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One of our first purchases when we bought the new place in Oklahoma was the addition of the solid concrete in ground tornado shelter. Been here 23 months and never had to use it. Old timers joked about throwing away money. Funny thing is, there are a lot of them in the yards in the area.

Watching a movie last night, when the SIREN went off at about 830pm. We had been under a tornado watch for an hour or so. It's actually pretty cozy, but once in... No phone or internet service. The hail pounded the metal vent, the wind screamed, it rained like ... Hail. We had no idea how long to hunker in the bunker.

Guess I'll have to look for a battery powered radio with a separate antenna. One I can mount outside so we can listen to the weather for a tornado track.

Worked out well, battery powered light and fan, chairs. Forty five minutes till the heavy rain died. We poked our heads up. No damage. The weather report later said there was rotation above us, but no funnel dropped. First time in decades they have had even rotation. Tornado or high winds caused damage forty five minutes away.

That shelter is great piece of mind! Better safe than sorry. Kinda like buying a generator. Ya might never use it, but it's there in an emergency. Can't really compare the two though. The shelter is a LIFE saver.
Glad Ya'll are safe.

I'm glad all is well marine. Good money well spent I'd say.

Good call Marine. Glad everything in your property/area is ok. That shelter worked!

If you build it “they might” come. Way to be prepared and I bet while you were in the shelter you were very thankful you went to the trouble and expense to have it put in. Bet those old timers won’t make any further comments. Happy that there was no damage.

Glad you're safe!
Jake

They do come in handy. Good you guys are safe.

The neighbors have a steel above ground shelter in their garage. $10,000. After we got out of ours, Tina texted to check on them. She never got in her's even though the SIREN went off three or four times during this storm. First time in two years other than quarterly test. She said they included a shelter when they built the new house to appease her aged mother, who passed recently. She said, "If it's my time, it's my time." So they sat in the house while the SIREN screamed.

It reminds me of a fable where a pastor is stuck on his roof, with flood waters rising.

First a man in a canoe shows up.
"Come on Reverend, Jump."
"I'm fine, the Lord will Provide."


Next a man in a group in a powerboat show up.
"Come on Reverend, Jump."
"I'm fine, the Lord will Provide."



Then comes a helicopter crew.
Over the loudspeaker they say, "We will lower a harness, strap yourself in."

The Reverend waves them off, he yells to them that he has faith in the face of rising waters. "I'm fine, the Lord will Provide."

An hour later the waters crest over the peak, sweep him off the roof and he drowns. In heaven he says, "Lord, I had faith, I waited for you to save me, I just knew you'd come, but you let me drown... "

The Lord spread his hands and shook his head...
I sent a canoe, I sent a motorboat, I even sent a helicopter...? "

Always thought if I lived out in those areas of frequent tornados it would be a 1 story with basement concrete house! Glad that potential tornado didn't touch down on your place!

fortyshooter wrote: ↑

Tue May 03, 2022 1:54 pm

Always thought if I lived out in those areas of frequent tornados it would be a 1 story with basement concrete house! Glad that potential tornado didn't touch down on your place!

We have a one story, but not many places here have basements. The ground shifts a lot here. Real problem. RAM-Jack does a lot of business.
I am really glad it didn't touch down too, as we are just getting really settled in. I am getting my leather working bench set up and have added a lot of small tools to the carving section.... small but expensive. Tina just added several things to her sewing shop. Expensive but she got really good prices by being a careful shopper. The new barn she saved so long for just went up... we don't want it to LAND in Kansas.

We are HAPPY that tornados are VERY rare here. VERY rare.




(That knock knock knocking you hear in the back of your mind, is me... knocking on wood.)

So glad you came through this event fine. I'm with you on having that shelter. Where you're located it makes sense. Even if a tornado never touches down nearby, the peace of mind of having that shelter is everything. Excellent move Marine.

Paul

How big is your shelter? Could you also use it as a root cellar or emergency food supply storage? I'm not a survivalist but I do have enough beans and other canned food to survive for awhile. I also keep a few extra bags of food for my cats.

dave77 wrote: ↑

Tue May 03, 2022 9:11 pm

How big is your shelter? Could you also use it as a root cellar or emergency food supply storage? I'm not a survivalist but I do have enough beans and other canned food to survive for awhile. I also keep a few extra bags of food for my cats.

The walls are solid concrete, so the inside measurements are about 7-1/2 x 11-1/2. It stays cool enough to work as a root cellar, and Tina has suggested some shelves beside the entry shelves for that purpose. We don't want to add too much to the interior as we want space for up to six in case we have family there when a siren goes off.

...and you came out of the shelter and you were the only one left on the planet....oops, that was one of the Twilight Zone episodes. In fact it was most of the episodes.

Glad you're all safe.

RanchRoper wrote: ↑

Tue May 03, 2022 9:27 pm

...and you came out of the shelter and you were the only one left on the planet....oops, that was one of the Twilight Zone episodes. In fact it was most of the episodes.

Glad you're all safe.

Or the one where all the neighbor's with no bomb shelters were fighting to get in to the few that had them, then it turned out it was a fake alert by aliens to soften us up for their invasion.

dave77 wrote: ↑

Tue May 03, 2022 9:36 pm

RanchRoper wrote: ↑

Tue May 03, 2022 9:27 pm

...and you came out of the shelter and you were the only one left on the planet....oops, that was one of the Twilight Zone episodes. In fact it was most of the episodes.

Glad you're all safe.

Or the one where all the neighbor's with no bomb shelters were fighting to get in to the few that had them, then it turned out it was a fake alert by aliens to soften us up for their invasion.

No politics allowed on the forum!

They have a big community tornado shelter in our small town, shaped like the old quansot huts but made from steel and anchored in concrete. It's big enough to hold the entire population of the small township. (Geez, nearly 315 at last count.). I wonder how many without private bunkers took advantage of it's protection when the siren went off?

Where I live there is a "lightning rod" for tornadoes a few miles south of me. A small complex of trailer parks. Any time we have a small tornado it hits there. I'm not joking about that.

Glad you came through with no damage. Mother Nature is cruel and heartless.

We aren't really in "Tornado Alley" per sey, although different entities identify the width with different parameters. Most identify a swath up from Texas thru central Oklahoma, into Kansas. We are somewhat protected by the Mountains, according to the elders.

That being said, when we added Tina's workshop and My range house, both prefab buildings on skids, state farm's agent required them to be secured with strapping attached to tornado/hurricane stakes before adding them to the policy.

He said in a direct hit, the farm would be bare ground anyway... ... But they might help in high winds. We have hit gusts in the 50 to 70mph range, still here.