Tornado shelters

[Maggot]

Never thought of them before moving to Oklahoma but I see a lot of them advertised. All of them have only one door and most open outward. What happens if the tornado dumps half the house on the shelter and you cant get the door open...and its 110% and no cell phone service because the tornado fucked up everything for miles? You fucking roast and die, I'd rather be in the Oceangate, at least it was quick.

In thinking it over it seems the way to design them is:

-Above ground
-2 exits doors that both open in, one on each side of the shelter to give you a better chance of exit.
-Keep the chainsaw in there so you can open the door and cut your way out.

 

[Cowpokey]

Above ground is a bad idea...a 2x4 will go straight through a cinder block wall at tornado wind speed. I grew up in the middle of no where SD, everyone had a basement, that's where you went when a tornado was getting close...although I was in the farrowing barn when a small one picked up a calf shelter and skipped it across the roof, really did sound like a freight train going by, and there's no tracks for 15 miles.

 

[JimTN]

I've seen pictures of blades of grass driven into to fence posts like nails due to tornado's. I've been through a couple tornado's and several hurricanes, some minor some major. An interior room with no windows is a good place, like a bathroom, or closet. You can strengthen/build out those rooms with the intention of using them as a safety shelter when needed. Lots of options, depends on your situation and how much you want to spend.

 

[bobkhan]

I’m an Okie and I have one dug into the floor of my garage. I can access it through the garage without going out into the hail/rain. I can park my truck over the top for extra protection. It has a come along attached to the door to open it under load. I keep an air horn and a whistle in it to signal searchers if needed. Additionally it is registered with the FD so they know to look for us if required. This is the way

 

[101st]

I would think something like this but with a stronger door and a better looking wife.

 

[kenny1773]

My in-law's have one in their garage floor, I keep thinking the same thing. They are going to get trapped in it

Have food and water stored in it, and a camp toilet

Just hope the rescue team gets to you before you die. Alternative is you would be dead (assuming something powerful enough to trap you happened)

Not my picture, but this one was on the stronger end of an EF3. This is when I lived in Birmingham AL

It was headed directly for my no basement house (and I was home), then took a sudden right turn and missed me. about 50 something houses in my neighborhood were toast. No one died.

Tornados suck

 

[roostercogburn98]

Growing up in Arkansas, we had one that was separated from the house. It was cut into a hillside and only the front was visible. We spent many days and nights playing in that thing.

 

[Ichi]

This is the type of steel shelter that I seen in the DFW area.

 

[Maggot]

This is the type of steel shelter that I seen in the DFW area.

View attachment 8211209

I wouldnt trust that.

Above ground is a bad idea...a 2x4 will go straight through a cinder block wall at tornado wind speed. I grew up in the middle of no where SD, everyone had a basement, that's where you went when a tornado was getting close...although I was in the farrowing barn when a small one picked up a calf shelter and skipped it across the roof, really did sound like a freight train going by, and there's no tracks for 15 miles.

I was thinking 12" block over rebar then filled with concrete. Inward opening doors front and back and the chainsaw. Even so the air horn for signaling is a good idea...and water.

 

[lonegunman762x51]

Most are poured or precast concrete, not cinder blocks. Most if not all doors open inward, some outward. Most are set on a concrete slab with a number of steel anchors driven into the ground up to 12 feet. I'd rather be in a shelter than in a car or bathtub. It might turn out to be the best $4k you ever spent.

Last house we built, we had the contractor enclose and 8x20x8ft tall portion of the basement and just bought the door, no more tornado problems.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

One factor of "Global Awareness" is thinking situations through before they take place.
The big "What If" question with tornado's is "What if I am not next to my shelter when a tornado develops"?
My home was a 40' fifthwheel as I traveled for work. I always had a safe spot staked out.
First thing covered in new hire orientation in the Planes states was where to shelter when the sirens went off.

 

[rjacobs]

This is the type of steel shelter that I seen in the DFW area.

View attachment 8211209

I work with a guy who's brother in law builds one's like that for a living

He said the box will withstand like an EF4 I think, but the standard 3-4" of concrete in most residential homes will let go of the anchors at like an EF3... yea that sounds comforting.

 

[232593]

Trade you our illegals for your tornadoes.

