1991 April 27 Andover, Kansas F5 Tornado Damage Survey

[kpg2471]

Holy shit, if my house was there I would get down on the ground and scream at myself until i died lol

[iamsaztak]

Ooh, eerie. The gray car at 2:14 looks just like the car my mom had. And we moved to the trailer park that got obliterated about 5 years after this tornado. That hits too close to home!

[RobertPrentice]

This was plastic waving in the wind, *not* the legs of a dead woman ;-)

[Lizaria]

6sec n in the left top of tree, are those legs from a dead woman? Looks like RIP

[u12kno]

Notice, the  city's name is AND-OVER.......

[u12kno]

Notice, the  city's name is AND-OVER.......

[bradwatson7324]

Strange how that styrofoam cup remained standing.

[horshooer]

I noticed Old Glory was still waving in the wind....

[ChinchillaTricks]

I feel scared now and feel so sorry for them

[100sundancepass]

The damage reminds me of the nuclear aftermath from The Day After.

[RobertPrentice]

If the Andover, KS had passed through a large, dense American city, it would have caused a 1/4rd to 1/2-mile wide path of EF3 and EF4 damage, with patches of EF5 damage. EF5 damage can produce "significant structural deformation" of high-rise (21+ story) buildings and "permanent structural deformation" of mid-rise (5-20 story) buildings. Please refer to the EF-scale document for full details.

[TheInformalstyle]

I was wondering, what would happen if a tornado of this magnitude hit a large built-up area such as Manhattan or central L.A.? Would the buildings survive?

[NoTheStars]

that would still be an EF5 even with the new enhanced fujita scale, there isnt one standing building...some crazy shitt

[TheMightykaz]

How could you measure a tornado as an f0-f5 if it landed in a field but did not damage any structures?

[RobertPrentice]

@TheMightykaz

The Fujita (now the Enhanced Fujita) scale rates tornadoes by the damage they leave behind. If nothing is hit, the tornado cannot be assigned a rating even though they are typically rated F0 (now EF0) in such cases.

[toe2toecory]

@RobertPrentice And The Width of the Tornado right?

[GOODY61]

@toe2toecory Width has no bearing on the level of destruction in a single area. The width of an EF5 can vary. There have been recent mile wide wedge tornados that that been rated EF3. 

[renebcampos]

@TheMightykaz the tornado wouldnt get measusred if it didnt do damage it would have to do damage for it to measured on the enhanced fajita scale.

[DNWGretsch182]

@TheMightykaz the scale is not measure by damage intake, but by wind speed.

[Landrar]

@DNWGretsch182 Incorrect. Even though the Enhanced Fujita Scale uses wind speed as a classification system, it relies on damage done to make that determination.

This is why the 99 Mulhall, OK tornado was given a rating of F4 even though it was just as intense as the F5 that landed in Moore.

The EF scale, and TORRO scale, still operate on the same principal because we can't, yet, get direct measurement of wind speeds on most tornadoes.

[iluvamedic]

damn thats all i can think to say is damn....my condolences of course to those who lost loved ones in that storm

[broncoj20]

Both Moore and Andover were similar in terms of devastation. It's hard to distinguish one F5 tornado from another. In reality, they both were pretty nasty. The only reason Moore sustained more deaths was that the tornado hit a more densely populated area. The Andover tornado scraped the southern suburbs of Wichita. Moore also sustained more damage thus the higher damage totals. Also, note inflation differences between 1991 and 1999.

[jayjay882]

i never seen an f5 tornado that was a mile wide!(omg)=)

[corepuncher]

In your opinion what damage was worse, Andover or Bridge Creek/Moore? Close call but you were there...

[RobertPrentice]

Both tornadoes leveled and swept away well-built brick homes down to their concrete foundations. This is one of the defining characteristics of F5 tornado damage. Thus, I cannot say one was stronger than the other. The Bridgecreek/Moore, OK tornado (May 3, 1999) produced the strongest winds ever recorded on planet earth, but who is to say another tornado hasn't produced stronger winds. There just wasn't a Doppler weather radar on a flat-bed truck to measure those tornadoes.

[TheMightykaz]

@RobertPrentice How would you rate Jarrell Texas tornado? That was the worst damage I have ever seen as far as nothing being left. Not even debris.

