

[John Vandehei]

There seemed to be a number of houses which were built of brick, which lost their roofs but otherwise stayed standing. Is this relevant?

. Like Zach stated, some luck was likely involved. However, anytime you have a structure that can keep most of its walls up during a tornado, I think there is a good chance of survivability if you're sheltered inside. Like Bob stated, this was not a situation like Joplin. When you have a large powerful tornado that obliterates blocks upon blocks of houses, leaving nothing but debris and foundations, you're going to have fatalities, regardless of how much warning lead time is given.

 

[Rob Gardner]

I think that house construction / awareness is better in Dallas then it would be in the south east.

 

[Albert Rodriguez]

I don't know about the other cities but we have a lot of digital billboards scattered throughout dfw now. While I was chasing through the warned area the billboards changed from ads to TORNADO WARNING TAKE SHELTER NOW all in red and black lightning. This is the first time I've seen this. I tried to take a picture but I was in a hurry since it was a unexpected chase.

 

[Brandon Jenkins]

It should also be noted (at least in the case of the Kennedale-mansfield-arlington tornado) that law enforcement eventually blocked all freeway access leading to the tornado preventing a lot of traffic from coming into contact with the circulation, I did not expect this given the lack of tornadic events in the metroplex but they were all over it.

 

[Bret Hendrickson]

The time of the event could have played a role also. Most of the tornadoes were doing damage while people were at work.

 

[Elaine Spencer]

One thing I suspect might have made a difference was the continuous live coverage on DFW TV stations, using news helicopters to track the tornadoes. I watched some of the streaming on WFAA and KXAS that day, and couldn't tear myself away from it.

We know from last year's service assessments that people generally want some kind of confirmation of a tornado threat beyond just hearing sirens or a tornado warning announcement. Well, if seeing semi trucks tossed into the air on live TV just a few miles away from you doesn't convince you it's time to take cover, nothing will!

Of course, it helps to be in a media market with the resources to hire trained pilots and camera people. Smaller stations often use stationary tower cams. While these can provide striking images of approaching tornadoes (as in Tuscaloosa, for example), they can't see a tornado unless it happens to be in camera range, nor can they zoom in on the destruction on the ground as well as a chopper cam can.

 

[Jeff House]

I agree with the confirmation Elaine writes about. Public got clear confirmation that a tornado is actually affecting people. The choppers in the air will end up being life-savers in years to come, not just a chance for the video and ratings.

I'd also add that the whole system is just so severe weather savvy from North Texas and West Texas north to the Dakotas. Emergency management and police have detailed plans, like the Interstate closures Brandon notes. News anchors and Mets in markets along I-35 and I-29 are expected to have deep knowledge. Finally the public knows what to do and when to do it. There is a reason we call it the Great Plains.

Yes a little luck and God's blessing also played a role. Let's hope for more this weekend.

 

[0dbu]

You definitely have to give a lot of credit to the news teams as they were instrumental, and we have a large number of skywarn spotters and chasers in the DFW area as well. As good as the warnings were I am still baffled at the sheer complacency some people have. My sister-in-law was saying how she was annoyed that the sirens are going off and what not, it wasn't until I told her that a confirmed tornado was on the ground at 287 and Sublet did she take any action, it passed less than a mile from her house.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[Steve Dedman]

I don't know about Dallas (along with the effected MetroPlex municipalities) but I would suspect that their building codes are like those in the OKC metro. Exterior walls of permanent housing structures must be made from 2X6 stud walls (or thicker), anchored to the sill plate with metal wind plates. The sill plate has to be anchor-bolted to the slab. The roof structure has to be anchored to the wall structure with metal wind plates. The Simpson Strong-tie products used in most construction on the plains has saved a lot of lives. In the southeast, many of the houses are older, 2x4 construction made before the advent of wind-resistant tie materials.

Luck, "weaker" tornadoes, and early warning were the most important factors, but don't overlook the differences in construction. Had the Arlington tube hit where I live in Knoxville, there would likely have been far worse damage and likely fatalities.

 

[Greg Higgins]

Steve......you missed the mark by a mile regarding building construction! The "code" may require what you speak of but with the lack of qualified building inspectors and the almighty dollar driving the contractors, there are few homes that are even up to the "minimum code requirements". Don't believe me? Read / view any of Tim Marshalls articles / powerpoint presentations, they are full of picture after picture of bad construction and outright violations. Many of the prelimanary EF ratings have even been downgraded after engineers / building officials have documented the poor construction (Arlington, TX 2003). As a firefighter working in an area with lots of new construction, we get out and visit job sites to see what we're up against in case of a fire down the road. It is appalling! (and no, we don't have any enforcement abilities). Texas Tech Wind Engineering department typically uses mockups that are built to "code" for their testing purposes (part of which the EF scale is derivied) so their results often are not applicable to the real world. I have heard that they have done soem testing with "shoddy construction" mockups but I am not aware of the results. Bottom line....the homeowners need to go after the builders, insurance companies and code developers to ensure that their home at least meets the "minimum standard".

 

[Brian R]

Fortunatly, there was no fatalities with the DFW tornadoes. that is always the main goal of chasing, provide accurate information to the local law enforcement/911 center and the weather service so they can issue warnings earlier. then try to get the most awesome video footage possible while remaining safe yourself. A few rules i have for myself when im out chasing, provide critical possibly life saving information to the local 911 center via phone or skywarn net on the ham radio, engage 4 wheel drive before attempting to pull as far as possible off the roadway so emergency vehicles can get thru before attempting to video the storm and offer assistance after the tornado has passed.

 

[rdale]

that is always the main goal of chasing, provide accurate information to the local law enforcement/911 center and the weather service so they can issue warnings earlier.

Actually not it's not... Just last week there was a tornado in Oklahoma where chaser(s) posted pics online and FB'd it, but never reported to NWS...