Larmus made a good thread about things you need during a hurricane. I thought it would be a good idea to have several separate threads about natural disasters. So, come on. What kinds of things do you need to be safe for a tornado. Unlike a hurricane this is a little more unexpected and you won't always get any forewarning. This is something you need to be prepared for all the time. So what sayest thou in Hurricane Alley?
We have the standard survival pack and gear we keep in our house. This is what we use for all contingincies and is a baseline of stuff.
Tornadoes are kind of tricky because they can be small or huge. We have an alert/WX radio for the warnings (which we program in our county and it has an audible alarm depending on the situation) as well as can jump on the internet and look at the echos (the NOAA ADDS site has good radar info; I personally like Intellicast site more with their Radar Summary which is quite good). I wish we had a storm cellar (the wife and I are thinking about putting one in if we make an addition); unfortunately, the soil where we live is a mix of glue and clay and no one has basements. It's very costly to dig and put in one of those prefab cellars, but we might give something like that a go in the future. All's we got now is the lowest reinforced interior room of the house (like most folks around us). This might work against an F1 or F2 but when you see pics of some of those huge F5 twisters I wouldn't rate our chances high if one scored a direct hit. You can bring mattresses and blankets to help cover up too--we're lucky because our reinforced room is the laundry room under the stairs and we can duck with the mattresses and blankets under the washer and dryer.
Other than that, just the generator for power out and the regular other stuff.
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Coming from Oklahoma, my biggest fear was getting trapped in a basement or storm cellar by debris covering the thing up, and not being able to let rescuers know where I was. So, I'd be packing something to identify my position, like some of those air horn thingies or even a GPS emergency locator beacon. I'd rather be killed by the storm than survive it just to die in a dark hole, trapped by debris. I'm terribly claustrophobic.
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I child-proofed my house, but they still keep getting in!
I'd say you need some large pipes, and a firehose to tie yourself to the pipes with, like in that movie... Seriously, unless you're in a turdnader-proof shelter, how are you going to keep up with your turdnader SHTF stuff, wouldn't it all just blow away?
i would think that as a prep i would put in a shelter of some sort... i would sink a box container into the ground after preping it with water proof sealants and fixing any holes within the metal... then i would put it in the ground the highth of the container(about 10ft) and an additional 3ft... then i would put a cement and 8-8-16 brick entrance leading to the shelter... add shelves and bunks then store:
-food
-extra cloth
-toiletres
-extra batteries for things that need them
-a generator
-cash in a safe
-maps and directions
-crank radio
-
an addition to shelter i would sink two 55g drums next to the shelter with gasoline or desiel fuel and have a hand crank pump stored in the shelter.
i have never lived in tornado alley before so i dont even know if this will or would work so, those of you who do let me know what will work.
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I am fortunate enough to have a safe room in the walkout basement. This room is all cement and built into the dirt surrounding the house, inside the house. I keep all my important files in there. Also have a plastic tub with a radio, flashlight, bottled water, blankets and stuff like that.
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I think the biggest thing a person who lives in a tornado prone area is to absolutely know what you are going to do. Go to small room in interior of house? Go to basement? Go to a crawl space? Leave if you have warning? It would be good to have alternative plans as well. If I have time (and I probably wouldn't), I'd get under my house in my fairly tall crawl space. I do need to install a lock/good latch inside the crawl space door that would allow me to lock it against high winds. I figure that is safer than a protected interior room. The alternative is a half bath beneath a stairway, but that will only fit two people, three max. It would not be a comfortable place for more than a couple hours.
Assuming your house isn't completely torn up, then you can stil live there without electricity, food, and water for a week or so. That's where the same assortment of survival items comes into play. If you are left homeless, it is good to have a place to go even if it is a motel for a while. That takes money.
A generator would be quite handy. I have a small one and I'd like to buy a larger one that could power things like a few lights, freezer or refrigerator, and so forth. Someone in another thread mentioned this and it had never occurred to me that I could use a generator to keep food frozen for a short term event. Basically you rotate power between frig and freezer. I have a converter that will allow me to use my computer from my vehicle and I invested in one of those cards (like a cell phone) that allow you to get online as long as there is cellular service in an area. It's amazing how much you start depending on those contraptions.
Larmus, all the basic items you mention are important. I also have a Coleman stove and I store a supply of fuel for it. Grills also work fairly well for cooking. The stove is actually a far better choice than using a grill.
In Oklahoma if you live in a mobile home with no shelter anywhere near like we do, you pray a lot, for if the tornado comes your way your faith may be tested.
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Seriously, unless you're in a turdnader-proof shelter, how are you going to keep up with your turdnader SHTF stuff, wouldn't it all just blow away?
