First off, I am sorry to hear the news and wish everyone the best during the difficult times down there. The thing I am interested in is what people across the country do to protect themselves in the event of a tornado. Here in the upper Midwest 99.9% of all homes are built with a full size block or poured concrete basements. Many people actually turn that into finished living space. My understanding is there are some parts of the country that this is not the case. Admittedly I don't know what parts of the country do and don't have basements. Pretty curious about that. My understanding is that houses without basements are built with just crawl spaces or no basement at all. Is it possible the reason for the high death toll today that people did not have a good sturdy place to seek shelter from the storm?
We are not used to tornadoes at all Brad. We don't have a weather radio or anything. I was dozing off last night and luckily my wife was up doing work at 10:45pm when she heard the "seek shelter immediately" alarm go off on the tv. I grabbed two of my kids, she grabbed one and we ran downstairs into the basement(pour concrete/below ground). My aunt on the other hand lives in Ardmore, Oklahoma and when I was out there last year she showed me her weather radio and also she showed me a "closet" that is made out of reinforced steel bars placed directly into a massive concrete slab. That is her 'panic room' as several tornadoes have ripped through where she lives recently and have killed people.
Glad you guys are OK Brett. Do most homes have basements by you? I've been through a couple tornadoes in my life and I can't imagine how scared I would be if I was not below ground. Around here, if you live in or by any town, village or city, the primary notification system here is for the city sirens to go off which you can hear for a long ways. If you live in the country you only have a weather radio or TV to get notification.
Most single family homes around here have basements. But many people around here live in apartments and condos, plus we are not very aware/cognizant of tornadoes. I cannot imagine what would have happened last night if a real tornadoe touched down and neither my wife nor I was up to hear that alarm. I don't think I could have forgiven myself if one of my kids/wife would have gotten hurt.
It is almost impossible to have a basement in LA (same with MS and Alabama I assume). The water level is at 5-6 feet in most places. Nobody has basements around here. We had several tornadoes touch down Tuesday night (same storm that just destroyed Alabama and MS). My house has about a 1 foot crawl space beneath the house. If a tornado would have come at my house, I would have went to the front bathroom, in the center of the house, with no windows, and sat in the old bathtub with pillows over my head. It's what I was taught to do as a child. Luckily, we were spared. But several more rural communities were not. Lots of destruction in the South right now, especially in Alabama.
There are very few homes that have full basements here. Most homes have crawl spaces. And its near impossible to find a new home with one, most that have them are 20+ years old.
I would think the lack of a basements significantly contributed to the loss of life. I feel helpless sitting at work wishing I could somehow help you guys. The worst thing I have to worry about today is the threat of snow showers.
Thoughts and prayers go out to all the people affected by these storms. I have family around oklahoma city, they don't have basements down there due to the clay ground shifting all the time, so they have to have storm shelters built. pretty scary stuff!
Not many here with basements either pretty much because of what Hook said with the water table being so close to the surface. And the fact that we don't get a lot of tornadoes just hurricanes and if we have bad weather we go to my parents bathroom.
I guess I would be screwed if a tornado came through my neighborhood. Most houses around me have basements but I'm on a slab. I wonder if getting inside my fireplace would be wise if a tornado was right outside our house? I could always run to a neighbors house if there was time. Have you guys seen these safe rooms? http://www.tornadosaferoom.com/workbench.html
