Community Chat

[ennui1]

On 4/29/2014 kachina624 said:

On 4/29/2014 tansy said: No matter the map, Rough Draft, we do not get any serious tornado in WA where gazelle and I live for which I am very thankful.

I don't think that map is accurate. I know they've never had a tornado around Midland, Texas and they show that area as solid red. Very rarely do they occur in NM; I can remember 2 small ones since I moved here 15 years ago, in the Eastern plains. None ever around Albuquerque.

Tornadoes in NM:

http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/nmtorn.htm

[ennui1]

On 4/29/2014 Jules5280 said:

On 4/29/2014 gazelle77 said: I could and would not live in a place where these storms are a yearly occurrence. I would move, live anywhere but THERE.

LOL!!! Please tell me where there is a "safe" place on this planet. People have to deal with earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, avalanches, mudslides, and many other disasters I am not thinking of.

Fire.

[gidgetgh]

On 4/29/2014 gazelle77 said: I could and would not live in a place where these storms are a yearly occurrence. I would move, live anywhere but THERE.

Good luck finding a place where there is no possibility of bad weather.

As for me, I'm sure it's beautiful where you live, but I couldn't live with the abundance of rain, dampness and gloomy days that you have. I just couldn't do it. But, that's home for you and you love it and that's great. We all choose where we want to be, warts and all.

[Luv2Decorate]

On 4/29/2014 ennui1 said:

A basement depends on your soil -- if it's too loose and sandy, no basement.

Believe it or not, some people live in apartments, without basements. Shocking, I know!

Tornadoes can occur anywhere -- there were a couple that touched down in Silicon Valley some years ago. No one in California has a basement because of earthquakes.

I'm in West Michigan along the Lake Michigan coast, all we have is sand, sand, sand and we have basements here.

If I lived in the south or an area where tornadoes were common, there is no way I wouldn't have a tornado shelter, regardless of the cost.

[brii]

Having a basement doesn't give me peace of mind at all. If the tornado sirens go off and we go down there, I imagine the whole house collapsing on us. And then what?

[Luv2Decorate]

On 4/30/2014 brii said:

Having a basement doesn't give me peace of mind at all. If the tornado sirens go off and we go down there, I imagine the whole house collapsing on us. And then what?

I think a Tornado shelter would be safer than a basement. We have a ranch and it's fairly large and there is a lot on top of the basement. Our basement is built with steel I-beams though.

If I didn't have a basement, I'd build a shelter, 12x12 room, 12 ft underground with concrete and reinforced with rebar, then steel I-beams as the room. It would have a bathroom and lighting with a back up generator and food supply.

[Sooner]

On 4/30/2014 Luv2Decorate said:

On 4/30/2014 brii said:

Having a basement doesn't give me peace of mind at all. If the tornado sirens go off and we go down there, I imagine the whole house collapsing on us. And then what?

I think a Tornado shelter would be safer than a basement. We have a ranch and it's fairly large and there is a lot on top of the basement. Our basement is built with steel I-beams though.

If I didn't have a basement, I'd build a shelter, 12x12 room, 12 ft underground with concrete and reinforced with rebar, then steel I-beams as the room. It would have a bathroom and lighting with a back up generator and food supply.

You would pay a million dollars for that then people would have to find you and dig you out from the debris left on top of you. LOL!!!

MOST people don't have basements in Oklahoma where I live because of the water table, ground (clay pulls them apart) and other factors. Tornado shelters start about $2500 and up, many costing around $4500. Safe rooms are in the same price range and many are very small.

Big tornadoes can have 300 mph winds and above. They toss cars and semi trucks and trailers around like toys. Last year, miles of Moore OK looked like it had been in a food processor--think the bottom of a gerbil cage. Homes and business were just shredded or simply gone to the foundation.

A ditch is a place to go only if there is no other shelter around. A ditch MAY be better than your car. Tornadoes sometimes take pieces of pavement out of highways.

As I have always seen, tornado alley goes from either OKC or Dallas northward up into Kansas and sometimes Nebraska.

[Luv2Decorate]

On 4/30/2014 Sooner said:

On 4/30/2014 Luv2Decorate said:

On 4/30/2014 brii said:

Having a basement doesn't give me peace of mind at all. If the tornado sirens go off and we go down there, I imagine the whole house collapsing on us. And then what?

I think a Tornado shelter would be safer than a basement. We have a ranch and it's fairly large and there is a lot on top of the basement. Our basement is built with steel I-beams though.

If I didn't have a basement, I'd build a shelter, 12x12 room, 12 ft underground with concrete and reinforced with rebar, then steel I-beams as the room. It would have a bathroom and lighting with a back up generator and food supply.

You would pay a million dollars for that then people would have to find you and dig you out from the debris left on top of you. LOL!!!

MOST people don't have basements in Oklahoma where I live because of the water table, ground (clay pulls them apart) and other factors. Tornado shelters start about $2500 and up, many costing around $4500. Safe rooms are in the same price range and many are very small.

Big tornadoes can have 300 mph winds and above. They toss cars and semi trucks and trailers around like toys. Last year, miles of Moore OK looked like it had been in a food processor--think the bottom of a gerbil cage. Homes and business were just shredded or simply gone to the foundation.

A ditch is a place to go only if there is no other shelter around. A ditch MAY be better than your car. Tornadoes sometimes take pieces of pavement out of highways.

As I have always seen, tornado alley goes from either OKC or Dallas northward up into Kansas and sometimes Nebraska.

I don't think it would cost a million dollars but it would be expensive, but we'd be alive. I'd have to make sure that county surveyor would know the exact location! Ha! That's why I'd put a potty in there

[straykatz]

On 4/29/2014 tansy said:

On 4/29/2014 Lila Belle said:

We've had warnings and watches for the last few days and it's so unnerving ! We're in a warning now.

I'm more afraid of tornadoes than hurricanes !

With hurricanes there's so much advanced warning. The problem was there were so many warnings that people would tune them out.

People also ignore the tornado warnings too.....my office staff is a perfect example....one day the tonado sirens were going off like mad and no one moved from their desks....they all just worked like nothing was wrong...I brought this up in our next general office meeting and stated we needed an emergency plan and designated area for people to move to when these sirens go off.....they all looked at me like I was nuts!!!...only one other person felt we needed to take shelter when the sirens go off and he and I will likely be the only ones who go to the restrooms in the center of our building.

[straykatz]

On 4/30/2014 Sooner said:

As I have always seen, tornado alley goes from either OKC or Dallas northward up into Kansas and sometimes Nebraska.

Yes...I'm in N. TX and tornado alley starts in the area south of me.