Vehicle-occupant deaths caused by tornadoes in the United States, 1900–1998

“…Simmons and Sutter (2005b) also assessed the impact of the deployment of Next-Generation Doppler Radar on the tornado casualties and warning lead time. Other inves-tigations have examined the specifics of vehicles and tornadoes (Hammer and Schmidlin 2001) and tornado safe houses (Merrell et al 2002). A number of analyses have focused on the climatology of tornadoes (e.g., Grazulis et al 1993;Brooks et al 2003a;Verbout et al 2006, among others), a fundamental component to any risk analysis of atmospheric phenomena.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As described by Hammer and Schmidlin (2001), these factors include technology (e.g., detection and warning systems), tornado characteristics (e.g., magnitude, intensity, duration, time of day, and geography), social aspects (e.g., population trends and urbanization), personal attributes (e.g., perception and preparedness), and location (i.e., type of shelter or lack thereof). The following investigation assesses, both spatially and temporally, the fatalities produced by all tornadoes in the contiguous United States since the late nineteenth century.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Tornado Fatalities in the United States: 1880–2005

Ashley

2007

Weather and Forecasting

292

205

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A dataset of killer tornadoes is compiled and analyzed spatially in order to assess region-specific vulnerabilities in the United States from 1880 to 2005. Results reveal that most tornado fatalities occur in the lower-Arkansas, Tennessee, and lower-Mississippi River valleys of the southeastern United States-a region outside of traditional "tornado alley." Analysis of variables including tornado frequency, land cover, mobile home density, population density, and nocturnal tornado probabilities demonstrates that the relative maximum of fatalities in the Deep South and minimum in the Great Plains may be due to the unique juxtaposition of both physical and social vulnerabilities. The spatial distribution of these killer tornadoes suggests that the above the national average mobile home density in the Southeast may be a key reason for the fatality maximum found in this area. A demographic analysis of fatalities during the latter part of the database record illustrates that the middle aged and elderly are at a much greater risk than are younger people during these events. Data issues discovered during this investigation reveal the need for a concerted effort to obtain critical information about how and where all casualties occur during future tornado and hazardous weather events. These new, enhanced data, combined with results of spatially explicit studies exploring the human sociology and psychology of these hazardous events, could be utilized to improve future warning dissemination and mitigation techniques.

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“…Previous research has largely focused on the number or location of tornado casualtiesoften tornado fatalities (Grazulis, 1990;Hammer and Schmidlin, 2000;Ashley, 2007;Fricker et al, 2017b). For example, Grazulis (1990) provides a historical collection of significant and killer tornado reports, which highlights changes in the rate of tornado fatalities over time (Brooks and Doswell, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Grazulis (1990) provides a historical collection of significant and killer tornado reports, which highlights changes in the rate of tornado fatalities over time (Brooks and Doswell, 2002). Hammer and Schmidlin (2000) investigate vehicle-associated deaths in tornadoes over the period and find that vehicle-occupant deaths were consistent in relative proportion to all location-specific deaths from 1959-1979, but decreased significantly between 1980-1989. Arguably the most comprehensive analysis of tornado fatalities is seen in Ashley (2007), where spatial and temporal consideration are given to all tornado fatalities between 1880-2005. Results from Ashley (2007) show a larger number of fatalities occurring in the lower-Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi River valleys of the southeastern United States.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating tornado casualty rates in the United States

Fricker

2020

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

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Tornadoes account for nearly one fifth of all natural hazard fatalities in the United States, yet there exist no general estimates of casualty rates across the country. Here tornado casualty rates are estimated for all casualty-producing tornadoes over the period 1995-2016 using tornado level information related to the population and total housing units within each damage path. The 22-year United States per-capita casualty rate is 2.3%, while the 22-year United States per-housing unit casualty rate is 5.4%. Injury and fatality rates are also estimated over the same period. The 22-year United States per-capita fatality rate is .15% and the per-capita injury rate is 2.1%. The per-housing unit fatality rate is .36% and the per-housing unit injury rate is 5.1%. Casualty rates are further examined through subsets of Enhanced Fujita rating, state boundaries, and county boundaries. When used in conjunction with estimates of future changes in tornado behavior and population growth, these casualty rates can help predict tornado casualty events in communities throughout the United States.

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Vehicle-occupant deaths caused by tornadoes in the United States, 1900–1998

Cited by 9 publications

References 12 publications

Number of Warning Information Sources and Decision Making During Tornadoes

Number of Warning Information Sources and Decision Making During Tornadoes

Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Tornado Fatalities in the United States: 1880–2005

Evaluating tornado casualty rates in the United States

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