re: Tornado! - Bassfield, MS rated EF-4 w/ 63 Mile Track, Peak Winds 170 mph

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If you were following this thread you could easily just head straight south 15-20 before it arrives. The guys tracking them here can tell you exactly where they’re headed for the most part.

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You’re right. That’s why I’ve been perusing this thread all afternoon. The OT has this thing down to a science.

I keep saying I'm going to do one big enough for the whole neighborhood (only about 8 people in our loop), but the statistics from people who have shelters in their home vs. ones outside of it and how they fared after a direct hit are striking:

The further that shelter is from the comfort of your own home, the less likely you are to be better off than the folks without a shelter...because you're bound to wait until it's too late so as to circumvent the inconvenience of sprinting through hail and torrential rain to get there. It's one of those conundrums where you can see on your phone or the forecast that you've got 20 minutes or so, and you don't want to sit in there for that long (and longer), but by the time the damn thing is 5 minutes away it may be too late.

From some research years back, by far the safest tornado shelter is an underground one inside of your home (garage, etc.), but unfortunately that is the one type of shelter that's the least most "doable" as far as retrofitting one in goes.

I've seen first-hand the damage from an EF4, and outside of a miracle, I can't imagine anyone above ground surviving a direct hit from an EF5.

Repost bc bottom of page

’ve though about it as well

My issue is that the ppl who built my house built a block safe room much like the one you just described, idk any of the specifics as to its design or if it’s sealed in concrete or what but I know it’s block. Issue is the geniuses built it to where 3 sides of it are an exterior wall, so I really don’t know if we are better off in there or an interior bathroom

I kind of think the safe room bc the interior bathroom is only a half bath and is only one wall removed from an exterior wall. Or, at least I think it’s considered an exterior wall. There’s the bathroom door which faces a wall, which faces our garage door and knowing how poorly garage doors stand up to these things to me that’s an exterior wall



If you can’t tell I’ve pondered all this quite a bit and don’t know what to do

Tell me what to expect overnight in GA please, Im slightly to the east of ATL. I understand we don't have the atmospheric conditions present for an outbreak like MS but is that expected to change overnight?

Our local mets are fearmongering right now so looking for some truth.

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Repost bc bottom of page

’ve though about it as well

My issue is that the ppl who built my house built a block safe room much like the one you just described, idk any of the specifics as to its design or if it’s sealed in concrete or what but I know it’s block. Issue is the geniuses built it to where 3 sides of it are an exterior wall, so I really don’t know if we are better off in there or an interior bathroom

I kind of think the safe room bc the interior bathroom is only a half bath and is only one wall removed from an exterior wall. Or, at least I think it’s considered an exterior wall. There’s the bathroom door which faces a wall, which faces our garage door and knowing how poorly garage doors stand up to these things to me that’s an exterior wall



If you can’t tell I’ve pondered all this quite a bit and don’t know what to do

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wait... so they made you a "tornado safe room" above ground but put it where 3 of the 4 walls are external to the building

that doesn't seem wise... or very "tornado safe"

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've seen first-hand the damage from an EF4, and outside of a miracle, I can't imagine anyone above ground surviving a direct hit from an EF5.

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This is patently false. Both the Texas Tech tornado certifiers and FEMA both certify above ground tornado shelters to withstand EF-5 tornados. The in ground ones are much less safe due to flooding and the potential of being trapped even if you have a jack system.

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If you can’t tell I’ve pondered all this quite a bit and don’t know what to do

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If it was built to code, it wouldn't matter where it was located in the house. Many people have them built/installed in their garages. Most all of the safe room type shelters are built with a substantial footer and the block have rebar and are filled with concrete. The rebar sticks out of the top of the shelter by 3 feet and is bent over, then concrete is poured on top of the structure.
The amount of rebar our neighbors had to buy was unreal and the whole process took around 3 weeks to complete.

And I need a diagram of how 3 walls are on the exterior

That airport wreckage=some unhappy insurance companies.