Tornado Survival; Some Tips

https://people.com/human-interest/tenn-residents-reveal-harrowing-stories-survival-deadly-tornadoes/


Per ...

Note a "toppled chimney". Consider having a hard hat as part of preparedness. There are additional benefits besides not directly dealing with toppled chimneys. Attach a light and fluorescent tape on it, on strap, keep a whistle, ...

Note "the gas was leaking". Many studies addressed whether to keep tools in toolbox at a central location or specific tool at anticipated area of need. With tool costs so reduced, relatively speaking, consider arrangements to do both.

Note "escape ... via a basement window". Time to check ease of opening windows and consider WD-40'ing certain areas of window. Here, there are no basements because this place is a tidal flood plain. Upstairs, in case of GOOD, ... via a rope ladder, I've got some gym mat type of padding for bottom of window in case vacating premises. Both Madam and I are no longer in shape to use aged bods for direct touch of window frame if/when leaving this shack.

Prep, prep, prep
and
factor in safety.

 

And pop for an above ground tornado shelter if you live in a trailer or basement-free home, too.

 

This is a very realistic possibility for us. Fortunately we do have a basement. A word of caution, DO NOT rely on sirens warning you what is coming. We had a tornado pass within a few hundred yards of our house. No siren. No freight train sound. One of the neighbors took videos with his phone.

 

Had a great uncle who lived in Ohio. He and his family kept their eye on the barometer reading. If the barometric pressure dropped precipitously, they would head for the basement. I remembered his doing that when I moved our family to the Midwest. Barry Barometer was kept out for this purpose. Yes, I named the barometer, Barry. Barack O'Badweather.

I pulled a stupid one time while living there. I tried to skirt-past a big storm. It almost stepped on me. I thought my truck was going to tip over; 70+ mph winds; big limbs tearing out of trees and being thrown into cars. There was a tornado inside of that storm and I could have gotten hit by it. There was near-zero visibility. I copped a bit more respect for storms/tornadoes after that. Southerners imagine that they can stand up to anything. Down Texas way, that attribute didn't work-out so well for Davey Crockett (who was raised less than 20 miles from where I was raised).

If a cluster of storms are in your area, you should also use a battery-operated radio to listen for tornado warnings.
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The Deep South just got slammed.

"Mississippi tornado: death toll of 25 highest in the state in 21st century"

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...issippi-alabama-rolling-fork?ref=upstract.com

"Devastating storms and at least one large tornado which ripped through rural Mississippi on Friday night left 25 people dead in the state, dozens injured and rescue workers hauling people from rubble throughout Saturday, as the state reeled from its highest tornado-related death toll in decades.

"Severe weather pounded several southern states overnight as the centers of destruction emerged on Saturday morning as the small, majority Black towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City in the Mississippi delta.

"As the sheer scale of devastation was revealed, Rolling Fork’s mayor Eldridge Walker declared: 'My city is gone.'”






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Images of Mississippi tornado damage

https://www.bing.com/images/search?...E1619B6&ghsh=0&ghacc=0&first=1&cw=1475&ch=797


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Storm shelters save lives.

One can build their own shelter or there are pre-fab units and kits. If the shelter is above ground, obviously it must be anchored in a profoundly solid way, steel into concrete, concrete- or cinder-blocks must have steel rods running through them and these rods must continue down into the concrete slab below. Wind speeds can exceed 200 mph. The human mind can't wrap itself around this sort of force. Plus the wind is full of killer debris, sections of barns, cattle, cars, ..., mind-numbing.

I once got too close to a passing tornado (thought I could outrun the storm cell) and got hit with peripheral winds, still they were over 70 mph / 115 kph (???; the brunt of the tornado hit a small town next to me and did lots of damage). The Ford Explorer I was in almost got tipped over. Just behind me was a stand of trees and the cars back there were getting pummeled with big tree limbs and whatever else -- I could barely see (this was in farm land). I got down in the vehicle and covered myself with a Swiss rain poncho because I figured that any moment my windows were going to get blown out. I'd waited too late to get out of the vehicle and find shelter; so, now had I gotten out, I would have gotten shredded by debris. The vehicle took a beating.

Suggestion: Do not try to skirt around a tornado. Big mistake.
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https://sciencing.com/speeds-tornadoes-8266645.html

"EF-2 tornadoes produce wind speeds between 111 and 135 miles per hour. A traditional home will shift on its foundation and lose large sections of roof. Mobile homes will be completely destroyed. Apartment buildings will experience uplift of their roof deck and suffer significant loss of roofing material.

"EF-3 tornadoes produce wind speeds between 136 and 165 miles per hour. Most walls, except for small interior ones, will collapse in a traditional home. Apartment buildings will suffer the collapse of their roof structure, and a strong EF-3 tornado will cause the collapse of most walls on the top floor.

"EF-4 tornadoes produce wind speeds between 166 to 200 miles per hour. These winds will collapse all the walls of a traditional house. Apartment buildings will suffer the destruction of their top two stories.

"EF-5 tornadoes produce wind speeds that exceed 200 miles per hour. The slabs of traditional homes will be swept clean and apartment buildings will be completely destroyed."
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These folk sure are glad they had storm shelters:

 

That made the UK news last light - horrendous damage and dreadful loss of life.

 

If I were to build a house down there, I'd have its first floor all garage and basement in case of flooding. My core building structure would be made of concrete blocks with rebar rods extending through the blocks down into the concrete foundation and the block openings then filled with Portland cement. Maybe that's too expensive, overkill; but hey, one is protecting their family.



I don't know if there's any way to tornado-proof a roof, but one could build a hurricane-resistant roof and pray you don't get a direct hit. If one does get a direct hit and the roof goes, at least the walls won't cave-in. Irrespective of how strong the building, one's gotta have a safe room/shelter if living in tornado country. Tornadoes are basically traveling bombs.