Totorus

Photo credit by mr_balage

‘Terrifying tornadoes’ are the best way to describe these natural forces that have made many households disappear from the face of the earth by their brutal force. A Tornado or hurricane is extremely violent thunder and windstorms that are accompanied by clouds shaped like a funnel, sweeping away everything on their path causing wide spread destruction.

Tornadoes are the most unpredictable forces of nature often proving the predictions of the weather department totally wrong. Most tornadoes have a wind speed of about 40 mph up to 110mph but the worst tornadoes in history have had wind speed of more then 300mph sweeping away houses located across several kilometers. The countries that are most prone to tornado destruction include The United States, south of Canada, South East Asia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The intensity and the damage caused by tornadoes are calculated on Enhanced Fujita Scale from EF0-EF5 where EF5 represents most destructive tornado. TORRO scale is also used to measure tornado intensity and value varies from T0 for minimum to T11 for highest intensity tornado. Here is the list of the worst tornadoes in history that have caused destruction beyond anyone’s imagination:

• The worst tornado in history was reported in the South East Asian country of Bangladesh on 26th April 1989 in the Daultipur and Salturia region which killed more then 1300 people and left thousands of others injured and homeless. The site of the tornado spoke of death and destruction with just few trees remaining on what was one of the most populated colonies.



• The second most destructive tornado claiming second highest number of lives also affected Bangladesh on 13th May 1996 , destroying over thirty thousand homes and killing more then 700 people residing in the regions of Madarganj right up to Mirzapur. So huge was the force of this tornado that the victim’s bodies were recovered 2 kilometers from the affected site.



• The Tri State Tornado hitting the states of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri in the United States on 18th March 1925 is considered to be one of the most destructive tornados in history. This tornado swept across the longest path causing destruction to homes and families spread over 219 miles. With a wind speed of 73mph this tornado raged havoc for nearly three and a half hours claiming lives of about 700 US citizens. The Tri state tornado is also believed to have been the costliest in terms of monetary loss.



• One of the worst tornado outbreaks in the history is what is now known as Super Outbreak that affected the central parts of United States and Ontario province of Canada. This tornado is termed as super outbreak as during the period of just 18 hours these regions were hit by almost 150 tornadoes with 24 tornadoes having EF4 intensity and 6 tornadoes measure 5 on the EF scale. The super outbreak claimed 330 lives but caused widespread destruction to property worth billions of dollars today.

Many more extreme cases of tornado hits have been recorded in history, such as the 1915 Great Bend, Kansas tornado whose extreme force drove a sack full of flour almost 110 miles away and a cancelled bank check was located almost 305 miles away in Nebraska. Prior warning from the meteorological departments can surely play a big role in controlling the widespread destruction that inevitably happens when nature decides to display its darker side.