Tornadoes are one of the reasons I left the northern Midwest for New England. New England does, indeed, get tornadoes, but with nowhere the regularity or devastation of "Tornado Alley".

I've seen (in Wisconsin) trees with all the bark blown off, but the leaves intact. My cousins had a great cow dog blown in by a tornado, unhurt. In the news, I've seen one half of a house untouched and the other half...just gone. One side of the street will be devastated and the other untouched, a cement silo reduced to powder, but the powder not blown away.

A tornado was heading straight across a field towards my aunt and uncle's house. The family was in the cellar. They waited, waited, waited...went up to look. The twister had jumped the house and barn and was heading away from them in the field on the other side.

You can prepare for a hurricane or a colossal snow or rain storm. A tornado is just so damned fickle. I also saw the result of 4 tornadoes meeting.

Linn