Tornado warnings/safe place in house?

[luvmylittleboy2003]

I'm asking because we just moved into our house in KY from CO (tornado's just don't happen much in CO) , and already this morning have had two tornado warnings. What do you do if you have no safe place? Our house has no closets, bathrooms, basement that are safe (all are on exterior walls and tons of windows throughout...so what are we suppose to do?

 

[Hercules10]

Middle of house. As close to any support structure as possible. Key thing is to keep away from glass.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I'm asking because we just moved into our house in KY from CO (tornado's just don't happen much in CO) , and already this morning have had two tornado warnings. What do you do if you have no safe place? Our house has no closets, bathrooms, basement that are safe (all are on exterior walls and tons of windows throughout...so what are we suppose to do?

Do you have a basement? If you do, you go to the basement.

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

Middle of house. As close to any support structure as possible. Key thing is to keep away from glass.

See our house don't have that, there are windows and doors throughout our entire bottom floor. I really miss my basement I had in CO, I didn't even need it there - don't that figure

 

[HsvTeacher]

We go to an interior hallway and make sure all the doors off the hallway are closed.

Stay safe!

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

Do you have a basement? If you do, you go to the basement.

Nope no basement, just a main floor and upstairs. This morning when the sirens were blaring I thought about getting in my car and going to the nearest store!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Nope no basement, just a main floor and upstairs. This morning when the sirens were blaring I thought about getting in my car and going to the nearest store!

OK, then what you do is get a mattress and get into the bathtub. ETA...Mattress is on top of the bathtub.

However seeing the interviews here in MO with our recent tornado damage, some people had 90 seconds to get to safety.

Of course they were all outside watching it roll in. It is a mid-west thing. The sirens go off and that means go outside and watch it.

You will KNOW if it is going to hit. Everyone says it sounds like a freight train and the pressure fells like it is going to blow out your ear drums.

 

[Anna_Marie]

We go to an interior hallway and make sure all the doors off the hallway are closed.

Stay safe!

This is what we do.

 

[Liberty Belle]

The bathtub is a great idea (as long as there's no water in it!). I've heard of people surviving in their bathtubs after their houses get hit by tornados.

 

[golfgal]

I agree with the bathtub and mattress. If you don't have a mattress, lots of blankets will help too.

You really don't have a single closet in your house? Do your bathrooms have windows or are they just on outside walls? Is your stairway upstairs open or is there a room under that?

The key is to get into an area that has extra structural support. Even a bathroom on an exterior wall with no windows is better than being a sitting duck.

 

[Traveliz]

Nope no basement, just a main floor and upstairs. This morning when the sirens were blaring I thought about getting in my car and going to the nearest store!

DO NOT get in your car and go anywhere...if the sirens are blaring that typically means a tornado has been spotted and the last place you want to be is in a car during a tornado.

Liz

 

[bettymae1121]

The safest place is the lowest level of your home, which is of course the ground floor if you have no basement. Then you should be in a windowless room (closet or bathroom that has no window). I can see not having a windowless bathroom, but surely you at least have a coat closet you could use? If not then just stay as close to the center of the house that you can, get down on the floor and cover your heads. If you have time, try to grab blankets to cover you for some protection against flying glass.

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

I agree with the bathtub and mattress. If you don't have a mattress, lots of blankets will help too.

You really don't have a single closet in your house? Do your bathrooms have windows or are they just on outside walls? Is your stairway upstairs open or is there a room under that?

The key is to get into an area that has extra structural support. Even a bathroom on an exterior wall with no windows is better than being a sitting duck.

Our closets on the main floor are all on exterior walls, the ones that isn't has a hot water heater in it . The main floor bathroom is just a bathroom and sink...no tub, it also falls on a exterior wall, but, it doesn't have any windows...guess thats where we will hunker down this afternoon (they are calling for more severe weather then). Love my house and how open it is, but, really bad design for storms/tornados

 

[golfgal]

Our closets on the main floor are all on exterior walls, the ones that isn't has a hot water heater in it . The main floor bathroom is just a bathroom and sink...no tub, it also falls on a exterior wall, but, it doesn't have any windows...guess thats where we will hunker down this afternoon (they are calling for more severe weather then). Love my house and how open it is, but, really bad design for storms/tornados

Is there room in the hot water heater closet to go in there? If so, the extra plumbing around that closet would be a good thing.

Do you have a pantry in your kitchen? What about your laundry room? Is there space in there?

