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Taking Measure

Just a Standard Blog

Marc Levitan

Marc Levitan currently serves as Acting Director for the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program and leads windstorm and coastal inundation R&D at NIST. His latest run-in with a tornado occurred on Dec. 26, 2015. He and 14 family members spent the better part of an hour crowded into a ½ bath and small piece of adjacent hallway at his parents’ house in North Dallas while a 9 mile long and 1/3 mile wide EF-4 tornado killed 10 people, injured 468, and  destroyed several hundred homes and businesses nearby.

Photo of damage from 2011 Joplin, Mo, tornado

Resilience Rises from Tragedy in Joplin

The May 22, 2011, tornado in Joplin, Mo., rated an EF-5—the most powerful ranking—on the Enhanced Fujita tornado intensity scale. It caused 161 fatalities and