Anyone have a safe room for tornadoes?

[atgcpaul]

My wife has huge anxiety over a tornado taking us out. I thought this was
one of those passing things but it's gotten more serious over time. She's
telling me now she wants a safe room in our basement. She wants one for
her birthday (mid-August). She sent me plans.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/pdf/building_safe_room.pdf

I think the odds are in our favor but that probably isn't going to be good
enough.

Anyone build one of their own?

[jackellis]

This is a little like fear of flying. Irrational, but hard to talk someone out of it.

I assume your wife drives. Her chances of being in an auto accident are a couple of orders of magnitude greater than being near a tornado. Twisters are pretty rare in Maryland and the local conditions on the east coast pretty much guarantee they won't get as large as the one that hit Joplin.

Better to cache food, water, a little fuel and a stove, and a way to keep warm and dry someplace secure than to build a storm cellar. You're more likely to need those supplies in the event of any number of potential disaster scenarios.

[wardprobst]

Having lived through this tornado I sympathize with your wife's fears. If you have a basement, you can create a pretty safe space. Just make sure you keep a 20 ton hydraulic jack , some framing lumber and tools handy. If you need to you can jack, brace and dig you way out.
DAMHIK,
DP

[conscience]

We live in a split level, with the lower half of the basement level being underground. Instead of building a safe room, I shored up under the landing with 4x4 posts anchored into the concrete. I used carpet remnants to cover the floor and we keep some lanterns, blankets, pillows and bottled water down there. I like the idea of a jack. I'll have to add that soon.

Since the top of the landing is at ground level, I figure we don't have to worry about the foundation wall collapsing. We can't stand up in it though, and we have to enter through my son's closet, but the space was useless for anything else.

Other than about $30 in post bases I used scraps I already had on hand. My wife is super scared during tornado warnings and the ones that just happened don't help that at all. I'd actually cut an access hole into the space under the landing so the alarm guy could hardwire the front door. While I was under there it hit me, storm shelter.

If you have the space it isn't a bad idea at all. Of course I would have liked to build something nice and custom, but our basement is finished already so I had to work with what I had.

[TB Roye]

Something tells me the old cold war era bomb sheltesr would work pretty good. California's weather is tame except for TV weather people and their making a big story out it. An occasional Earthquake is bad but they aren't that often. The people living in the Midwest and South and East with the threat of Tornado's and Hurricanes that's a yearly fear and this year it is worse. There is another storm headed through Northern CA tomorrow, not bad but it will intensify East of Rockies. Leaving at 5am to beat it over the Sierras on my way to Idaho for Grandkids birthday and LL tournaments. Thoughts and prayers are with all the victims of the weather.

Tom

[Pappy]

Having lived through this tornado I sympathize with your wife's fears.

Dale, i was in school on April 3, 1964 when an F5 hit the north side of town. Even being in the path of that one, I was not as scared as I was by the F4 in 1979.

I was in Japan at the time and the only thing we knew was there was massive destruction. Not the side of town hit or the time of day. My mother and step dad lived on the north side but both worked on the south end of town. Communications were all down and it was 2 days before my sister finally got through to find out they were ok. Mother left work when the first warnings were known and the Hancock store where she worked was almost completely destroyed.

[MilDoc]

I can certainly understand her fear, especxially this year, but you might want to show her this. I pulled up a lot of maps to assuage LOML's fear re: not just tornadoes, but earthquakes too. Never say never, but the odds in your area are very low.

[wardprobst]

Dale, i was in scholl on april 3, 1964 when an F5 hit the north side of town. Even being in the path of that one, I was not as scared as I was by the F4 in 1979.

I was in Japan at the time and the only thing we knew was there was massive destruction. Not the side of town hit or the time of day. My mother and step dad lived on the north side but both worked on the south end of town. Communications were all down and it was 2 days before my sister finally got through to find out they were ok. Mother left work when the first warnings were known and the Hancock store where she worked was almost completely destroyed.

Don,
Yep I went through the 1964 one also but it wasn't an F5, more like a F2/F3 though the system wasn't in place at the time. The guy that invented the scale Fujita
rated part of the damage in 79 as an F5 which is extremely rare as is the triple Siamese formation that formed it. I can just tell you it looked like pictures of Hiroshima after the bomb where the funnel went through.
Anyway, I don't want to think about it anymore. Odds don't matter when peace of mind is at stake. Build a safe room, put her mind at rest.
My opinion of course. I am grieving for a piano technician friend in Joplin who lost his wife and one year old son and everything he owned. If she'd had a shelter ....
DP
DP

[RAFlorida]

Build the safe room.

Piece of mind for your wife. It's worth the time and money for the one you love.

[dbhost]

Don't have one, but ought to...

[Pappy]

Don,
Yep I went through the 1964 one also but it wasn't an F5, more like a F2/F3 though the system wasn't in place at the time. DP

According to this list the NWS retroactively rated it F5 based on historical data and records of damage.

OOPS, Forgot to put in the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._EF5_tornadoes

[wardprobst]

What list?
DP

[sparkeyjames]

I don't have one and don't really need it here in MI. I also do not live close to any trailer parks so that's a plus.

[JoeyGee]

I don't have one and don't really need it here in MI. I also do not live close to any trailer parks so that's a plus.

Are you sure? You're not THAT far from Dundee:

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...ee-20100608-ms

[Greg in Maryland]

Piece of mind for your wife. It's worth the time and money for the one you love.

I agree with this. Keep the wife happy and buy some new tools. Don't forget to equip your safe room with a large flat screen tv, comfy chairs and a wet bar, and of course, emergency supplies, tools, etc. That way you will be ready for everything.

I am sure that many folks have more experience that I do with tornados (not too many in Western Pennsylvania, though they do happen), but it seems to me that having a basement is probably the biggest guarantor of survival.

A lot of the destruction appears to be ground level structures, not structures with basements.

Greg