[RobertPrentice]

@TheMightykaz

I never surveyed the Jarrell, Texas tornado damage, so I cannot compare. However, both tornadoes were rated F-5 which reads:

"Incredible damage. Strong frame houses leveled off foundations and swept away; automobile-sized missiles fly through the air in excess of 100 meters (109 yds); trees debarked; incredible phenomena will occur."

[dragonridley]

Bridge Cree/Moore was worse; It killed 44 and cause over $1 billion in damage while the Andover tornado killed 17 and caused about $200 million.

[corepuncher]

I"m talking in terms of how finely chopped up in a blender the debris was.

[dragonridley]

They'd be the same in those terms since F5 damage is pretty much the same in each case; homes are leveled and swept away. But the Moore tornado did such damage in greater quantities

[jayjay882]

@corepuncher moore was the worst

[joant1221]

I like the last few second where you can hear an airplane and there's bottled water and a cup.

Life goes on. I'm amazed how people all over the world overcome natural disasters.

[dragonridley]

I can see why, in a situation like this, it would be hard to distinguish between F4 and F5 damage.

[Yarndt]

I saw a bit of video of a policeman trying to warn residents of the Golden Spur and there was some man just walking his dog like nothing was wrong. I always wonder if he made it. Did you also study the Red Rock Tornado of the same day?

[RobertPrentice]

Yes, I shot video of the Red Rock, OK tornado damage where it crossed I-35. A farmhouse sustained F4 damage and mile marker 200 was bent over. We interviewed the man who lived at the farm house and escaped the tornado path in his pickup truck. I've never published this video clip video.

[inkedxr7]

shoot yourself.

[rjb0978]

Wasn't trying to offend. That car looks like half the cars in trailer parks in my city. I can see how my comment might have come off. My bad.

[Namdor2012]

Now that was a Tothpick tornado..Cars look like they have been chewed by a 200 ton angry dog..

[theboywithnoface]

thats terrible. i only expectid damage like that 2 been seen on a film. but not real life. didnt think tornadoes cud 2 so much damage

[gluiderg]

Thanks for posting this. Just wondering if you have any more video from the 27th. One of my big brothers and my brother-in-law spent most of the day out there looking for my mom. But my sister and I found her instead, in the mourge. My step dad was found in the mourge on the 26th. Because he had his wallet on him, they contacted his family that night. They didn't just loose the things they owned, they lost their lives. There is still a big hole in our family that use to be occupied by them.

[RobertPrentice]

I'm very saddened to read of your loss from that day. I have another hour or two of raw video from our survey of the Andover, Kansas F5 tornado damage. It was a very sobering experience for a young meteorologist, fresh out of college.

My meteorologist friends and I can learn a lot by forecasting, chasing, surveying, and studying tornado outbreaks like this. The end result are improved forecasts, warnings and safety advice.

[coolinamerica]

I lived in Andover during this time and lost everything I ever worked for. I was 20 years old and had my first child. It was the worst of the worst in my life. 6 years later, I lost another home in Kansas, from a Tornado. Life has moved on and yet, I have never ever seen a real tornado.

[RobertPrentice]

The Andover tornado produced F5 damage which is as bad as it can get. I'm sorry to read about your losses and hope your life is good now.

[coolinamerica]

Thank you Robert!  Life is good today.

[Heyde1979]

do you know how fast the winds were in that tornado. That whole mobile home park was completely wiped out it is amazing how nasty tornados can be

[carmelo1966]

Was that car a Yugo? at the beggining of the video. lol

[ragsdale9]

yep we have lots of sachools now

[VonSeeka]

I just don't know how to call this kind of destruction. The "finger of God" is such a terrible thing. It sounds silly but I fell in love with this "monsters" when I was a little boy, I'm so sorry for the families of the victims...my prayers are with them...

[1sportelephant]

Sad... i live in this town right now weve completely rebulied the big cathlic chruch that was being built when this happened has all the pictures and the torndo pic and 2 items from the church... Sad once again 18 people died luckly i wasnt born yet..

[Heyde1979]

that was a sad day it is sad that people died you have to support each other to get through things like this you have to have faith in order to rebuild and move on. I am sure the town does not look like this today

[1sportelephant]

No it doesn't i live in it right now and i is just liek an ordinary town and we have 5* schools and every Friday we have tornado drills. A lot more housing departures have been built if my area was built back then we would of have been demolished

[Heyde1979]

that is good to hear

[1sportelephant]

YEP :)