Slobodna Dalmacija – The strongest tornado: one carried cows and people kilometers away, another traveled 350 kilometers, the third carried trains

Tornadoes are not “just” destructive storms – throughout history, stories have been left behind them that sound like scenes from a movie: wagons thrown tens of meters, forests “shaved” bare, objects found kilometers away from the impact site.

A tornado can develop wind speeds that exceed 300 or even 400 kilometers per hour, which is why it easily overturns heavy objects that we would otherwise consider immovable. Historical records from the American Midwest and Europe mention locomotives and wagons weighing more than ten tons thrown dozens of meters away from the tracks, as if they were toys.

One of the often cited examples comes from the 19th century, when a tornado in Europe “cleaned up” an entire forest, uprooting about 150 thousand strong oaks and beeches, and threw a wagon weighing about 13 tons about thirty meters away. Similar scenes were also recorded in the USA: after some of the strongest tornadoes, cars ended up on treetops or on the roofs of houses, and some vehicles were found kilometers away from their original place.

Objects that ‘travel’ for kilometers

One of the most unusual consequences of tornadoes is the ability to “carry” lighter and medium-weight objects over long distances. Meteorological records and local reports record cases where receipts from stores, letters, and even entire boards or parts of houses were found ten, twenty or more kilometers away from the place where the tornado passed.

Similar examples exist for animals: after powerful tornadoes, villagers reported cows, horses and other domestic animals ending up far outside their pastures, sometimes several kilometers away. In extreme cases, the chronicles also mention human bodies found tens of kilometers downwind from where they were last seen – best illustrating the devastating combination of wind and flying debris.

Fragile myths and real danger

Myths are often associated with such stories: from the belief that a tornado “cannot cross a mountain” to the idea that a large river will act as a natural barrier. Numerous examples in the USA and Europe have proven the opposite – tornadoes easily cross valleys, rivers and even hilly areas, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

Joplin 2011 – the costliest and one of the deadliest

In the late afternoon of May 22, 2011, a massive EF5 tornado touched down in Joplin, Missouri. Winds stronger than 320 km/h and a vortex width of more than 1.5 kilometers destroyed or severely damaged almost everything on a 10-kilometer-long path through the city.

The tornado killed around 160 people and injured more than a thousand people. The damage was estimated at around 2.8 to 3 billion dollars, making it the costliest tornado in American history.

Residential areas, office buildings, schools and a hospital were hit, with about a third of the city practically leveled. After the disaster, federal and local authorities and scientific institutions such as NIST conducted extensive investigations that led to recommendations for improving warning systems, building standards, and emergency management.

Moore 2013 – a devastating blow to schools and settlements

Just two years later, on May 20, 2013, another EF5 tornado devastated the town of Moore and surrounding areas in Oklahoma. The tornado was on the ground for approximately 40 minutes, crossed a path about 20 kilometers long and reached a width greater than 1-1.3 kilometers at its peak.

In that disaster, 25 people died, including seven children at Plaza Towers Elementary School, and more than 200 people were injured. About 2,400 buildings were destroyed or severely damaged, including two elementary schools and the only hospital in the city, with material damage estimated at about two billion dollars.

In 2013, Moore opened a painful debate about school safety, the lack of adequate shelters and the quality of construction in an area repeatedly hit by the strongest categories of tornadoes. As in the case of Joplin, detailed analyzes followed that resulted in new standards for the design of school buildings and the introduction of safer tornado shelters.