Mississippi Weather Fun

EricV

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Tornado sirens going off, tornado warnings on the radio and emergency alerts. North of us for the last few hours, now South of us with specific warnings for ~20 miles from the house. Nothing much here except some off and on rain and fast moving clouds. Caught a patch of blue sky just now too.

Locals tell me Spring is really when things ramp up for tornados. We had an F2 very close by, (sub 2 miles), back in early Nov. Nothing like the F4 that hit Alabama recently.

They always say seek shelter when you hear the sirens and don't wait until you see the tornado or it may be too late. But I just don't see it happening for most people. No one's going to hide in the shelter for hours waiting. No shelter here. One small room, (laundry), that doesn't have an outside wall. Brick exterior, mostly, but I hope to not have to test the survivability of that one interior room. Only thing different about today Vs last Nov is that the Code Red didn't go off on the phones. I guess if that happens again, I'll drag the wife into that interior room for a while. It's got the usual supplies, water, food, a crank radio, back up power for the cell phones, LED lantern, etc.

My first time living somewhere that gets tornados. Been in my share of small, (4.0-5.2 stuff), earthquakes, but never anything with life threatening stuff.

For those that have these types of events, what else do you do to prepare?
 

Bigbore4

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What you describe is all you really need, storms cells usually move through in a couple hours.. We live at the top of tornado alley. We get lots of activity in MN, fortunately we have never been hit. Not from first hand experience, after is where shit gets real. Someone else I am sure will be along that has that unfortunate experience.
 
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ballisticexchris

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Tornado room in the house is a must. And have supplies ready to go while your in there
 

RCinNC

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Add a first aid kit with a couple field dressings to those supplies in the small room; lots of sharp things start flying around inside a house if the windows blow out or the roof comes off.

if you have time when the sirens blow, you could drag one of your mattresses into the laundry room and shelter under it. If that won't fit, layers of blankets can help. Anything to cushion impact from flying debris. As dumb as it sounds, even wearing your motorcycle helmet while you're hunkering down could be a lifesaver.

I've never lived out of tornado country. Up north we at least had a basement. Down here in NC, I'm in the same boat at you; one interior room (a closet) with no windows.
 

HeliMark

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I am moving to an area that does get tornado's several times a year here shortly, and will be watching this thread with interest.
 
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magic

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Check with your neighbors to see if anyone has an underground shelter. If you plan on staying there long term consider having one installed. We were house shopping, found a home without a basement that I liked. Wife was all shook up about the lack of a basement. I got some prices on in ground shelters. They ranged in price from $5000-$20,000. Some are installed through/under your garage slab. The house sold before we could make an offer. Or you could build a safe room in your home or garage. I'm sure there are local companies that could help you out. Make sure your homeowners insurance covers everything.
 

EricV

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All good stuff guys. Thanks for the info. First aid kit is something I forgot, and a great thing to have handy. Our moto gear is right around the wall, in the garage, so we now have that in the plan to grab the jackets and helmets if we had to the laundry room to ride out an event. Nothing like some armor to help prevent injuries if things get to that point.

I also have a couple of large camp chairs stashed in the room. More comfortable than the tiny ones we take moto camping. If we get stuck in there for a while, at least we'll have a place to sit.

Part of me wants to replace the door with something heavier duty or even one of the safe room/shelter doors they advertise for inside homes. The hollow core standard door won't stop anything to speak of. The garage wall is sheet rock and paneling, so slightly better than the other wall, two layers of sheet rock to the master bedroom. The area in the attic above the laundry is actually covered in plywood for storage, so tiny bit of help there. You never know what will happen when the s*#t hits the fan.

If we end up adding on to the garage, we may budget in a shelter there, bolted to the slab.
 

RCinNC

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It's very rare for people here in the south to construct underground shelters (or basements), primarily because of the expense of underground construction. High water tables mean that underground concrete structures tend to float. Either that, or they leak constantly and become underground swimming pools unless you run pumps constantly. Mold growth also becomes a big factor, including nasty stuff like black mold. The clay content in the ground also creates problems with underground building. In the south, the clay gets very expansive when it's wet, and the expansion and contraction of the clay creates problems for underground concrete structures that you don't see up north, and results in prohibitive building costs for most people. That's pretty much why none of the houses down here have basements.

