Insight - In U.S. tornado alley, building practices boost damage

Members of the National Guard help a homeowner look for items to salvage several days after the building had been destroyed by a tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, May 24, 2013. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

(Reuters) - In a residential neighbourhood near the centre of a monster tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma last month, two partially damaged houses stand like an island among others flattened by the storm.

The walls and roofs of the buildings in a new housing development called Featherstone Addition are still upright while there is nothing left but a concrete foundation where other homes once stood nearby.