A Tornado Strikes – What to Do?
Some individuals have built a tornado shelter in their home; others have a reinforced interior room designed to withstand destructive winds and flying debris in a tornado. During a storm, those who live in upper-level apartments or mobile homes need to drive to a shelter for protection. Here's a look at various scenarios of shelters and how to know when it's time to hunker down.
Options for Tornado Shelter
The Federal Emergency Management Agency recommends that you build a tornado shelter for protection if you live in a tornado-prone area, especially the Oklahoma City. You've got some choices.
Underground Shelter
This is the best choice for comprehensive defense against strong winds and debris. Underground storm shelters are prebuilt buildings made of reinforced steel or concrete with walls and a roof. They are built below the garage or the yard, with a tornado shelter supply kit filled with everything you will need to survive the storm, you can store them in advance.
Fortified Space for Inside
Rocky soil conditions or high water tables make it difficult in some areas to build underground storm shelters. When this is the case, the next best thing is a reinforced ground-floor space. It is possible to install this building, made of wood and steel or reinforced concrete, in a new home while it is under construction. To protect against overturning in high wind, it is self-contained and fixed to the home's base. The room can act as a storage closet between storms.
Prebuilt Shelter
If your current home has no better place than an interior bathroom or closet to hunker down during a storm, consider adding a pre-built shelter. It is possible to build these 8-foot by 8-foot rooms of steel panels, welded steel, set over a skeleton of steel, or a prefab unit. With in-built shelters, this reinforced structure should be anchored to the base of the house and, when not in use, will act as a storage closet.
How to Locate a Tornado Shelter Group
You still have the option of evacuating to a tornado shelter in your area if you live in an apartment building or trailer house, or you can't build your own on-site shelter for another cause. Don't assume it's open, even if you know where the closest shelter is, even if a tornado warning has been given.
During extreme weather, when to take refuge
If you receive a warning on your mobile phone or hear that a tornado watch has been released on the television, radio or NOAA weather radio, this indicates that conditions are ripe for a tornado to develop. The time to act is now.
See us at EF5 Tornado Shelters in OKC to create below the ground or above the ground tornado shelters.