It's ironic that most places in Tornado Alley don't have building regulations that require houses to be hardened against high winds, the way they are in places like Florida for hurricanes. Most of the damage to a house occurs when the roofs lift off, which can happen even when you aren't right in the tornado's path. Once the roof comes off, the integrity of the house is totally compromised.

They do make above ground tornado shelters; I don't know what they cost, but it's got to be magnitudes less than trying to build anything underground in Mississippi.

https://survive-a-storm.com/residential-storm-shelters/residential-above-ground/
 

EricV

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They do make above ground tornado shelters; I don't know what they cost, but it's got to be magnitudes less than trying to build anything underground in Mississippi.

https://survive-a-storm.com/residential-storm-shelters/residential-above-ground/
The local Home Depot sells the Twister Pod Max and Extreme versions. The Extreme is $5400, the Pod is $3700. No idea if that is installed or not. The larger one does have bench seats inside with lockable storage underneath.
 
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RCinNC

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I'd say the Pod would be cheaper than any EF5 rated renovations you'd need to make to an existing structure (once you figure in the costs of permits, inspections, material, etc). Looking at the design, it looks like you'd just need a concrete drill and a slab to bolt the thing to in order to install it (though no doubt there's more to it than that, in order to meet the EF5-proof rating).
 

EricV

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Thanks guys. Not sure if we will add on to the garage or not. If we did, one of the free standing units bolted to the slab would make sense and there would be space for it. They seem to epoxy the bolts into the slab, 4" thick or more. No big deal, install wise. What magic linked to includes install. The underground ones in the garage are around $7500, the above ground more like $5-6k depending on options. At those prices, the Home Depot ones probably include installation too.
 

RCinNC

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Good luck on whatever method you decide, Eric. Rest assured that statistically, the odds are well in your favor that you'll never need to use either one of them.
 

EricV

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You know how it goes, you install something like this and the odds seem to go up that you'll never need it. Don't, and it really sucks to wish you did later. We're not super stressed about it, but it's on our list of considerations. I do believe in planning ahead to a reasonable degree. I'm not a prepper, nor do I play one on TV. Hopefully a life of developing skills and resources will hold up well, should the need arise.
 

Byron

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Tornado sirens going off, tornado warnings on the radio and emergency alerts. North of us for the last few hours, now South of us with specific warnings for ~20 miles from the house. Nothing much here except some off and on rain and fast moving clouds. Caught a patch of blue sky just now too.

Locals tell me Spring is really when things ramp up for tornados. We had an F2 very close by, (sub 2 miles), back in early Nov. Nothing like the F4 that hit Alabama recently.

They always say seek shelter when you hear the sirens and don't wait until you see the tornado or it may be too late. But I just don't see it happening for most people. No one's going to hide in the shelter for hours waiting. No shelter here. One small room, (laundry), that doesn't have an outside wall. Brick exterior, mostly, but I hope to not have to test the survivability of that one interior room. Only thing different about today Vs last Nov is that the Code Red didn't go off on the phones. I guess if that happens again, I'll drag the wife into that interior room for a while. It's got the usual supplies, water, food, a crank radio, back up power for the cell phones, LED lantern, etc.

My first time living somewhere that gets tornados. Been in my share of small, (4.0-5.2 stuff), earthquakes, but never anything with life threatening stuff.

For those that have these types of events, what else do you do to prepare?
I see you are in Tupelo. I live in Saltillo so, hello neighbor.
 

EricV

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I see you are in Tupelo. I live in Saltillo so, hello neighbor.
I noticed that on your welcome post and responded there. :)

Hello. We should get together for lunch sometime.
 

Byron

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I noticed that on your welcome post and responded there. :)

Hello. We should get together for lunch sometime.
I didn’t realize you were that close. If you are on Facebook, look up North Mississippi Dual Sport and Adventure Riderz and ask to join.
 

EricV

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LOL, not a FB person. Maybe the wife will check it out.
 
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