[hanniabu]

I always wondered, why don't they build houses level with the ground in the midwest to protect against tornadoes? What I'm envisioning is a single floor home that has skylights level with the outside ground, which is either level with the surrounding area or slightly build up to prevent flooding. This would prevent needing to worry about your home getting torn up by tornadoes.

[roywiggins]

Seems like you're trading one risk for the certainty that you'll eventually flood your house. Flooding basements isn't uncommon, if you move your living area downstairs then you'll be flooding that instead.

Also, most people don't want to live in daylight bunkers to mitigate a risk.

[dragonwriter]

> I always wondered, why don't they build houses level with the ground in the midwest to protect against tornadoes?

In no particular order:

1. Expense

2. Flooding

3. Radon

4. No one aspires to be a basement dweller.

[war1025]

Because tornadoes are extremely rare.

And when they do occur, the area they effect is very small.

[Groxx]

This. The reason we hear so much about them is that they're so flashy - they appear rapidly, can cause pretty major destruction where they hit, and disappear rapidly.

You also don't get days of build-up like a hurricane, it's only around 10-15 minutes to go from "a storm that might make tornados (like many are)" to "one is likely to appear at X" to "hopefully you're already sheltered, it's here". Hunkering down has to be done rapidly, which is stressful and memorable, even if nothing happens to you.

[dmurray]

People like to have windows, rather than everyone living in a basement. And tornadoes aren't that common anywhere in the US midwest.