Safe Room Question - Page 4

Sister Golden Hair · ‎03-09-2010

A safe room is best built underground and near your home. People have been killed running to their shelter. In the Joplin tornado, there were people in their basements and the whole top of the house blew off, leaving them holding on till the storm had passed.

I'm praying for all those that have been affected by these terrible storms. Our daughter-in-law's Father lost his home in the Joplin's tornado. It is horrible when you see this on TV, but seeing it is person is beyond what you can imagine.

arklady · ‎01-31-2011

I live in Vilonia Ar. and my home is gone but children and grandchildren are okay because we were in an underground shelter. They are saying the tornado was a high EF4 and some saferooms are NOT built for one that strong!! I will not go into the horrible things I saw that night but please take shelter underground if at all possible. We were overwhelmed with all the help we got from complete strangers! The Red Cross was wonderful as well as Team Rubicon. We lived in that house for 37 years and it helped us raise 4 wonderful kids! April 27 it was gone in seconds.

Sister Golden Hair · ‎03-09-2010

arklady, I'm so sorry about your home. But such a blessing that you and your family are safe.

I will be praying for you and your family.

Yes, the Red Cross people are wonderful.

dooBdoo · ‎06-27-2010

On 5/15/2014 arklady said:
I live in Vilonia Ar. and my home is gone but children and grandchildren are okay because we were in an underground shelter. They are saying the tornado was a high EF4 and some saferooms are NOT built for one that strong!! I will not go into the horrible things I saw that night but please take shelter underground if at all possible. We were overwhelmed with all the help we got from complete strangers! The Red Cross was wonderful as well as Team Rubicon. We lived in that house for 37 years and it helped us raise 4 wonderful kids! April 27 it was gone in seconds.

Oh, my.

arklady, I'm so sorry and my thoughts and prayers go out to you. I was home a few years ago when a tornado removed part of our roof and peeled the bricks off one of the exterior walls. Another one shaved all the trees from the hill adjacent to us a few months later. The Red Cross was wonderful, here, too. We were so lucky it wasn't worse, and I learned so much about emergency preparedness as a result. I hope you'll let us know how you're doing as time goes by. I can't imagine losing everything as you did.

It's a reminder of what really matters in this world, isn't it.

Few things reveal your intellect and your generosity of spirit—the parallel powers of your heart and mind—better than how you give feedback.~Maria Popova

scotttie · ‎03-09-2010

On 5/15/2014 arklady said:
I live in Vilonia Ar. and my home is gone but children and grandchildren are okay because we were in an underground shelter. They are saying the tornado was a high EF4 and some saferooms are NOT built for one that strong!! I will not go into the horrible things I saw that night but please take shelter underground if at all possible. We were overwhelmed with all the help we got from complete strangers! The Red Cross was wonderful as well as Team Rubicon. We lived in that house for 37 years and it helped us raise 4 wonderful kids! April 27 it was gone in seconds.

Wow. So sorry to hear about this arklady.

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

I'll take my chances in our basement any ole time as opposed to staying on ground level or higher. Now were I in my car? I would drive perpendicular to the direction of the tornado coming. You can't outrun many of them but you can drive away from their direction.

I lived through a tornado that ripped through our city in 1975 and in tore up 3 different sections of our city. It actually was several different tornado's that touched down in different parts of the city. I was in the basement of a concrete building at the time and it was very safe.

When I emerged from this building the area as far a I could see looked like a big bomb had been dropped and exploded big time.

Will always take our basement if we know one is coming as it is completely below ground level. Will also be under the sturdiest piece of equipment in the basement for protection from the fall-in debris.

hckynut(john)

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

They always say you can't outrun a tornado in a car, but I'd sure as heck try. I wouldn't be one of those idiots you see driving towards the storm. If there's a tornado in front of me I'm turning around and heading the other way. If there's one behind me, it's going to have to be really, really fast to catch me. I'm not sure how fast I could drive, but I'd find out pretty quickly if there was a tornado behind me.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

On 5/16/2014 gardenman said:
They always say you can't outrun a tornado in a car, but I'd sure as heck try. I wouldn't be one of those idiots you see driving towards the storm. If there's a tornado in front of me I'm turning around and heading the other way. If there's one behind me, it's going to have to be really, really fast to catch me. I'm not sure how fast I could drive, but I'd find out pretty quickly if there was a tornado behind me.

Hi to you gardenman,

Don't drive the same way it is going. Drive at a right angle to it's direction. It is said by many that most tornado's move Northeast. Now I don't know this for a fact, but that is exactly the direction the ones that destroyed our city moved through.

I've watched some of those "storm chasers" in their cars and they always say they are driving at a right angle to get away from the tornado. So if it were to happen to me? I would turn my car and go West as fast as traffic will allow. I saw enough of what they did to our city and sure as heck they moved directly Northeast once the first one touched down.

hckynut(john)

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

Growing up spending summers in fl I have been in a few hurricanes but only one tornado - and that was in Pa. We were out on our boat on lake Erie and we were close to a ship - so we called them on the radio and were talking to them and they asked where we were. we said right beside your ship and the guy said - OMG there are storms coming and waterspouts. You guys need to get to safe harbor. So we put the pedal to the metal heading back to shore but the wind started to really blow and we were making slow progress due to high waves so DH called the coast guard and they gave us a heading that they felt would get us out of the worst of the storm despite that it was not a heading toward shore. We did as they told us and when we got where they told us to stay we shut off the motor and rode out the storm watching the water spouts all around us as we just floated out there. In the end, certainly the coast guard was right and we weathered it well. But it was a very scary situation. while we were out there riding out the storm the coast guard and the canadian equivalent were calling us on the radio frequently to be certain we were ok and the boat was tolerating the high waves and not taking on water. If any of that was not ok they would have tried to come and get us - but it wasn't necessary.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

On 5/16/2014 hckynut said:
On 5/16/2014 gardenman said:
They always say you can't outrun a tornado in a car, but I'd sure as heck try. I wouldn't be one of those idiots you see driving towards the storm. If there's a tornado in front of me I'm turning around and heading the other way. If there's one behind me, it's going to have to be really, really fast to catch me. I'm not sure how fast I could drive, but I'd find out pretty quickly if there was a tornado behind me.

Hi to you gardenman,

Don't drive the same way it is going. Drive at a right angle to it's direction. It is said by many that most tornado's move Northeast. Now I don't know this for a fact, but that is exactly the direction the ones that destroyed our city moved through.

I've watched some of those "storm chasers" in their cars and they always say they are driving at a right angle to get away from the tornado. So if it were to happen to me? I would turn my car and go West as fast as traffic will allow. I saw enough of what they did to our city and sure as heck they moved directly Northeast once the first one touched down.

I think I read somewhere that tornados go north and east and your supposed to drive south and east to get away from them, because if you go any other direction you could run right into the path of it. i would not bet my life on that information though.