WI: El Reno tornado hits Oklahoma City?

The El Reno tornado was the largest on record. Stretching for 2.6 miles in width and having wind speeds of 295 mph putting it in history as an EF3. Thing is, it was dangerously close to OK city and while it stayed in rural Oklahoma it still killed 8 people and injured 151 more. However, what if the El Reno tornado slammed into OK City? How bad would it have been? How damaged would OK City be after it dissipated?
 
Have you seen the tornados that have gone through Moore, Oklahoma? That's on OKC suburb and they have done tremendous damage. $2 billion estimated in damage done by that storm. And given that the El Reno is of the same vintage as the Moore storm, both in 2013, there would be negligible changes to building codes as no time had passed.

That said, had you had something similar to the Greensburg Tornado of 2007, (over a mile and a half wide with a 22 mile long track) tear through the OKC area less than a decade since the 1999 Moore tornado (talk about a town with bad luck) then there would have been an earlier measurement of whether the updated building codes would have held, possibly leading to less loss of life in 2013.
 
Top