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What would've been the worst tornado to take a direct hit in living in a solid brick house

Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:09 pm
Posted by Chastains
Member since Nov 2024
69 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:09 pm
Jarrell 1997



Joplin 2011



Smithville 2011



El Reno 2013




Posted by Fat and Happy
Baton Rouge
Member since Jan 2013
18715 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:12 pm to
Don’t remember exactly the details of it but was watching videos about tornadoes once and there was a F5 in the 1800s that apparently was traveling over 100mph and from the reports back then, it completely wiped a town out. Not a single building was still standing.
Posted by SlapahoeTribe
Tiger Nation
Member since Jul 2012
12336 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:16 pm to
quote:

Don’t remember exactly the details of it but was watching videos about tornadoes

I watched one about some crazy powerful tornado that stripped the soil off the ground across a farm and created a ditch right through his crops.
Posted by Tiger Prawn
Member since Dec 2016
23982 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:23 pm to
Wakita, 1996

Posted by real turf fan
East Tennessee
Member since Dec 2016
10258 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:35 pm to
Are you talking "solid brick" as two or three bricks thick with good mortar or are you thinking brick veneer on wood frame or even steel frame or cinderblock in need of tuck pointing?
Posted by ManWithNoNsme
Member since Feb 2022
786 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:40 pm to
A brick house wouldn’t withstand any of them. There would be nothing left but a concrete slab. Joplin was an EF5 that killed 158 people. It narrowly missed an elementary school. School was out. The town of Joplin commissioned our company for an EF5 proof shelter. I designed that structure. It’s right next to the school now. It’s solid concrete with a frick-ton of rebar in it. 25’ deep anchors on the foundation. Each module weighs over 80,000lbs.
Posted by LSU Neil
Springfield
Member since Feb 2007
3010 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:44 pm to
quote:

A brick house wouldn’t withstand any of them


The Jarrell tornado took the whole house to the slab, and scoured 6inches deep into the soil.
You are exactly correct.
Posted by TigerHornII
Member since Feb 2021
919 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:47 pm to
"Solid" brick wouldn't stop any of those. Jarrell for one just left bare foundations, and some of those houses were of decent construction. Brick is only a facade. Your only shot above ground is ICF or similar construction, and even then you'd want to be in some sort of safe room that is a concrete box inside the house's concrete box.
Posted by ELLSSUU
Member since Jan 2005
7704 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:47 pm to
quote:

What would've been the worst tornado to take a direct hit in living in a solid brick house


Posted by LSU82BILL
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Member since Sep 2006
10639 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:47 pm to
I worked the 2011 Tornado outbreak. Generally, I document a claim with 20-60 photos. I had a brick house in Hackleburg, Alabama that only required 2 photos. One was of a huge pile a bricks and other debris. The other photo was of the label on a magazine cover showing the address. It was the only way to document that I was at the right location because the entire street was leveled.
Posted by Nutriaitch
Montegut
Member since Apr 2008
9830 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:49 pm to
watched a show last night about strange weather happenings.

don't remember where it happened, but a few years ago an F4 leveled everything in an area except 1 house that didn't even lose any shingles.

as in even every tree surrounding the property (on all sides) were knocked over and flattened, but not the house.

Posted by Lake08
Member since Jun 2023
2030 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:51 pm to
Have a good friend that lives right outside of Lorena and followed the one that hit Jarrell for miles. It was brutal. Ripped the skin off cows
Posted by boot
Member since Oct 2014
2926 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:54 pm to
quote:

I watched one about some crazy powerful tornado that stripped the soil off the ground across a farm and created a ditch right through his crops.


That was the Smithville tornado
Posted by IlikeyouBetty
Bossier City, LA
Member since Nov 2010
1526 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 2:57 pm to
I think that was Smithville. That one was a beast.
This post was edited on 5/30/25 at 3:00 pm
Posted by kengel2
Team Gun
Member since Mar 2004
32932 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 3:05 pm to
quote:

The town of Joplin commissioned our company for an EF5 proof shelter. I designed that structure. It’s right next to the school now. It’s solid concrete with a frick-ton of rebar in it. 25’ deep anchors on the foundation. Each module weighs over 80,000lbs.


Can you see this from google maps? Seems like it would easily identifiable.
Posted by upgrade
Member since Jul 2011
14096 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 3:06 pm to
Even a 3 will destroy a brick house. Maybe not down to bare slab, but pretty damn bad enough.
Posted by AlterDWI
Pattern Noticing, Alabama
Member since Nov 2012
4894 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 3:07 pm to
quote:

I worked the 2011 Tornado outbreak. Generally, I document a claim with 20-60 photos. I had a brick house in Hackleburg, Alabama that only required 2 photos. One was of a huge pile a bricks and other debris. The other photo was of the label on a magazine cover showing the address. It was the only way to document that I was at the right location because the entire street was leveled


I was standing about a half mile away when it came through Decatur. It was raining debris everywhere. Tree bark, roof shingles, clothes, anything you can think of. I caught a piece of mail & it was addressed 100 miles away in Mississippi.
This post was edited on 5/30/25 at 3:08 pm
Posted by The Boat
Member since Oct 2008
172482 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 3:12 pm to
Forget a brick house. Would never live in a place with frequent tornadoes without a way to get underground.
Posted by auwaterfowler
Alabama
Member since Jan 2020
2693 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 3:15 pm to
The DeKalb County, AL F5 on April 27, 2011. I know because I saw many, many brick homes absolutely erased by it. We had 36 deaths in our county from that one tornado, which was over 10% of the entire number of deaths that day from all the tornadoes.
Posted by madmaxvol
Infinity + 1 Posts
Member since Oct 2011
20944 posts
Posted on 5/30/25 at 3:15 pm to
The Tri-State Tornado of 1925. Winds estimated in excess of 300 mph traveling at over 60 mph.
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