there are storms yes, but not that much and they dont cause much damage...
...because we have fucking restrictions on building houses. i am not saying that all american houses are build of cardboard, but when you see those clips from tornado/hurrican destructions and how the pieces on the floor look like, i wouldnt say that they reach european standards.
in austria you even have to prove that your house can support 4 ft of snow on its roof and stuff like that.
may sound ignorant, but i get this feeling through media coverage. maybe its more intelligent to build cheaper houses and rebuild them every 5 yrs or so, instead of investing mad money on a "real" house (which also could be destroyed in a very unlucky situation).