 

[Landon4]

The ones in the garage are ok as long as it don’t flood and fill up with water, which happened for a couple people a few years ago. Ours is registered so someone will hopefully be looking after a tornado passes. Definitely keep water and some kind of food in there you never know how long you may be in there I would think at least 2 days worth of food would be plenty by then at least the neighbors would have checked on you. I live in a pretty rural area only about 5 neighbors around me in a square mile but we keep in touch with a couple of them during and after storms.

 

[Blue Sky Country]

I've seen pictures of blades of grass driven into to fence posts like nails due to tornado's. I've been through a couple tornado's and several hurricanes, some minor some major. An interior room with no windows is a good place, like a bathroom, or closet. You can strengthen/build out those rooms with the intention of using them as a safety shelter when needed. Lots of options, depends on your situation and how much you want to spend.

F0-lower F3, a hardened interior room or closet would be fine. High end F3-F5, must be underground. And in the case of F5s, nothing above would survive unscathed. The scouring effect is basically like a waterjet fully loaded with abrasive medium. It won't pick up anything, it would cut and scour straight through until only a few inches of foundation remain.

 

[Ronws]

May 3, 1999, the largest recorded F5 tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma, on the south side of Oklahoma City. The weatherman remembers calling the mayor, who's office was on the upper floors of the municipal building, to get in the parking below ground.

Final wind speed is not known because the anemometer was pegged hard at 315 mph. It was "scouring" the road, which means debris was removing smaller roads from the surface.

One of the survivors counted this as his third hit by a tornado. First time, he jumped in the bathtub with a small mattress and it hit one corner of his house.

Next one did significant damage. So, he had a tornado room built out of steel reinforced concrete that anchor in piers he had put in through his garage floor. So, the May 3rd tornado hit his house dead on and cleaned it off of the slab. He walked out to a really large "patio."

He was interviewed and asked if ever thought of moving. Nope, going to keep rebuilding.

In California, you cannot build an outhouse without it being earthquake ready with some beams designed to shear, others designed to flex.

In Florida, you cannot build an outhouse without using hurricane brackets from roof to wall.

But in Texas and Oklahoma, no tornado shelter is required as land improvement while building the house.

There is no safe place in a tornado. There are levels of safety.

interior room of a built on site house, specifically brick is okay. Better is to be in a building where the walls are hadite block with pea gravel and rebar every so often, such as the walls of a school gym.

Least safest is in your vehicle. Also not safe is a mobile home.

Next safest is in a drainage ditch laying face down.

Safest place is to not be in the way.

 

[Glowworm]

If you haven't built a bunker you're way late to the party.

 

[missed]

My buddy in Moore has one very similar to the one in the picture above. There house was wiped clean from the slab 5-6 years ago in that EF4. That shelter was glued down to the slab, due to the slab being post tension. There is red paint smeared up one side and across the top from where there chevy dually went across the top of it during the event. They were in it and walked out without a scratch. We built ours very similar to that one. Texas Tech has a bunch of shelter design information and they test them. Ours was 1/4" plate all around, 2x2x1/4" square tube in all the corners, and every 2 feet up. Door swing in with double drop bars to close, and could be opened from outside. Also had ham radio and cellular antennas surface mounted and protected on the top of it.

There is a TT design that uses 2x4 studs, Simpson anchors in the corners and the long wall, a layer of 3/4" plywood on the inside, layer of 3/4 ply outside, layer of sheet metal (thin enough that the nail gun could shoot through) and another layer of 3/4, then they used the same sheet metal overlapped each of the corners a foot in each direction. It passed the 250MPH straight line wind test and the projectile test. It was meant for a no-weld solution that could be installed in existing houses. My brother in law lives in Norman and they have one of the coffins in the garage floor, a few years back they had a rain wrapped tornado come through and they live at the lowest point in there street in the corner. The water rushed down the street, blew the garage door out and filled the shelter full of water. They were in the shelter standing on stuff to keep there heads above the water. They have one of the above ground ones now (not sure exactly which one), they were hit again this last winter the house was almost a total loss. I think God hates that part of OK.

 

[sakoguy21]

Great thread, I'd like to see more pictures of these plans...

 

[supercorndogs]

I watched a story the other day where this kid asked his dad if he remembered when Buffy the vampire slayer saved his life? His was like yep. Everyone headed to the shelter by the father refused because he didn't want to miss the season premier. Tree fell and braced the door shut on all the neighbors in the shelter. Sevral hours later he is like where is everyone. Finds a tree bracing the shelter door shut. I don't know if it's true but it's a funny story.

