OT: where would you go in a tornado?

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

Last summer we had "warnings/watches" almost daily because ours drop down out of thunderstorms associated with weather fronts. Like I said we have a basement but getting mom down there would be a struggle she would not appreciate. Should we have dragged her down there daily?

You're almost never completely safe, but there are things that can improve your odds.

The lower the better. The smaller the room the better. The further from the edges of the house the better. The further from windows the better.

If you give it some thought, you might be able to figure out what part of the house is less likely to collapse.

You can reinforce a closet to varying degrees.

Don't get too afraid of tornadoes. It's a tragedy when it hits you or your friends, but the odds are low. You could easily be more at risk trying to go to a shelter in a storm than you are from the tornado.

The odds are generally less than 1 in a million per year. (Yes, 2011 was a bear.)

http://www.norman.noaa.gov/2009/03/us-a ... 5-present/



Pay attention to the reports and the warning. Make a plan. Even if the plan is just to get into the closet, or to lie down on the floor in the bathroom. Figure out what TV, radio, or internet sites to check on and learn what to watch out for.

That one in a million is a nice average. However, when you live in the strike zone, it is not that far fetched to get hit! It would be interesting how the numbers stack up if you just consider people in the Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, corridor. Trust me, when you go through one, and I mean one you actually believe is going to kill you and your family, it affects you forever. You will worry.

Take your precautions. If overblown fear is a factor, go ahead and take extra precautions if it makes you feel better. Feeling better is a good thing. Sometimes it cost you money, time, or effort.

Tornadoes are scary. I'm just pointing out that they're a fairly small risk compared to the other risks in your life.

In particular, if you decide to go to a shelter of some kind, you run the risk of car accidents, flood, lightning, etc. Balance the risks and your fears.

n0hardmask wrote: 4> Don't live in Moore, OK. ... W. Texas is close enough

Better to laugh than cry, right? Prediction for tomorrow (Guess that would actually be today! I really need to get to sleep!) is that the strike zone is about 15-20 miles north of Moore. Guess where I live! We're going down to Lake Texoma for the weekend. I just hope we get out of here before anything hits!

archangle wrote:Take your precautions. If overblown fear is a factor, go ahead and take extra precautions if it makes you feel better. Feeling better is a good thing. Sometimes it cost you money, time, or effort.

Tornadoes are scary. I'm just pointing out that they're a fairly small risk compared to the other risks in your life.

In particular, if you decide to go to a shelter of some kind, you run the risk of car accidents, flood, lightning, etc. Balance the risks and your fears.

I am not trying to argue with you. Just pointing out that when you actually live in Tornado Alley, it is kind of like living with a Dragon. It comes, and it takes some away. You don't know when or where it will come, although they are getting some pretty spot-on predictions these days.
There are risks involved in living, and they cannot always be avoided. A friend of mine dropped a bottle of shampoo on his foot and died from Sepsis as a result. The odds against that did not make his family feel any better, though.
The odds of dying in Joplin on May 22, 2011 was right at 1 in 310. Graduation being held on the other end of town probably saved a bunch more people.
In Moore this time, they heeded the warnings or it would have been another Joplin.

I worry about lightning. Not much I admit I still go out in storms. But when I was little my friend was killed by being struck by lightning. She was playing at a playground and there wasn't a current storm, but it was storming some miles away. She got struck by lightning and later died because she'd stopped breathing fro too long

I remember playing in the Niobrara River with my cousins when a gentle rain started.
My mother absolutely freaked out! She made us vamoose!
Thinking about it later, we were probably safer in the water than on the shore, sopping wet.

So there is another one headed to Oklahoma city.

And there is a truck full of food and supplies stuck at the Canadian border that the US border agency doesn't want to let through because there isn't an official disaster there in OK.

BlackSpinner wrote:So there is another one headed to Oklahoma city.

And there is a truck full of food and supplies stuck at the Canadian border that the US border agency doesn't want to let through because there isn't an official disaster there in OK.

When my oldest grandson was 14 my brother and I took him to Canada. We had no trouble getting him into Canada but we had a horrible time getting him back to the US. They were demanding a legal document stating that I really was his grandmother. They finally let us go when I showed them a handwritten note from my daughter with his insurance information on it.

SleepyonMagnoliaSt wrote:I worry about lightning. Not much I admit I still go out in storms. But when I was little my friend was killed by being struck by lightning. She was playing at a playground and there wasn't a current storm, but it was storming some miles away. She got struck by lightning and later died because she'd stopped breathing fro too long

Lightning you are afraid, I spent two years loading explosives, they had sat radar to check on lightning strikes in the area. If lightning hit 5 miles from us we were supposed to abandon the blast site and use another truck to move to a safe area, until the danger passed. The bosses wouldn't let us pull out, we would see the strikes close and get on the radio, the standard response was it's ten miles out, keep loading! It didn't matter much, it would have been painless with no mess to clean up. I wasn't scared, but it was the worst job I ever had. Jim

Useful web site if you want to see tornado history in your area.

http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/custom/2870175