Tornado prep advice

[SageHill]

Grew up in tornado alley (yeah there are few). Things to put where you would shelter (i.e. basement) -- flash light, weather radio (extra batteries or a crank radio), water. Pretty much that's it. You don't get a whole lot of time - it's get yourself to the "safe place". If you see the sky turn GREEN go fast. You do get a little bit of a warning sometimes and there are (or were) storm sirens that go off. Yes, houses can quite literally be lifted off the ground.

 

[RR Homestead]

I have watched the news when tornadoes are in the area, in Lindale. The local Tyler station would interrupt regular broadcasting to track tornadoes in real time. We were on satellite TV. We were in a doublewide with no tornado shelter. Watching a tornado drawing nearer and the TV would go out. Do we get in the car and make a run for it? Do we bend over and kiss our a$$ goodbye? What a quandary. We never got hit by a tornado, we never made a run for safety. Eh.

We were in a restaurant in Lindale once when a tornado hit town. The restaurant manager wanted everyone in the kitchen. I'm looking at giant bubbling pots of all kinds of stuff that could make some third degree burns if sloshed all over a person, thinking that was a bad idea. My husband was at the windows, typical redneck style, looking for the tornado. A friend an hour away was on the phone with me, tracking the tornado. The tornado came down and tore up a dollar store, used car lot and went merrily on it's way out of town towards our area. When we started home, we followed the damage. There was a tree leaned over the road that almost scraped the cab of the truck, but we got under it. We didn't know if we would have a home left, but it was unscathed.

I live in what is called locally, tornado alley. Some areas are more prone to tornadoes than others. About 15 miles from me is a swath of dead topped pine trees from a tornado some 9 years ago, That one went through a small town called Alto and tore up some homes and the school. No one was hurt. But it mostly went through the forest. I've lived along the coastal area most of my life in hurricane country. Hurricanes also spawn tornadoes. I think a tornado came down our street in hurricane Ike as trees were toppled, power line poles twisted off and it laid a massive oak tree on our house.

If your new home is in a tornado alley, the locals will know it and can tell you. But they can show up anywhere like unwanted guests. I think Texas leads the nation for tornadoes. You have a basement, a safe place. If a tornado shows up, you may only have time to get yourself in it. Trying to catch cats, whose senses would be going wild at that point, might not be a good idea. Outside dogs would just have to be on their own, an inside dog might join you. Safety for you first. In towns, there are tornado sirens. Out in the country, not so much. The TV might stop regular broadcasting to track tornadoes, but if it is at night, you wouldn't know it. How far is your bedroom from the basement entrance? How fast can you get there? If you sleep in your birthday suit, you might want to put a couple sets of clothing in the basement, along with shoes. Forget trying to grab anything, just get to the basement.

You currently live with earthquakes. Those show up with no warning. You also live in a state famous for it's fires. Fires take everything in it's path. Every area has its dangers. If I were you, I wouldn't stress over a tornado any more than you stress over an earthquake. Make your preparations and stop worrying about it.

These are the stories I know we will eventually have. I hope they don't but I suspect at some point they will happen. We aren't in an area that is known to have tornadoes hit but they can so we want to be prepared. The previous owners joked they happen on the other side of the highway. That's not far from us.
We have prepared over the years for fire. It's paid off.
Thanks for the advice!

Lets start with the ceiling, roof of this in basement shelter. What is it made of, pictures? Basements are cute an cuddly and all, but without adequate roof of a shelter, it will rip that house apart which if is wood floor that is the roof of the basement, it will take that and suck all the contents out which include you. There is also possibility of it collapsing on you too.

It's a well built complete shelter. I'll try and remember to get pictures next trip out. Roof, walls, floor all built for shelter in mind. It's a bit suffocating being in it. It's like I would expect a storm shelter to be built outside. When I first saw it I was surprised it had a thick roof etc but now I know why. Exactly what you are describing. Apparently the original owner had it built because she was scared of tornado's. Previous owners had a few supplies in it but said they've never had to use it. There is also permanently mounted huge steel beams under the house attached to the concrete walls of the basement. Not knowing for myself how that will hold up I can only hope it would help keep the shelter in place and safer. I toss around the idea of eventually having an in ground shelter put in near the house door. DH isn't against that idea and we may do that later on. My first request was that DH figures out how to make access to the basement from inside the house instead of going outside, down the hill and into the basement. There was originally access but it was poorly done and the previous owners closed it off. We have some ideas but won't get them done until we are there.

