Now this is an underground shelter that can whip any tornado...

Yeah - the "parts" for the test rig were still the the parking lot behind the lab. Another fun test - how do you test the valves designed to shut parts of the "primary loop" in a Nuke plant in case of a LOC accident. In that case, you would have something like a 12" pipe with water flowing through it a HUGE velocities, and the valve has to close in I forgot how many milliseconds

similar setup - big horizontal pipe with valve in the middle, a pair of "burst disks" (flat plates designed to break when under a certain pressue) downstream of the valve, a big water tank (with VERY thick walls) and the truck full of HP nitrogen again - fill pipe and tank with water, and apply high pressure nitrogen on top of the water. When the burst disk breaks (with thousands of PSI of pressure on top of the water), the water tends to flow 'rather quickly', and cuts off abruptly, as the valve slams shut. Quite a water hammer on the system, and the slug of water tends to do a LOT of damage "down range". That test was done in the Long Island Pine barrens - ripped up a LOT of scrub pine. (back when few people lived out past Coram). Now you could not do that test out there - area is all built up. You also have to worry about little things like "what happens if something breaks...."

Environmental test was probably the most interesting field I ever worked in. They give you an object to test, and a "test spec", and you had to design the mechanical, electrical, and software system to not only do the test, but prove you did, and see if the object passed or failed.

The one kind of testing I always wanted to do was "Naval Hevay weight shock", but the company I worked for didn't build anything that needed more than ""Middle weight shock", which was impressive enough. In heavy weight shock (only done by like 2 test labs in the world) your item is strapped to a barge (of a certain design) and they start setting off what are basically depth charges closer and closer to the barge. Your item does NOT have to keep working - the test is to make sure that parts of your item don't break off and go flying around. Seems that during WWII, they found out that more sailors were killed by parts flying off of gear, often 100s of ft from where an explosion was, than actually the explosion

"...Quite a water hammer on the system..."

I'll bet there was!

"...setting off what are basically depth charges..."

That could be fun! Hey Blast, you reading this???

some links for your viewing pleasure

http://www.hitestlabs.com/hw.html

http://www.ntscorp.com/pdf/locations/Rustburg.pdf

Like I said - it was an "interesting" job - trying to break things my company was building - but only in certain ways, and giving them ideas HOW to both design and test things so they wouldn't break, despite my trying

There is "-proof", "practical" and "cost-effective". A "-proof" house won't have any windows or doors that don't resemble bank-vault doors...

I think what's usually considered "cost-effective" in areas where basements are impractical is a to make a kitchen pantry or walk-in closet with reinforced concrete walls and ceiling, firmly attached to the foundation (usually with rebar into the foundation), and a steel door.

Brick is entirely non-structural as far as I know: I think all it adds is flying debris.

The only structure I would trust to be proof would be an underground home, similar to a cellar. As mentioned earlier it is not only the winds you have to worry about, but the flying debris - perhaps more so.
However, the design of my Lustron is pretty good. One Lustron was known to take a direct hit from F5, and while the glass and roof panels were gone afterwards, the structure was still standing with even the ceiling panels still in place.
All steel construction FTW.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lustron

You could get together with a bunch of rich friends and buy one of these...

Bucminster Fuller was the master of doing more with less.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodesic_dome

Bucky Fuller story,
My wife grew up attending a UU congregation on Long Island. Fuller came to speek, and at the time my wife was like 10 YO. He went on and on about saving energy, and saving gas (era of the 1973 gas crisis) Mary raises her hand, and being a young girl, he calls on her, and she points out the window and asks "then why are you driving a Rolls Royce?"

Those who talked about the debris being more of a problem then the high winds reminded me of a poem I read recently. I typed it up for your enjoyment...

Problems with Hurricanes - Vincent Hernandez Cruz (from his book "Red Beans")

A campesino looked at the air
And told me:
With hurricanes it's not the wind
or the noise or the water.
I'll tell you he said:
it's the mangoes, avocadoes
Green plaintains and bananas
flying into town like projectiles.

How would your family
feel if they had to tell
The generations that you
got killed by a flying
Banana.

Death by drowning has honor
If the wind picked you up
and slammed you
Against a mountain boulder
This would not carry shame
But
to suffer a mango smashing
Your skull
or a plantain hitting your
Temple at 70 miles per hour
is the ultimate disgrace.

The campesino takes off his hat--
As a sign of respect
towards the fury of the wind
And says:
Don't worry about the noise
Don't worry about the water
Don't worry about the wind--

If you are going out
beware of mangoes
And all such beautiful
sweet things.