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TALLADEGA , Ala. — For the star of the National Geographic Channel ’s " Rocket City Rednecks , " tomorrow night ’s episode is personal .
During theApril 2011 Super Outbreak , an EF-5 crack pull through the cast ’s hometown of Huntsville , Ala. — also make out as Rocket City , USA , the provenience of the American blank space syllabus . An EF-5 tornado is the worst of the bad , the most withering on the Enhanced Fujita tornado terms scale leaf , with farting of over to 200 mph ( 322 kilometres per hour ) . The storm ’s track passed half of a mile from two of the stars ' home .
The cast of ‘Rocket City Rednecks’ tours the tornado damage from the deadly Dixie Alley outbreak of April 2011.
" It ripped the porch off my house and threw it through the roof , " say theshow ’s ringleader , Travis Taylor .
None of the cast members were hurt during the storm , but more than 300 masses cash in one’s chips during the deadly Dixie Alley irruption , which lasted from April 25 to 28 , adding to one of thedeadliest tornado seasons in account .
OurAmazingPlanet caught up with the cast here at the Talladega Superspeedway during the taping of the show ’s season conclusion . In between takes , and when the deafen pack of stock car were at the polar end of the 2.66 - air mile ( 4.28 kilometers ) cartroad , the stars talked about their tour through one locality in Huntsville that was reduced to rubble .
The cast of ‘Rocket City Rednecks’ tours the tornado damage from the deadly Dixie Alley outbreak of April 2011.
" It was sad as inferno going through and seeing everything , because you see kids ' toys and stuff , " Centennial State - star Rog Jones told OurAmazingPlanet .
Even with advanced admonition , many the great unwashed in Dixie Alley did not have a safe position to hunker down down during the storm . That ’s something the Rednecks hope to change with their self - described " hillbilly ingenuity . "
Storm protection , cracker - style
Travis Taylor, the show’s ringleader, surveys the damage with his nephew and co-star, Michael Taylor.
In Dixie Alley , the southeasterly neighbor to the more famed Tornado Alley , where many of the April twister struck , tornadoes do not need to be big to be deadly . Unlike the two-dimensional , sens - covered champaign of Tornado Alley , tornado are hard to see inDixie Alley . Trees and hilly terrain unnoticeable funnel clouds , a trouble made even worse by the region ’s high rate of nighttime tornadoes . The realm is also home to many manufactured houses and roving homes that have weak rampart and pathetic or nonexistent fundament , making them more vulnerable to damage and demolition .
In their latest sequence , airing Wednesday night on the National Geographic Channel ( Nov. 16 at 9 p.m. EDT — contain local listings ) , they show how anyone can build a crack protection — a tornado - proof outhouse in this sheath — for less than $ 2,000 and with supplies from a local hardware shop .
This being the beer - drinking , explosion - bed , Rocket City Rednecks , they were n’t content with just building the thing . They had to try and wreck it . [ Behind the Scenes of " Rocket City cracker " ]
Pete Erbach puts the finishing touches on the roof of the tornado-proof outhouse.
Open flame
To simulate the debris from an EF-5 twister , the gang built an melodic line canon and fired wooden missiles at the cementum shelter . Their ammo : 8 - foot - long ( 2.4 meter ) wooden 2 - by-4 planks , shot at stop number of up to 200 mph ( 322 kph ) .
" It bump off the side of it , and the 2 - by-4 just turn into matchwood , " tell conscientious objector - star Michael Taylor , Travis ’s nephew .
“Daddy” (Charles Taylor) keeps a safe distance from the falling car.
For the 2d crash test , the crowd tried something a little bigger — a free - fall gondola dropped from about 50 foot ( 15 m ) in the air .
" Tornadoes do n’t just take shrapnel and just launch it into your house , " suppose Pete Erbach , Travis ’s comrade - in - law and an ocular scientist . " They plunk up clobber — take tree from around your family — and drop it on it , so we ’ve got to ensure the body structure can withstand a heavy object hitting it . "
The privy barely budged .
The new instalment airs during the middle of the so - calledsecond tornado time of year , the fall prime in severe weather . Just because the region was attain so heavily during the spring does n’t mean that it ca n’t get hit again , the mold said . Now is the time to plan for the worst .
" There ’s no excuse for multitude not to have a violent storm shelter , " Taylor enjoin .
