Interesting article Mr. Streever and Mr, Campbell.
I suppose these two examples don't count as major wind events covering a huge area but here goes. I'm grateful to have seen the aftermath of two cyclones in Alaska after the fact and that ! was not in them. A twister formed on Bear Lake near Seward and later traveled through a nearby subdivision. It cut a swath about 50 feet wide and uprooted full sized spruce trees and hurled them over houses. It was a miracle no one was hurt and the wind missed homes. Later I saw a similar zone of destruction across from Nanwalek where an ocean waterspout came onto land and uprooted a 100 or so huge trees. When the wind gets concentrated like this little or nothing survives if it is in its path. Incidentally small nondestrucive waterspouts are not uncommon in either of these places