” you can see transformer after transformer blow as a tornado cruises through almost any urban area. “
Actually, what you’re seeing are ‘line slaps’ and the resulting arcs when a couple of phase lines touch, usually on the slack spans that aren’t pulled taut (tight) ... also debris coming into the lines can cause this too.
Actually, I driven around a day or two later to see the transformers ~ the line slaps are meek little things compared to the transformers.