How safe would WDW be in a tornado??

[J03Y]

Yeah, those silly 'ole things.

My brother & sister-in-law up in Ringgold, GA (and my nephew's middle school) just shake their head & chuckle at the silliness.

it was a joke. i'm perfectly aware of what tornadoes can do. i'm not ignorant, i was making a statement about the structure of WDW and i compared tornadoes to "silly super whirlwinds" because considering the strength of the structures they would be, if not very closely.

please don't take things like that so serious. OBVIOUSLY tornadoes do damage. only a mindless idiot who knows nothing about what's going on in the world would say otherwise.

 

[Bob Saget]

please don't take things like that so serious. OBVIOUSLY tornadoes do damage. only a mindless idiot who knows nothing about what's going on in the world would say otherwise.

Lol, I knew it wasn't meant like that. But in all seriousness, Tornadoes can seem quite silly to Floridians who've endured Hurricanes in the past. I can imagine the headache of evacuation, leaving your job/home for so many days, all for nasty weather.

 

[flynnibus]

the majority of Florida builds their houses to withstand category 5 hurricanes, so i assume they'd also withstand tornadoes as well. i don't think Disney is any different. their stuff can withstand internal damage and heavy rainfall, i think they can withstand silly super whirlwinds

Not to withstand cat 5 hurricanes - that's coastline stuff and even then they don't build to level 5.. as getting a direct hit of that scale is so rare. But regardless...

Strong Hurricanes.. 100-150mph winds..

Strong Tornados... 200-300mph winds

WDW is inland - they don't get the 100+mph winds in a hurricane. They get rain rain and more rain.

I wouldn't hold any comfort in being 'hurricane' ready if there was a tornado on the ground. Even a F2 will tear structures all the way to the ground.

 

[The Mom]

Tornadoes have hit close to WDW.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Kissimmee_tornado_outbreak

Would they have severe damage if the MK got a direct hit? Most likely. Would the guests be in a better position to survive than those who are out on I-92, for example? Again, most likely. The MK is one of the few places in the area that actually has an underground area. Epcot and DHS have many buildings were a large number of people can get into interior areas, away from windows, etc.

I think AK might be more of a problem. And, of course, anyone in transit. But that would be true wherever you might be.

BTW, building codes were changed after Hurricane Andrew (1992), so there are still lots of homes that will not survive Hurricane strength winds. Our addition has strapping, but the original house is 100 years old. Of course, it did survive Dora, the last Hurricane to hit us directly in NE FL. I'm more concerned about trees, although Charley & Francis took care of most of them.

 

[The Mom]

Lol, I knew it wasn't meant like that. But in all seriousness, Tornadoes can seem quite silly to Floridians who've endured Hurricanes in the past. I can imagine the headache of evacuation, leaving your job/home for so many days, all for nasty weather.

I'm a Floridian (30 years) who has experienced both (a "small" tornado hit a couple of blocks away) . I'll take a Hurricane over a Tornado - at least with a Hurricane I have a chance to prepare. When the tornado was heading towards us, I had enough time to grab my kids and get into the downstairs bathroom, which is the only room in the center of the house, and the only room with no windows. I shielded my kids as best as I could,and put towels and the rug over us. After that incident, I leave a flashlight, bottled water, and whistle in there.

 

[puntagordabob]

Rode out Hurricane Charley in 2003 at MK - it was epic!

Hurricane Charley came to visit us Friday the 13th, August 2004 at 3:10 pm... 155 mile sustained winds... with gust of over 200 miles per hour... 40+ mini-twister tornadoes were guessed to have scoured where I live....

NOTE: the car on the lift was inside a garage in the HEART of downtown Punta Gorda.... the devestation was like a warzone.

 

[rkelly42]

Both tornadoes and hurricanes can be disasters in their own right, but in the case of which one would cause more damage due to wind, it goes the the tornado. That is comparing an F5 to Cat 5. Hurricanes bring with it damaging winds,surf and flooding. Tornadoes are just a knock out punch in a matter of minutes with little or sometimes no warning. I do not believe there is a single structure in WDW that will withstand an F5 tornado, and hopefully we will never see that.

 

[StAug WDW fan]

Hurricanes

Actually WDW is a great place to be in a hurricane. I was at the coronodo springs when one came thru and they treated us like royalty. Free food and water as well!

 

[Master Yoda]

the majority of Florida builds their houses to withstand category 5 hurricanes, so i assume they'd also withstand tornadoes as well. i don't think Disney is any different. their stuff can withstand internal damage and heavy rainfall, i think they can withstand silly super whirlwinds

Not even remotely close to true. For about the past decade Florida building code mandated home be able to withstand a 3 second gust between 90-150 mph. The higher wind speeds were mandated more toward the southern portion of the state (Miami/Dade area). The location Disney is in calls for around 110 mph. Most of the newer homes and buildings in Florida would be able to take the winds from about a Cat2 or Cat3 hurricane. Flooding is another matter entirely. An F2 tornado can produce sustained winds up up to 157 mph. Disney and most of the homes in Florida could withstand up to a mild F2 tornado. Anything more than that would result in major to catastrophic damage.

A home designed to withstand a cat 5 hurricane would basically be a concrete dome. One designed to withstand an F5 tornado would need to be entirely underground or be built to the specifications of a bank vault.

 

[StAug WDW fan]

Not even remotely close to true. For about the past decade Florida building code mandated home be able to withstand a 3 second gust between 90-150 mph. The higher wind speeds were mandated more toward the southern portion of the state (Miami/Dade area). The location Disney is in calls for around 110 mph. Most of the newer homes and buildings in Florida would be able to take the winds from about a Cat2 or Cat3 hurricane. Flooding is another matter entirely. An F2 tornado can produce sustained winds up up to 157 mph. Disney and most of the homes in Florida could withstand up to a mild F2 tornado. Anything more than that would result in major to catastrophic damage.

A home designed to withstand a cat 5 hurricane would basically be a concrete dome. One designed to withstand an F5 tornado would need to be entirely underground or be built to the specifications of a bank vault.

Very true... Google search the damage hurricane Charlie did to Orlando in 2004. Anything bigger than Cat 3 I'm buggin' out!