As someone that lives less than 10 min west of La Plata, and someone that spends a great deal of time there; I can tell you, that tornado that hit in 2002 was the worst tornado that I have ever seen...because it was the only one I have seen... No one that lives in MD expects to be hit by a tornado, the last one to hit before 2002, was in 1926. It leveled 2 of my friends houses, and was devastating to our community. I am a little miffed at one of the main points made in the show about that tornado. They kept saying over and over... If it was a little more north it would have been a lot worse... Sorry my beloved NOVA, but, this tornado killed 5 people and put out half of the store in the town. DC would not have been hit as hard (the suburbs and housing would be hit the same). The infrastructure and buildings in DC are more than capable of resisting a tornado; that is my speculation, but I think the buildings in DC are a little more substantial than Hometown, MD. Even places in 'Tornado Alley' would, in my opinion, fair better in such a storm. To my knowledge (correct me if I am wrong, please), house and commercial structures in those areas are usually built with high wind protection, and one guy on the program had a little one man safe room outside his house. People in 'Tornado Alley' have a tornado season, we got one-shot by some rogue F5 tornado : (In closing thought, (I think I have ranted enough) tornados suck... that is why they are called natural disasters. 'Tornado Alley' is hit by umpty-billion tornados a year, and Maryland gets hit by 1 every hundred years. No matter how many tornados hit you a year, every life that is lost is a tragedy (unless it is my ex) and should be given the respect that they deserve.