How did native American live with tornadoes?

Answer 1

I never done any research on the exact subject, but here goes:

1. The "night Watchmen" would see a tornado coming from the lightning flashes, people would be woken up to run for their lives if need be.

2. During the daytime, it would be the same. If a tornado started heading for you, you would get away from it to avoid the "supernatural" punishment it was sending.

Modern buildings don't protect people from tornadoes, so you could expect the same reaction that we have today back then when one would touch down, intense fear.


If you read a book like "The Everyday Life of the North American Indian," then you can see that Native Americans were pretty adapted to dealing with chaotic forces, because they saw events like these as the work of some kind of nature or ancestor spirit.

Alongside this, I'd like to add, since there are no records of deaths by tornadoes, I think it would be safe to say that more Native Americans were killed almost into genocide by idea of 'Manifest Destiny' which was a belief, and a popular political term of the time, insisting that the United States in the 1840's was destined to control the "Indian Nations", and they decreed they're own power over the land, killing off many many Native Americans, probably more in 30 years of westward expansion, then the 15,000+ years of living on the continent most common for tornado activity. (note: tornadoes are present in other parts of the world including Europe and the Middle East. ex: Tornado in Mykanów, Poland, August 15, 2008, there were 3 fatalities.)

Answer 2

They didn't. They died like everyone else still does today. So much for Manifest Destiny, huh? Aren't we freakin special..

Answer 3

No. Native Americans definitely lived in Tornado Alley. However, tornadoes are not all that common. Even in Tornado Alley, most people are never impacted by a tornado.