 

[golfgal]

DO NOT get in your car and go anywhere...if the sirens are blaring that typically means a tornado has been spotted and the last place you want to be is in a car during a tornado.

Liz

Unless you live in our county that sounds the horns any time there is a severe thunderstorm anywhere in the county. We were out playing golf one evening and the sirens went off. We were looking around at the perfectly blue skies thinking what the heck-there was a severe thunderstorm in the far northern part of the county and we were in the far souther part of the county-45 minutes away. Didn't even get as much as a rain drop on the course. It's really stupid because people tend to ignore the sirens because they go off for no real reason.

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

Is there room in the hot water heater closet to go in there? If so, the extra plumbing around that closet would be a good thing.

Do you have a pantry in your kitchen? What about your laundry room? Is there space in there?

There is room in the closet with the hot water heater, but, was afraid to go in there in case in was knocked loose and started spewing hot water on us.

Pantry is in laundry room, next to kitchen, on exterior wall with a window

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Our closets on the main floor are all on exterior walls, the ones that isn't has a hot water heater in it . The main floor bathroom is just a bathroom and sink...no tub, it also falls on a exterior wall, but, it doesn't have any windows...guess thats where we will hunker down this afternoon (they are calling for more severe weather then). Love my house and how open it is, but, really bad design for storms/tornados

Honestly you do not need to "hunker down" until you have a confirmed tornado spotted on the ground, a wall cloud in your area or high winds.

Just because sirens are going off does not mean a tornado has been spotted either. They go off here for potential rotation or severe weather and not just for tornadoes.

Your best line of information is your local weather, watching the sky yourself, or a weather radio.

We watch the weather. When the weather man says a tornado is "on the ground" near us we take cover then. Or if WINDS are HIGH.

Remember you can have straight line winds that blow in your windows. Be cautious with that as well.

It is when the "front" moves in that you must be alert 100%.

 

[luvmylittleboy2003]

Honestly you do not need to "hunker down" until you have a confirmed tornado spotted on the ground.

Just because sirens are going off does not mean a tornado has been spotted either. They go off here for potential rotation or severe weather and not just for tornadoes.

Your best line of information is your local weather, watching the sky yourself, or a weather radio.

We watch the weather. When the weather man says a tornado is "on the ground" near us we take cover then. Or if WINDS are HIGH.

Remember you can have straight line winds that blow in your windows. Be cautious with that as well.

It is when the "front" moves in that you must be alert 100%.

Thanks you! I think that's what is going to happen this afternoon "front" moving in. All great tips

 

[Karibeth19]

Honestly you do not need to "hunker down" until you have a confirmed tornado spotted on the ground, a wall cloud in your area or high winds.

Just because sirens are going off does not mean a tornado has been spotted either. They go off here for potential rotation or severe weather and not just for tornadoes.

Your best line of information is your local weather, watching the sky yourself, or a weather radio.

We watch the weather. When the weather man says a tornado is "on the ground" near us we take cover then. Or if WINDS are HIGH.

Remember you can have straight line winds that blow in your windows. Be cautious with that as well.

It is when the "front" moves in that you must be alert 100%.

As a lifelong Oklahoman, I agree that these are great tips. Pay close attention to the weather on TV. The radars they have now are so precise, they can track a storm almost down to the exact intersection it will cross. You still have to be vigilant, as storms can change paths quickly, but if a tornado is spotted on the other side of town, and is not headed in your direction, it's pretty safe to assume you don't need to take shelter, even if the sirens are blaring.

Also, I've always heard that if you don't have a good interior room in your house, you should be sure to pick a spot away from west and/or south facing walls. Makes sense, since most storms move west-east, or south/southwest-north/northeast. Again, keep an eye on the radar to see how the storm is moving.

Follow those tips, and you should be fine. It's definitely not something to be complacent about, but you shouldn't panic either. I've lived in Oklahoma almost my entire life, and last year was my first close call with a tornado (A small one went through my neighborhood at 5am, while we were all sleeping. The sirens didn't go off, and the only reason we woke up was because the power went out and our security alarm started beeping. You could see a damage path through our neighborhood, with torn roofs and fallen trees, and it was only 4 houses away from us. "Officially" it blamed on straight line winds, but in my neighborhood, we know better...only a tornado could make a damage path like that!).

 

[LuvOrlando]

OP, I have no advice but was wondering if there are any modifications you can make to your home to give you peace of mind for the next time this happens? I have to be honest, if I were in your position I would make changes ASAP so I had a safe place to go in my home... or I'd have to move because the anxiety would be too much.

stay safe