Exploration
7 amazing tornado survival stories
Tornadoes devastate communities and explode houses to bits – yet these lucky people (and animals) have survived to tell the tale.
Tornadoes are some of the most visually stunning yet devastatingly lethal weather phenomenon in the world. There are more than 2,000 tornadoes a year, but it’s in the United States, where dry air in the Rockies meets wet air from the Gulf of Mexico, that conditions are most ideal for their formation.
They happen when instability in the atmosphere results in different wind speeds at different heights, creating a horizontal spinning effect that, in certain conditions, is turned vertical to create a violent spinning twister.
The United States has three quarters of the annual total, with Bangladesh and northern Argentina also high on the list. Even Europe gets 300 per year – yet less than one percent of all tornadoes register in the higher end of the Enhanced Fujita Scale used to record their strength
A large wedge tornado
© Scott Prader/Wikimedia Commons
Get in their path and they can be deadly. The fastest wind speed ever recorded inside a tornado was 484kph in the suburbs of Oklahoma City on May 3, 1999 during an 85-minute long tornado.
The longest ever was the Tri-State Tornado in 1925, which travelled 219 miles through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, creating 164 square miles of devastation in three-and-a-half hours and the widest spread more than 4km across when it cut a path through El Reno in Oklahoma in May 2013.
That was part of a huge weather system that dropped multiple tornadoes over several days in the area, but the highest number of tornadoes ever was in 2011, when 355 were reported in just four days across the United States, 207 of which occurred on a single day, April 27.
Modern science has helped improve predictions, but when the tornado siren sounds, it’s crucial to find a safe place. Sometimes, however, it’s not possible. And these are some of the most incredible stories of lucky escapes...
1. Oklahoma, USA – 1999
One of several tornadoes observed on May 3, 1999, in central Oklahoma
© Daphne Zaras / Wikimedia Commons
Aleah Crago became known as the 'Mud Baby' when she was discovered in the aftermath of a massive F5 twister that cut through the town of Moore.
The storm, in which the fastest ever wind speed on earth was recorded, tore the 11-month-old child from her mother's arms but she was found by a US Deputy Robert Jolley.
2. Missouri, USA – 2006
One of the many homes damaged by the tornado
© Patsy Lynch/FEMA
Matt Suter was with his grandma in her mobile home when he was sucked up by a 150mph (240kph) tornado and thrown into a field.
The twister only registered at level two on the five-step Enhanced Fujita Scale used to measure tornadoes, but it was strong enough to cause some serious devastation.
As his grandma hid in the kitchen, he tried to shut the windows but before he could do so they were torn off their hinges, the walls were demolished and he was pulled into the air.
The 19-year-old was carried, along with debris from the house, and lifted so high he could no longer breathe. He fell unconscious and was dropped to the ground 400m from where his journey began, eventually coming round with just a few scratches and bruises.
3. Bashkiria, Russia – 2014
A Russian man had a very lucky escape when he decided to go for a drive just as a tornado flashed through his street.
Having reversed out his drive to see a cluster of flying debris land in front of his car he tried to return to his garage only to see it completely ripped apart in front of his eyes.
4. New South Wales, Australia – 2013
Gavin Hodgson went for an unexpected flight in his truck when a tornado struck while he was driving around his farm.
He watched the 250kph twister take out his house and shed and crouched down with his head under the glove box and his feet in the driver's side door as it picked up his truck and threw it into a power line.
5. Louisiana, USA – 2016
Delivery driver Kyra Johnson tried to take shelter in a shop front when a tornado came her way, but with the door locked and the shop empty she was forced to hide behind a vending machine.
The twister struck and ripped apart the entire store, but the woman somehow escaped unscathed.
6. Wyoming, USA – 2018
There have been lots of instances of animals being lifted up by tornadoes and living to tell the tale – and one was caught on camera this year.
In 1895, a pig was taken by a tornado and found in a field hours later; in 1954 a dog was sucked up and walked back into the town four hours later; and this year two cows were captured on camera flying through the air – although in this case is not clear if they survived the experience.
7. Tennessee, USA – 2008
One-year-old baby Kyson Stowell was thrown 100 metres from his family home in Castalian Springs, near Nashville, by a tornado with 300kph winds as a storm system spawning a reported 69 tornadoes hit the region.
The little boy, who ended up lying face down in a field that was strewn with splintered wood, couches and toys, was originally overlooked as the rescuers who scoured the area mistook him for a doll.