 

[supercorndogs]

I worked with a guy at Unit Drilling who was in that ef5 by ok city. He said it even pulled up the grass out of the ground.

 

[Clob McStrunk]

pull up Colin Furze on the YouTube’s, he’s got all us beat

 

[Maxduty]

I’m an Okie and I have one dug into the floor of my garage. I can access it through the garage without going out into the hail/rain. I can park my truck over the top for extra protection. It has a come along attached to the door to open it under load. I keep an air horn and a whistle in it to signal searchers if needed. Additionally it is registered with the FD so they know to look for us if required. This is the way

Ive always thought keepin the vehicles in the garage with them was a good idea. I'd love to have a broken gas line or an overturned vehicle dumping fumes into a hole I'm trapped in, waiting for the first spark to set me free.

 

[doubloon]

Oklahoma tornadoes: Aboveground shelters stood up in face of EF5 Moore tornado​

Oklahoma tornadoes: Aboveground shelters stood up in face of EF5 Moore tornado

Researchers who toured Moore after the May 20 tornado said aboveground storm shelters held up well in the storm and can be a better choice than underground storm cellars.

www.oklahoman.com

 

[Landon4]

Yeah I’ve never been a fan of the ones in the garage for that reason and if your vehicle is in there you gotta move it outside so what’s the point of a garage because if it’s hailing your car is going to be smoked if the tornado doesn’t hit you of course if it does hit you the car will be gone anyway. Plus I’d probably have to much shit in the way when I needed it, we have one of the in ground ones next to my shop only about 30’ from the house we only get in it if there’s one confirmed on the ground close by.

 

[Ronws]

I worked on some houses about 20 years ago that had safe rooms built in. Usually, it was a closet in the center of the house with either extra layers of plywood or some other lining.

I saw one house that had a shelter underneath.

But yeah, ability to get out is important, In my county, property storm shelters are domed things mostly in the ground and away from the house. So, you do have to make a few steps to get to it but there is a slightly better chance of a ton of debris not landing on the door.

My brother gets away from tornados by living in Maine and visiting his fiance's family in the UK.

 

[Snipe260]

I wouldnt trust that.

I was thinking 12" block over rebar then filled with concrete. Inward opening doors front and back and the chainsaw. Even so the air horn for signaling is a good idea...and water.

I have a safe room in my garage that’s exactly as you describe! Except only one door. It opens inward.

 

[fpgt72]

Around here most of them are built into the ground, Wizard of Oz style. Personally I think this is really the best idea. Keeping it dry depends on your specific bit of land, drainage and water table things. It is suggested to have it below the "frost line". If you live in the country this is pretty easy thing to do, it can be as complex or simple as you want. I know people that have shipping containers under ground. I think that is ideal. I think sooner or later it is going to rust, but you will not be using it when that happens, you will have returned to dust already. This thing can do many different jobs.

Things along these lines.

 

[Maggot]

Around here most of them are built into the ground, Wizard of Oz style. Personally I think this is really the best idea. Keeping it dry depends on your specific bit of land, drainage and water table things. It is suggested to have it below the "frost line". If you live in the country this is pretty easy thing to do, it can be as complex or simple as you want. I know people that have shipping containers under ground. I think that is ideal. I think sooner or later it is going to rust, but you will not be using it when that happens, you will have returned to dust already. This thing can do many different jobs.

Things along these lines.

What happens if the tornado picks up a house and drips it right on the opening? I want at least two ways out.

 

[pyplynr]

Another lifelong Okie here. Been through a few of them. Above ground seems great until the nader picks up a 1 ton pickup and tosses it at that above ground shelter. I had mine built level with the ground and have a 5 ton hydraulic jack and a pipe that can lift the door up at least enough to squeeze out if something is on it. As for the heat, the ground temp keeps it somewhat cool year round. I have water and whatnot down there if need be. I also use mine for extra food storage because it is 8'x11' inside. I'm sure you could get one built with 2 doors but unless the shelter is the size of your house, both doors will probably be covered if the house falls on it. I'd never have one built in the garage, but that's the only location a lot of folks can put them if they live in town. I had mine built on the southwest side of my house because 90% of tornados come from 1 or both of those directions. My hope is if it hits my house, it pulls all the debris down the path of it and clears off what would be on my shelter. Air horns and good neighbors will get attention that your in there. There is also a county registry that you can put your shelter on so if that area is hit they know to look for a shelter.

