Why don't cities hit by tornadoes build brick strong houses?

Question

Houses would be more costly to build yet in the long run it would be safer for people and and less expensive.

Answer 1

I'm sure they do. I live in Louisiana, and we have houses that are built on stilts to prevent flooding. Why wouldn't it be the same for tornado prone areas?

Answer 2

Most structures in tornado prone areas are built to better sustain them. Most have walls that are anchored by multiple heavy duty bolts to the foundation. Even then the studiest above ground structures still cannot hold up to a EF-4 or EF-5 tornado. Buildings and homes are just not aerodynamic when it comes to sustaining 200+ mph winds. Not to mention heavy debris that is thrown around (ie cars, trees, etc.) can easily be slammed into a brick mortar structure causing it to fail. NSSL has conducted tests where they fired debris into various structures. Even brick walls were able to be breached by a wood 2x4 when the speeds it was fired were high enough. Simply put no structure above ground is tornado proof.

Answer 3

Actually the only effective way to prevent a tornado from ripping through a home would be to make your home out of solid steel and have it engraved at least 30 feet into the ground.

Brick homes break apart just as easy as wooden homes when it comes to twisters!