I've had several close encounters with those destructive creatures. Two notably.
I was about 10 years old in Blue Springs Mo near Independence, I got caught on my cousin's bike miles from where I was supposed to be. Got down in a ditch and locked the bike chain to a power pole. Locked my arms between the spokes and held on.
Seemed a smart plan at the time.
Got covered in debris as I watch a supermarket explode about one block away. It then occurred to me that a power pole meant hot wires flying about. Luckily nothing bad happened to me.
Until I got home. Me, and my parents, were so glad to be alive, but got my butt whooped just the same.
Second time I was coming home from MO University St Louis. Nobody told us in the great hall that a tornado was raging outside. Came out after class to see major damage to trees and cars in the parking area. My '60 Chevy was OK. But as I drove home I went right into the funnel cloud just as it pulled the roof off my old grade school. So I parked the car and got down in a ditch.
After it was over, the fire department came by and stopped at what was formerly a large apartment building. And older woman was still sitting in her armchair, refusing to budge. Nothing of her apartment remained, not walls or furniture, but there she was. Screaming she wouldn't move as it was apparently the only safe place to be.
Never forget that night.
The roof of the school gym was found almost intact, about a mile North-East of it's original address, in an open park. Had it landed on houses, it could have taken out dozens of them by it's sheer size and weight.
That night made me a believer for sure.
My basement has a bedroom guest suite. It is also a bomb shelter. People kid me that the Russians are never gonna attack. About them, I ain't worried. Mother nature has a target permanently painted on St Charles county MO.
We see a tornado damn near every other year within blocks of my house.
We keep our guns and ammo there along with survival supplies, food, water, and our bugout stuff.
Don't mess with Mother nature and don't let her surprise you.