OT: where would you go in a tornado?

My grandmother survived a prairie tornado in the 1890's, huddled with her family in a sod house.
She saw straws driven through a solid wood door.
Another time, she left her wool sweater in the garden when she fled a swarm of grasshoppers.
After they had moved on, she returned to find the buttons.

We are talking seriously about getting a storm shelter! When the sirens start going off, the first thing I do is check the TV to see where it is! Seriously, though... the tornado that ripped through Moore was initially headed for OK county which is where I am. It's just that I'm on the north side of the city and it was headed for the south side. It actually turned and never made it into OK county. If any part of the county is in the path, the sirens go off all over the county which means pretty much all of Oklahoma City when it is OK county! I had been watching the storm and knew that a tornado was unlikely in our part of the city, but it is certainly nerve-wracking when the sirens start going off.

There was one day a few years ago that my daughter and I were home by ourselves while my husband and mom were attending a funeral. I didn't have the TV on and the sirens started going off. I told my daughter to get in the closet and I turned on the TV! It was headed for us! I did watch for a bit as it was also headed for the church that the funeral was being held in. They had people watching the storms, though, and I guess they just continued on with the service! That one never actually touched down and yes, I was in the closet, too, for a bit with the TV turned up loud enough to hear! I don't know what they would have done at the church had that tornado formed like Monday's did. They have a basement, but if a monster tornado formed close enough and as quickly as the one in Moore did, I don't think they could have gotten everyone to the basement in time! I'm sure there would have been MUCH prayer!

So... where would I go? At this point, with enough warning (meaning conditions were right for our part of the city), I would go to my in-laws as they have a safe room. We also have neighbors who have had shelters installed, but those are in garages and, if they have already gone in, it would be futile for us to be knocking on doors asking to get into the shelter! We are trying to address that issue in our neighborhood. Meanwhile, the only places we have in our house are a very small closet that is sort of an interior closet. However, we have a courtyard and there is a window onto the courtyard just across the entry from this closet. We have also taken refuge in the hall bath. There is a pocket door that separates the tub/toilet area from the sink area. We close that and hunker down in the sink area with blankets, pillows and bicycle helmets! After seeing the devastation (yes, I have seen it in person) from last Monday's monster, though, I don't think that is safe enough. I would much prefer to be underground!

Right now, we don't have a storm shelter - and for some reason they cost TWICE or more what they are quoted in Oklahoma. :-/ We live in a brick house. . .so there really is no truly safe room, if it caves in, we're flattened end of story. We tend to get under the stairs, but there's nothing that would prevent us from being sucked out - so . . .

I have NOT liked this since I've been here - and I've been looking into having someone come out and dig a storm shelter for us. . . if I can find something reasonable. . .

We have tornadoes, floods and straight line winds that exceed 100 mph.

But at least it isn't likely my house will burn down. . . completely.

meh.

Our house was hit by a tornado several years ago. The house was not totally destroyed, but most of the roof was blown off, a brick wall bulged and broke and all the windows exploded. The flying glass was like shrapnel. That tornado killed 15 people.

We got into an interior hall and we were OK. We only had a few seconds warning. If we had had a few minutes warning we would have gotten into the cellar. This happened at midnight during a thunderstorm. We would have to go out into the rain to get to the cellar.

About four years ago we were driving home and a tornado crossed the street in front of our car. we continued on our way home and we discovered a large tree across the road near our house. When we were finally able to get to our house, the house was OK. That tornado did considerable damage elsewhere.

Where I live the problem is that we get so many tornado warnings that we don't pay attention to them.

midnight_skulker wrote:Where I live the problem is that we get so many tornado warnings that we don't pay attention to them.

They used to be like that in Joplin and in Moore. A couple EF 5s will cure you of complacency.

salton wrote:

midnight_skulker wrote:Where I live the problem is that we get so many tornado warnings that we don't pay attention to them.

They used to be like that in Joplin and in Moore. A couple EF 5s will cure you of complacency.

You got that right! Looking at this in person will cure you in a hurry! May 20, 2013 Tornado Damage EF 5s may be rare, but when they hit the same city twice in less than 15 years and it's only 20 miles from your home, you do sort of sit up and take notice.

The EF 5 that hit Joplin two years ago last week took my High School, my Junior High School, nearly every home of every friend I had as a kid, (not that they all still lied there, but some did and some died.) The Hospital Were they took out my tonsils and my little sisters were born. All gone.
We do not take sirens lightly.

I worry a lot about where we would go. It sucks. If worse came to worse we're by a drainage ditch with a huge tube stuck in the ground under the road. So we could go there

Out of its path. Quickly.

midnight_skulker wrote:Our house was hit by a tornado several years ago. The house was not totally destroyed, but most of the roof was blown off, a brick wall bulged and broke and all the windows exploded. The flying glass was like shrapnel. That tornado killed 15 people.
We got into an interior hall and we were OK. We only had a few seconds warning. If we had had a few minutes warning we would have gotten into the cellar. This happened at midnight during a thunderstorm. We would have to go out into the rain to get to the cellar.
About four years ago we were driving home and a tornado crossed the street in front of our car. we continued on our way home and we discovered a large tree across the road near our house. When we were finally able to get to our house, the house was OK. That tornado did considerable damage elsewhere.

...As LinkC says, "Out of its path. Quickly"!It's not what you do when the siren goes off, it's what you do BEFORE then.
1> buy and program a NOAA S.A.M.E. alert radio and keep track of weather events and weather outlooks whenEVER it's threatening.
2> Keep track of weather events and weather outlooks: NWS has some good sites showing current and future weather outlook sites (http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook )
3> Whatever your game plan is, be ready! Know what to do and get to safety.

.....Yes, I'm a weather addict; pilot, motorcyclist, and trained weather spotter. Learned the latter in Altus, OK watching weather develop at the Red River and make a beeline for OKC.
4> Don't live in Moore, OK. ... W. Texas is close enough

I just gather the cats & dogs & go to the bathroom. I've heard plumbing is safest if you don't have a basement or storm shelter. Personally I'm afraid of being buried under the rubble, so I feel safer in the bathroom.

Jen

My friend's brother had a pharmacy just across the street from St. John's Hospital in Joplin. He had five people ride out the storm in the bathrooms. They held onto the toilets, and all survived. The only thing left was the plumbing. All walls gone, just five people and two toilets, and the tank on one toilet was gone.
One retired school teacher went according to plan by hiding in the bathroom with her phone. She woke up a block away in the street under a pile of rubble.
If you can somehow afford an underground shelter that is the way to go.

The cheapest plan is to always be aware of the weather, and go somewhere safe to wait it out.

The only trouble with going somewhere else is that there are a lot of storms, and sometimes the Tornado just drops down and there it is. They are much better at predicting them now, which helps a lot, but it would get pretty old trying to distance yourself from any danger. Those warnings stretch across multiple states sometimes.