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Comment by zdragnar | Hacker News Reader

Tornados come and go quickly. Storms capable of producing tornados don't always do so, and those that do produce them only in small areas compared to where they are actually capable of producing them.

Having your employees stay home doesn't help at all. Many of them will be living in the same danger zone, and in fact many will be living in buildings that are less capable of withstanding a tornado.

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But they are not all in the same building which reduces the risk collectively.

Yes, but if the tornado had missed the factory building, being concentrated there could have been a benefit.

Not even close. Tornados hitting trailer parks typically come with much higher death tolls than the 8-16 from hitting this building.

Probably should not have "trailer parks" in a tornado zone - in any event a trailer park could have tornado shelters.

>Having your employees stay home doesn't help at all. Many of them will be living in the same danger zone, and in fact many will be living in buildings that are less capable of withstanding a tornado.

Single floor factory building built on a concrete slab vs house with a basement.

You really think the factory will win in terms of human safety?

Oh, but of course, thats the whole point of weaseling around the term 'withstanding a tornado'.

I'm sure the factory building will withstand it better, in terms of how much of it will be remaining in the after math, but I'm also sure that the house with a basement is gonna be safer for the humans.

How do you know they have a house with a basement? Many houses in the Midwest are single-story ranches on a slab. Many people live in manufactured homes, mobile homes, or trailers, especially in places like rural Illinois and Kentucky.

It sounds like of 110 employees, 8 are dead and 8 are missing. That so many survived a direct hit by a massive and powerful tornado is a miracle.

Hitting any nearby trailer parks or houses on slabs would have seen a significantly higher death toll in comparison.

I live in the midwest and dont have a basement- geography and money dictates whether you do or whether you just have a surface level concrete slab.

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