Quote Originally Posted by OKCTalker View Post
Let's get some hard information into the discussion. Does anyone know how many Oklahoma structures - residential and commercial - exist in Oklahoma, and how many of those sustain structural damage or are destroyed in a year? Multiply by 40 or 50 to get the useful life of a "typical" structure and you'll determine the lifetime chances that a building is significantly affected. I'm not talking about a roof totalled by hail (property damage), this discussion is about constructing to a level above what we currently have in order to safely protect the occupants. My hunch is less than one percent.

Do we want to increase costs for everyone when only __ percent of the structures will be affected during their lifetimes?
Your idea of a 40 or 50 year “useful life of a typical structure” is way off base. Most occupied structures will easily last twice that amount if not much more. As we continue our growth in central Oklahoma the impact from tornadoes will only grow bigger and more costly.
When we are only talking about a few thousand dollars to make an average home significantly stronger its silly to even think we don’t need stronger building codes that have been proven to work in other states.
Shelters are a different topic.