 

[missed]

FEMA shelter information

https://rems.ed.gov/docs/fema_p361_July2016_508[1].pdf

TTU in residence shelters

https://www.depts.ttu.edu/nwi/research/images/inresshelter.php

 

[fpgt72]

What happens if the tornado picks up a house and drips it right on the opening? I want at least two ways out.

With the ones built into a "hill" around here, I think the general thinking is it is close enough to be close, and far enough away to be less likely to have big bits block the way. Plus if you are in there with food water and above all air, if it is a tornado people will find you soon enough. Even the guy that has the shipping container in the ground has one way in or out. Even "bunkers" generally have one way in or out. Researching the 1960's craze of fall out shelters is interesting to do and you can learn a great deal. Personally I am not really worried about a tree blocking me in, or bits of a tree. I do however question those round metal tubes bolted to the ground in the garage. The tube will deflect better then the flat ones, but it just seems like not a good idea.

 

[EddieNFL]

Just avoid trailer parks.

 

[Ronws]

Just avoid trailer parks.

Yep, they are tornado magnets.

 

[bobkhan]

I am not very worried about being trapped in mine. So the house collapses on top of it? As long as it survives the impact I’ll get dug out.

Oklahoma has two state pastimes: standing on the porch until the last minute watching the tornado coming, and running out and checking on the neighbors as soon as the debris stops falling.

 

[sakoguy21]

I'm interested in above ground shelters, here in northern ND I never worried about tornados until this fucker showed up. Came within 2 miles and destroyed farm equipment and bins.

 

[Downtown]

Keep in mind the only problem with above ground shelters are those stories told about a F4 or 5 scouring the ground completely smooth of everything, even sucking the grass out. A direct hit like that likely? No. Possible? Yes

 

[Ronws]

Keep in mind the only problem with above ground shelters are those stories told about a F4 or 5 scouring the ground completely smooth of everything, even sucking the grass out. A direct hit like that lively? No. Possible? Yes

Thats what the May 1999 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma was doing. The weatherman told the mayor, "nothing above ground is surviving."

 

[doubloon]

Keep in mind the only problem with above ground shelters are those stories told about a F4 or 5 scouring the ground completely smooth of everything, even sucking the grass out. A direct hit like that likely? No. Possible? Yes

Exactly. Why bother? It's not worth the time and effort.

Just like that Glock9. It's not going to stop that raging lunatic wearing body armor with an AK shooting everybody at the mall unless you get a lucky shot so why bother.

 

[Downtown]

Well, I think the point was that underground shelters offer better protection in areas with higher chances of very severe tornados.

 

[doubloon]

Ma Deuce mounted on top of a technical handled by an operator offers better protection for grocery runs in a post hurricane looting environment but that doesn't mean I shouldn't carry a sidearm if it's all I can afford.

 

[Maggot]

I am not very worried about being trapped in mine. So the house collapses on top of it? As long as it survives the impact I’ll get dug out.

Oklahoma has two state pastimes: standing on the porch until the last minute watching the tornado coming, and running out and checking on the neighbors as soon as the debris stops falling.

Thats a good thing. I hope I never need to. I see the advantage of being underground.

 

[Jgault]

Considering I have a better chance getting killed everyday by a multitude of things(car accident, motorcycle accident, crime, my wife ect…) I just don’t pay allot of attention to it, if I get taken out by a tornado then it was just my time to go. That being said I’ve seen a ft worth multistory office building twisted almost 2 feet around on its foundation by a tornado, so I doubt many above ground tornado structures would be as effective as anything below ground, and if it did hit a above ground unit it could very well just throw you and it a half mile down the road.

 

[Death From A Distance]

I miss Oklahoma, and Del Rancho

I studied underground shelters quite a bit, and cost is the biggest factor. I found the corrugated metal culvert pipe construction to the most cost effective, and full of options.

Projects - Underground Shelter - Pacific Corrugated Pipe Company

Location: California Products: Corrugated Steel Pipe Summary: We love when our customers find unique and innovative ways to use corrugated metal pipe. These pictures show you some underground shelters. Our customer does an outstanding job in completing these structures with all the comforts of...

pcpipe.com

I have attached some bomb shelter plans in pdf, that are based on block construction