[CEUS-earthquake-hazards] the February 2008 Tornado damage

[Wang, Zhenming]

This is an interesting summary on the February 2008 Tornado (http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/o/). It may worth a read.

Inside the Tornado With
Nowhere to Go
In the wake of the February 5-6, 2008 tornado
outbreak-the second deadliest in U.S. history-the
National Weather Service examined why people failed to
heed evacuation warnings.
The answer is that most of them had nowhere safer to
go. The report found two-thirds of people in the storms'
path were in mobile homes and 60 percent of them had no
safe shelter to retreat to, such as a basement or storm cellar.
"The majority of the survivors ... sought shelter in the
best location available to them, but most of them also did
not have access to a safe shelter," the report stated. "Some
indicated they thought the threat was minimal because
February is not within traditional tornado season. Several...
said they spent time seeking confirmation and went to a
safe location only after they saw a tornado. Many people
minimized the threat of personal risk through 'optimism
bias,' the belief that such bad things only happen to other
people."
Super Tuesday, as the outbreak was called, saw 82
tornadoes rake nine southern states, killing 57, injuring 350,
and causing $400 million in property damage.


Zhenming
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Zhenming Wang, PhD, PE
Head, Geologic Hazards Section
Kentucky Geological Survey
Adjunct Professor
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
228 Mining and Mineral Resources Building
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506
Phone: 859-257-5500ext142
email: zmwang at uky.edu
www.uky.edu/KGS/geologichazards/
www.uky.edu/AS/Geology/faculty/wang.html
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