<P> While isolated examples exist of people surviving E / F5 impacts in their homes--one survivor of the Jarrell F5 sheltered in a bathtub and was miraculously blown to safety as her house disintegrated--surviving an E / F5 impact outside of a robust and properly constructed underground storm shelter is statistically unlikely . </P> <P> EF4 (T8 - T9) damage typically results in a total loss of the affected structure . Well - built homes are reduced to a short pile of medium - sized debris on the foundation . Homes with poor or no anchoring will be swept completely away . Large, heavy vehicles, including airplanes, trains, and large trucks, can be pushed over, flipped repeatedly or picked up and thrown . Large, healthy trees are entirely debarked and snapped off close to the ground or uprooted altogether and turned into flying projectiles . Passenger cars and similarly sized objects can be picked up and flung for considerable distances . EF4 damage can be expected to level even the most robustly built homes, making the common practice of sheltering in an interior room on the ground floor of a residence insufficient to ensure survival . A storm shelter, reinforced basement or other subterranean shelter is considered necessary to provide any reasonable expectation of safety against EF4 damage . </P> <P> EF5 (T10 - T11) damage represents the upper limit of tornado power, and destruction is almost always total . An EF5 tornado pulls well - built, well - anchored homes off their foundations and into the air before obliterating them, flinging the wreckage for miles and sweeping the foundation clean . Large, steel reinforced structures such as schools are completely leveled . Tornadoes of this intensity tend to shred and scour low - lying grass and vegetation from the ground . Very little recognizable structural debris is generated by EF5 damage, with most materials reduced to a coarse mix of small, granular particles and dispersed evenly across the tornado's damage path . Large, multi-ton steel frame vehicles and farm equipment are often mangled beyond recognition and deposited miles away or reduced entirely to unrecognizable component parts . The official description of this damage highlights the extreme nature of the destruction, noting that "incredible phenomena will occur"; historically, this has included such awesome displays of power as twisting skyscrapers, leveling entire communities, and stripping asphalt from roadbeds . Despite their relative rarity, the damage caused by EF5 tornadoes represents a disproportionately extreme hazard to life and limb--since 1950 in the United States, only 58 tornadoes (0.1% of all reports) have been designated F5 or EF5, and yet these have been responsible for more than 1300 deaths and 14,000 injuries (21.5% and 13.6%, respectively). </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Violent tornadoes </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> E / F4 damage: Brick homes reduced to piles of rubble . Above - ground structures are almost completely vulnerable to E / F4 tornadoes, which level well - built structures, toss heavy vehicles through the air, and uproot trees, turning them into flying missiles . Around 1.1% of annual tornadoes in the U.S. are E / F4 tornadoes . </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> E / F5 damage: These tornadoes cause complete destruction, obliterating and sweeping away almost anything in their paths, including those sheltering in open basements . However, they are extremely rare (making up less than 0.1% of annual tornadoes in the U.S.), and even a tornado rated as E / F5 usually only produces E / F5 damage across a relatively small portion of the damage path (with F4 - F0 damage zones surrounding the central E / F5 core). While isolated examples exist of people surviving E / F5 impacts in their homes--one survivor of the Jarrell F5 sheltered in a bathtub and was miraculously blown to safety as her house disintegrated--surviving an E / F5 impact outside of a robust and properly constructed underground storm shelter is statistically unlikely . </Td> </Tr> </Table> </Td> </Tr> </Table>

What level of tornado causes the most damage