Avoiding Cliches

There's a lot of wild weather around-- and maybe it has hit your region. No better time to talk about cliches. Maybe I've been covering tornadoes too long, but I'd like to permanently ban AT LEAST these phrases:

"Tossed like toys"
"Looks like a war zone"

And there are many others. Cliches do your writing and your viewers a disservice. It's a cheap, lazy writer's way to fill a script. When you have truly moving material, look at it and find ways to tell these people's stories in an authentic way. Remember that there's always a family and community behind each obliterated home and block. What's special about them? How can you communicate that without relying on a writing crutch?