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At about 5:30 this morning we were jolted out of our sleep by the ALARM on the NOAA weather warning system mounted by the back door. "This is a weather alert from the National Weather Service... blah blah blah." We lay in bed listening until they got to the part about "A Tornado Watch..." then we got up and got dressed. It was raining hard and the wind was whipping... but it was a watch, so Miss T put the coffee on. Tweedle Tweedle: "The National Weather Service out of Norman has issued... " Nope, still a Tornado Watch.... still drinking coffee.

Tweedle Tweedle Tweedle... "The National Weather Service out of Norman has issued a Tornado Warning for ... " then from outside we hear the Siren mounted a mile away start to whine. Time to hit it.


We had it installed a few months after we bought the place and took a lot of ribbing for spending the money. But, if you drive thru Oklahoma, you see a lot of these things in the yards. You don't appreciate them until you need them.

(*** Note that the shelter now contains chairs, blankets, water, snacks etc.)


They look really welcome when the news people say "A tornado is reported on the ground and moving east..." and it's west of you.

I pulled the NOAA radio off it's mount on the wall by the door, and unplugged it from the charger. and we grabbed the dog and headed for the shelter. We sat out there for about forty minutes or so until Norman announced our area was back in Watch status until 11am this morning. The Warning status was downgraded.

What a way to start the day, but money well spent.

Not once, but twice I've had a tornado hit my back yard, skip over my house, and then drop down and tear things
up in front.

The first was in Northern Virginia during Hurricane David and I had no shelter, not even a basement. My lady
friend at the time lived in an apartment complex that had an all glass front and she was terrified so she was with me.
(We found a way to weather the storm you might say). She asked if that noise was a jet airplane flying really low and I
told her I thought it was a tornado going over. It was. I lost some trees out back but no damage to the house. The neighbors
across the street lost a roof.

The second was here in Minnesoooota. We had a basement here, but we actually slept through it. It hit down by the dock and
damaged my Cat Boat, then jumped the house and went down the drive tearing things all to hell. It took me six hours with a
chain saw and a tractor to clear a path to get out.

That shelter is a damn good idea especially where you live. " Tornado Alley".

my wife was born and raised in South Dakota where, over the years, she lived through many different tornado warnings .... tornadoes all too often visit our are in NC .... a shelter like yours is really a good thing to have .... do hope you never come out of it and see you've had a direct hit .... we seriously looked into building one but the water table here is too high

Nice that you had time to get the coffee going before the watch was upgraded to a warming. Happy it didn’t hit your place.

Nice shelter, you going to keep some SHTF stock in there ? My brother Ray lives in McLoud, Oklahoma he's seen some big twisters over the years but been lucky so far.. We Had a warning a few weeks ago here in SC, very common occurrence but usually not this late in the season.

JEBar wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:19 am

my wife was born and raised in South Dakota where, over the years, she lived through many different tornado warnings .... tornadoes all too often visit our are in NC .... a shelter like yours is really a good thing to have .... do hope you never come out of it and see you've had a direct hit .... we seriously looked into building one but the water table here is too high

They have some really nice above ground vault type ones now that have been the only things standing when tornados ripped thru neighborhoods and leveled them.

You made the right move getting that installed and then needing it. Good call Marine.

Is there a way (like a small hydraulic jack) to get the door open if some heavy debris was to land on it. Would hate to survive the tornado and then be trapped in the shelter.

Interesting!

dave77 wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 13, 2022 2:51 pm

Is there a way (like a small hydraulic jack) to get the door open if some heavy debris was to land on it. Would hate to survive the tornado and then be trapped in the shelter.

Not at this time, but both my daughter, two hours away, and the neighbor, 1/2 mile up the road check in after each warning. The neighbor especially. We check in with each other, since we both go into shelters.

We can pull internal pins in case the handle is jammed up outside, and release the latches from the inside manually by pulling the locking rods individually. I guess I could put the small floor jack and some 4x4s in there just in case...

Glad you are safe.

Sometimes I feel a little silly packing "survival" gear when I go hunting. Everywhere we go is normally no more than 2 miles from a paved road, and is crisscrossed with fire roads. I guess I spent too much time in aircrew survival refresher training. We always had some excellent gear onboard designed to help us survive and be rescued in the unlikely event we went down somewhere. I seriously doubt I will ever need anything in my little "survival kit", but there is always the possibility of getting into trouble tracking a wounded animal through the woods and having to spend the night in the wild probably in the cold and wet. There is also the chance of an injury. It never hurts to be prepared.

I would consider a storm shelter here, but we have a trailer park nearby that acts as a lightning rod for tornadoes.

Half the back seat in my truck was taken up by a rubbermaid tub with a locking lid, my survival kit. Blankets, first aid kit, hatchet, six pack of water, two boxes of energy bars, change of clothes for Miss T and I, four large bath towels... Etc.

Now that we rarely "go places." The back seat is taken up by a raised canvas covered foam pad the dog rides on so she can see out both windows.

That's a cool shelter for when SHTF. Looks zombie proof.

RanchRoper wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:08 pm

That's a cool shelter for when SHTF. Looks zombie proof.

Looks like a trap if the SHTF. I'd want high ground, with cleared fields of fire and long sight lines. Zombies? I'd want a moat... Yup, definately a moat.

clovishound wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 13, 2022 6:05 pm

I would consider a storm shelter here, but we have a trailer park nearby that acts as a lightning rod for tornadoes.

Am I wrong to find that amusing?

We have a storm system moving in tonight with tornados likely. We had a shelter installed about 4 years ago and know what you mean about folks ribbing you about it.

markiver54 wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:57 pm

clovishound wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 13, 2022 6:05 pm

I would consider a storm shelter here, but we have a trailer park nearby that acts as a lightning rod for tornadoes.

Am I wrong to find that amusing?

Well, humor was my intent. Apologies to anyone who lives in a trailer.

In reality, there is an area about 3 or 4 miles south of me that is a corridor that the storms love to roll through. There are several, you guessed it, trailer parks in that area, and there have been a number of tornadoes that have wreaked havoc in them over the years.

clovishound wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 13, 2022 6:05 pm

Glad you are safe.

Sometimes I feel a little silly packing "survival" gear when I go hunting. Everywhere we go is normally no more than 2 miles from a paved road, and is crisscrossed with fire roads. I guess I spent too much time in aircrew survival refresher training. We always had some excellent gear onboard designed to help us survive and be rescued in the unlikely event we went down somewhere. I seriously doubt I will ever need anything in my little "survival kit", but there is always the possibility of getting into trouble tracking a wounded animal through the woods and having to spend the night in the wild probably in the cold and wet. There is also the chance of an injury. It never hurts to be prepared.

I would consider a storm shelter here, but we have a trailer park nearby that acts as a lightning rod for tornadoes.

I always did the same thing when I hunted. Carried food, water, matches, fire starter, first aid kit, rain gear top and bottom, whistle, space blankets etc etc. I wore either a large fanny pack or a backpack. We hunted about three miles past a gate in an area with lots of logging roads as it was owned by a local timber company. So we were never near the truck. Fortunately no need for a storm shelter here as we don’t get the big nasty storms other parts of the country get way too often. We do have a basement we could use if we get a severe wind storm causing trees to come down.

Tornadoes are not uncommon here but our home is three stories with the walkout basement facing the lake.
We are also heavily wooded and trees do provide a wind break. Our loser level is heavily protected.
Back in 98 or so there was a class 5 tornado that devastated an area almost 150 miles long including St. Peter, Mn.
The last touch down it made was a mile south of our home. Scary stuff.