An Oklahoma Suburb, Tornado-Ready

[steve2470]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/opinion/an-oklahoma-suburb-tornado-ready.html?_r=0

SHERMAN, Tex. — SOMETIMES it appears as if there is a target hanging over Moore, Okla.: Storms seem to find it.

Although the city was spared last week as tornadoes swept nearby, overturning cars and destroying dozens of homes, Moore hasn’t always been so lucky.

In 1999, 2003 and 2013, powerful tornadoes struck the area, killing dozens and causing billions of dollars in damage. The 1999 storm had the highest wind speed ever recorded when it hit the nearby town of Bridge Creek. In all, 36 people died. Twenty-four more were killed in 2013 by another extraordinarily powerful tornado, including seven children at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, one of two schools hit in the town.

But tragedy can breed resolve, and last year, Moore adopted a stricter building code for residential construction, becoming perhaps the first municipality in the country to approve rules aimed at significantly enhancing the structural strength of new homes and making them more tornado-resistant.