The 2016 Downtown Area Tornado was a rare type of tornado that started as a waterspout east of Robloxity and began its journey over downtown Robloxity on November 18, 2016. The tornado caused four fatalities and 87 injuries. The tornado became the most recent tornado that was not part of a larger tornado outbreak, dealing EF3 damage. The strongest tornado that was in Robloxity before 2016 was an EF5 tornado in 2010, but it did not total Robloxity as a whole, as it formed on the outskirts of Spawnblox and it just hit a small village with EF5 damage indicators.
The downtown tornado swept through downtown Robloxity, and then lost strength and turned to a mesocyclone near Spawnblox.
Meteorological Synopsis
Robloxity started with overcast conditions. There was no measurable precipitation nor significant wind speeds. As the hours passed, the clouds began to darken and take on a greenish hue. At 12:45 PM, it began to rain heavily. Hailstones were reported.
21 minutes later, a wall cloud formed east of Robloxity and rotation can be spotted on the atmosphere. A funnel formed on the beaches of Brick Beach. The funnel slowly descended until touchdown occurred at the sea. The tornado was classified as a waterspout. Strong winds were reported in the city center, which damaged several windows in buildings.
Residents of Robloxity were not alerted about the tornado at all. The waterspout turned and headed towards the inland area. Robloxity Beachgoers evacuated in terror.
Upon touching the inland, the waterspout was classified as a tornado. Unfortunately, the Robloxia Weather Service was still making the warning polygon and description based on relayed information from the radar and civilians. Within ten minutes, a tornado warning was finally issued, but it was already too late; the tornado had already caused two fatalities. The tornado continued its journey to the center of the Robloxity area, where it touched the buildings and the Liberty skyscraper, causing cars to be overturned by the tornado winds. The main road of Robloxity was cut off by the tornado and civilian vehicles tried to avoid passing through the avenue until the tornado moved away. The tornado became multi-vorticed, with the vortices devastating the school and throwing any parked vehicles. Outflow began to occur, and the tornado started to weaken as it left the city center and began to approach Spawnblox until at 1:38 PM, when the tornado became a mesocyclone. After the tornado became a mesocyclone, strong winds and rains accompanied by hail were reported south of Robloxity, but no further tornadoes were reported on this day.
Aftermath
The tornado destroyed around 400 trees and nearby parks. Windows of the Liberty Skyscraper were broken, and several glass shards were thrown by the tornado towards people trying to escape. The roof of the Robloxity school was ripped off and several students were injured by the pieces of glass and roof. Rescue teams quickly helped injured citizens and overturned cars.
A fire truck was overturned by the winds of the tornado, while trying to help the affected people in the center of the city during the tornado. Two firefighters were injured, and one was unharmed.
People who were in the buildings were quickly evacuated but other people who were on the higher floors had to take refuge under desks or in bathrooms. While on the beach, umbrellas flew off and fell in the middle of streets and on houses in Spawnblox, where a large sand cloud raised by the tornado fell on people and cars in the Felix Worker neighborhood.
The tornado caused approximately R$60 billion in damage.
The Robloxia Weather Service Lawsuit
The Robloxia Weather Service was the victim of a R$30 billion lawsuit by 87 Robloxians who were victimized by the tornado, as well as the family and friends of the two killed. They claimed that the Robloxia Weather Service spent way too long creating a polygon and filling in the warning description, which led to the warning been issued ten minutes after a tornado was confirmed to have entered the Robloxian mainland. The judge of the lawsuit said that a settlement of R$30 billion was prohibitively expensive, as well as too harsh (it could lead to the weather service office being insolvent, of which they did not intend to have this occur), so the judge decided to settle on R$30 million. Eventually, the lawsuit was won, and each Robloxian received a settlement, as well as a public apology in the Robloxia Weather Service's website stating that their employees will be immediately retrained, emphasizing that polygon and description creation should be done as soon as possible to minimize damage or fatalities.