May 21, 2013
How big an area was damaged by the Oklahoma tornado?
One of the first things I want to understand when there’s a natural disaster is the scale of it. Since I don’t deal with square miles or square kilometres each day, I find it hard to comprehend what an estimate of 60 square miles of damage means.
So, I used this tool to overlay 60 square miles on a map of Auckland:
Of course, the accuracy of such an estimate remains to be seen, or indeed what the level of damage is within that area, but this helps me grasp a sense of the scale of this tornado’s damage.
The damage was a long, relatively narrow track (NY Times map).
For an Auckland analogy, along the motorway from Albany to Otara would be about the length of the track.
12 years ago
Thanks Thomas – that’s a helpful mental picture.
12 years ago