Safe Rooms

[Route 66]

I live in the tranquil state of Oklahoma where the wind does indeed come sweeping down the plain. I was thinking about a Safe Room or a tornado shelter after the recent town of Picher was destroyed last week. I remember my Reecom weather radio going off for a tornado watch and turning on the local news and watching the radar explode just north and east of here and move eastward. Then it all headed towards Picher. It is very distressing to not only hear about people dying from tornadoes but also hearing it happen "live".

It reminded me of the F5 tornado that hit OK city and seeing the news helicopter film it while it was happening. Then seeing the huge swath of all those neighborhoods destroyed and realizing that someone or people were dying while I was watching. Very troubling. That F5 headed towards me but all I had to do was take cover and it died down.

So I have been making a more concerted effort to get some sort of protection since its easy to be complacent and think itll never happen. I also had this stupid thought that somehow my house is built like a rock and that thought quickly went away after a severe storm rolled through and my roof made noise during the winds. Does anyone have a safe house? I am curious as to how much they really cost and if they are a huge hassle to get installed.

This is a pic from my backyard of a tornado ten days ago (only F1) that touched down and lifted back up right over my neighborhood and touched back down again two miles down the road. Definitely not as scary as it could have been.

http://img81.*************/img81/5823/cid000701c8b16acc0812b0ee8.jpg

 

[PosterChild]

You need an underground shelter in OK. An EF4 or above can very well wipe your foundation clean, saferoom and all. I don't have one and wouldn't even guess at the cost but if you're thinking of investing in a shelter, go underground. You'll sleep better.

I lived in OK City from age 2-8 and my only vivid memories are of plentiful red dirt and frequently being huddled in the closet, eyes closed, with my family hoping the tornado skipped our house. Frequently. I was so glad to get of there and haven't been back. We do exp tornadoes here in DFW, naturally, but I always felt and still do that OK has a big red target on it. Warm fronts and cold fronts rendezvous in OK for their rowdy (no pun intended) parties.

 

[Yeagermeister]

This was in Feb and my house isn't far from this intersection.

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v316/Yeagermeister/storm2.jpg
http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v316/Yeagermeister/storm1.jpg

I know I was wishing I had something more than a bathroom to hide in. Thankfully for me we didn't have any damage.

 

[Route 66]

It looks like a wall cloud with a microburst. Was that an actual tornado?

 

[Route 66]

You need an underground shelter in OK. An EF4 or above can very well wipe your foundation clean, saferoom and all. I don't have one and wouldn't even guess at the cost but if you're thinking of investing in a shelter, go underground. You'll sleep better.

I lived in OK City from age 2-8 and my only vivid memories are of plentiful red dirt and frequently being huddled in the closet, eyes closed, with my family hoping the tornado skipped our house. Frequently. I was so glad to get of there and haven't been back. We do exp tornadoes here in DFW, naturally, but I always felt and still do that OK has a big red target on it. Warm fronts and cold fronts rendezvous in OK for their rowdy (no pun intended) parties.

I agree. The problem is I have this 28ft above ground pool in my yard and if a tornado comes....

There might be drownage.

 

[Dallas]

I would dig a celler under your house. Cheaper and you can store ALCOHOL down there w/ noooooo problem.

So you are SAFE and you get to drink while huddling w/ the family.

 

[Yeagermeister]

It looks like a wall cloud with a microburst. Was that an actual tornado?

Yes an actual tornado

 

[FloridaRob]

yeager, I could not imagine what to do if I am driving down the road and all of the sudden I see a tornado in front of me or coming in my rear view mirror. What is the course of action when that happens. Jump in a ditch!. Get under a bridge. Drive in the opposite direction.

Here in Florida at least we have a few days or weeks sometimes to get ready for hurricanes. Every now and then we will have a tornado come thru but nothing like the central part of the US. Last year my wife waked in the door, and literally less than one minute later a small twister went right down our street where she had just come from knocking down all the mailboxes and uprooting street signs. Scared both of us. I have no idea what kind of damage could have happened if she was still in her car. At the very least I think it could have flipped it over.

 

[Yeagermeister]

yeager, I could not imagine what to do if I am driving down the road and all of the sudden I see a tornado in front of me or coming in my rear view mirror. What is the course of action when that happens. Jump in a ditch!. Get under a bridge. Drive in the opposite direction.

Here in Florida at least we have a few days or weeks sometimes to get ready for hurricanes. Every now and then we will have a tornado come thru but nothing like the central part of the US. Last year my wife waked in the door, and literally less than one minute later a small twister went right down our street where she had just come from knocking down all the mailboxes and uprooting street signs. Scared both of us. I have no idea what kind of damage could have happened if she was still in her car. At the very least I think it could have flipped it over.

Drive like a sum b!tch!!!!!!!!!!!! :laugh2:

Actually 1fisher took the pictures but it wasn't as close as it looked......thankfully.

As for what to do I believe as long as you stay parallel you are ok but the best thing is to get as far from it as you can.

 

[Route 66]

Drive like a sum b!tch!!!!!!!!!!!! :laugh2:

As for what to do I believe as long as you stay parallel you are ok but the best thing is to get as far from it as you can.

I think going perpendicular with right angles is safer. If you are going along next to it, it can change direction fast.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

yeager, I could not imagine what to do if I am driving down the road and all of the sudden I see a tornado in front of me or coming in my rear view mirror. What is the course of action when that happens. Jump in a ditch!. Get under a bridge. Drive in the opposite direction.

Here in Florida at least we have a few days or weeks sometimes to get ready for hurricanes. Every now and then we will have a tornado come thru but nothing like the central part of the US. Last year my wife waked in the door, and literally less than one minute later a small twister went right down our street where she had just come from knocking down all the mailboxes and uprooting street signs. Scared both of us. I have no idea what kind of damage could have happened if she was still in her car. At the very least I think it could have flipped it over.

When I was a young lad my Father was sent by his union to go work in Florida where they were building a new Nuke.

It was during the summer so my family bought a winnabego and off went my dad, my mom and I.

So we are in this little rinky dink campground in Port Englis (I think that was the place) just a few miles away from Crystal Rivers Florida and right on the edge of some river that I don't recall the name of, some indian name.

Anyways. Here we are in this midsize winnabego, in florida, right on the gulf (I could ride my bike 5-10 minutes and be on the gulf, and next to the river which I could see looking out a window.

So one day we see on the news that there was a hurricane coming our way and would hit in the next few days. I think we were all pretty nervous. But the day before I think they took it down to a tropical storm status.

However let me tell you, when all you are in is a winnabego and that storm hits, tropical or not, that was some scary stuff.

That think was rocking big time and it felt like the sides were going to rip off of it. You could not even see five feet out the window.

That was scarrrrrry.

After it was over people all over the camp ground came out and was looking around. Luckily nobody was hurt but there was stuff all over the place.

There was a bridge just about 50 yards from the boat dock and the underneath of it, in the water all the way up to the bridge were trees and stuff lodged underneath of it.

I saw something down there that was freaky as well. Never have seen anything like it before that and never seen anything or heard of anything like it since then. I guess it was just a genetic freak of nature like you see with a calf with two heads or something. Anyways it was dead but there was a frog (the head, body and legs) that had bat wings growing out of it's back.

Luckily for me I was a child, the bat/frog thing took my mind off stuff, but my mother had some shaken nerves for a few days after that anytime the wind blew.

 

[big dog cowboy]

http://img.***BLOCKED***/albums/v316/Yeagermeister/storm1.jpg

This reminds me of the F5 that hit Greensburg KS just over a year ago. Wiped 95% of the town flat as a pancake.