The best preparation is being weather aware. Keep a phone and weather radio handy. Watch the predictions like a hawk, they are timed pretty accurately these days. All of your activities will revolve around when and what kind of storms are expected. Keep a garage clear to shelter your vehicles. I’ve seen people lose expensive trucks because the garage was full of whatever. Keep livestock near their shelters and make sure gates etc are open. They should sense the weather and put themselves up, you do not want to be out on the south forty trying to get Bessie to the barn. Pick up lawn furniture, trash cans, kid’s toys- anything that the wind can turn into shrapnel. Loose tin needs to be secured. A less common but extremely dangerous weather phenom is gorilla hail. It often precedes tornadoes and gives little warning. Go to YouTube and search Wylie Tx hailstorm 2016. I was in that one. Consider shutters on your new home. Have sturdy shoes and warmer clothing ready. It is often cold, wet and windy after a system moves through.

Those are words I need to follow for sure. I hate technology and often don't carry my phone with me. We both are bad about that. I've been looking at one of those NOA radios for the house though. Wasn't sure if it was worth it. I will probably get better about keeping my phone on me but I have all those alerts off on them here. I'll need to figure out how to turn them on. We've been woken up so many times over the years with "test" runs and things that don't have anything to do with us. Part of the problem of sleeping during the day.
One of our first priorities is to get the shop built. A place to park vehicles, tractors etc out of the weather. We'll have a carport up first because that can be put up quickly. Won't stop a lot of damage but maybe protect from some while we build the shop.
Good to know on the livestock. I think ours are so weather stupid they wouldn't know to get near a shelter. I need to rethink that when figuring out pasture setup. Only 1 pasture has access to the barn and only a small section that not everyone would fit in.
I've heard the term Gorilla hail on Ryan Hall Y'all but don't know what it is really. I'll look that up.
Shutters! We will do that! I love the looks anyways but that's a good reason to have them. Didn't think about that.

View attachment 126138

This program is so great you can track it in real time of where a T cell is going or a mesocyclone before it gets to tornado. I have prevented significant hail damage, dodge tornadoes and shut down projects before we got slammed with weather not in the forecast.
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9mw4stn492s0?hl=en-US&gl=US

Thank you! We'll check this out!

Above wouldn’t let me add text. That’s unsecured tin. Secured tin will fly around too. While the movie Twister was melodramatic in places it made some good points about awareness and shelter. Tornadoes can be scary but they tend to be over quick and the warnings are far more accurate today.

That's crazy. We've had tin fly here a couple times the last few years with the weather changes but I've never seen a fence cut into any. Holy smokes. That's some power.

Grew up in tornado alley (yeah there are few). Things to put where you would shelter (i.e. basement) -- flash light, weather radio (extra batteries or a crank radio), water. Pretty much that's it. You don't get a whole lot of time - it's get yourself to the "safe place". If you see the sky turn GREEN go fast. You do get a little bit of a warning sometimes and there are (or were) storm sirens that go off. Yes, houses can quite literally be lifted off the ground.

Crank radio Good idea!
Green????? Like literally green????
I'm not sure about the storm sirens yet. That's a good question to ask locals. If we can hear them or not. I'm guessing not.

The aftermath, if you're hit, is the horrible issue. Check your insurance to see if such weather damage is included or excluded. Knowledge for preps.

That's a great question we did not know to ask. I will be checking into that asap. Didn't know it could be included or excluded. Thanks!

 

[SageHill]

The previous owners joked they happen on the other side of the highway.

I would say that's more true than joke. Where I was the tornados seemed to always go down the same roads. Pretty much the reason for the term Tornado Alley.

Green????? Like literally green????

Yup. GREEN with sometimes horizontal strips of very dark blue.

 

[Weldman]

Happier than a tornado in a trailer park

 

[Simpleterrier]

What state and area are you moving to? We just moved to South East Missouri and couple from our church here died in a tornado last spring. We have damage both east and west of us from tornados last spring

 

[RR Homestead]

What state and area are you moving to? We just moved to South East Missouri and couple from our church here died in a tornado last spring. We have damage both east and west of us from tornados last spring

Howdy neighbor! We are in the ozarks of Missouri. I'm so sorry to hear about the couple from your church.