What do Florida residents do about Tornados?

[Feralpeg]

DD and I will be moving to Orlando next June. We are from Missouri and have always lived with the threat of tornados, however we all have basements. Our new house, like most in Florida, will not have a basement. How do Florida residents deal with tornado threats? Do many of you have reinforced storm rooms? I have to meet with the builder very soon and I'm afraid that if I ask about this, he will laugh at me. Also, do most of you have lightening rods on you homes? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[RitaZ.]

We seek shelter (preferably in a bathroom or interior closet with no windows) and pray. I'm not making light of your concers, but that's really all we can do. I don't know of any houses here that have basements,"storm rooms" or lightning rods (we are the lightning capital of the world).

We don't have tornadoes here all that often, there are no sirens or anything like that to warn residents. Usually the local news channels will have warnings that a funnel cloud has been seen somewhere and issue a tornado warning for certain areas. If you are not tuning in or happen to be in the area of the sighting, you'll probably miss the warning.

Don't worry too much about tornadoes. When it comes to mother nature all one can do is to be prepared the best way that we can. Speaking of which, I'm going to Target later to pick up some supplies, just in case Isabel heads our way.

Good luck with your move.

 

[katerkat]

I don't live in Florida, but I do live in a basement-less house in Mississippi. We have the benefit of tornado sirens, and we wait it out in our bathroom, which is the only room with no windows. The safest is in the tub with a mattress over top of us, I've heard, but we've never tried that.

 

[PamOKW]

A lot of homes in Florida are constructed from concrete. This provides some additional protection. Don't forget it's not just tornados in Florida, it's hurricanes as well.

 

[stevenpensacola]

Generally speaking, the tornadoes we have here in Florida are a
different variety than what you're used to seeing in the midwest.

The tornadoes here do not travel long distances along the ground, they generally just drop down and skip along here and
there.

I've lived in FL for 42 years and have never seen a real, live,
in the flesh tornado.

 

[FOJMO]

They're right. We don't really have all that many tornadoes here. And, if we do, it's mostly the mobile homes/trailers that suffer.

We're more on the hurricane path than anything else and usually get plenty of warning to evacuate, if needed.

 

[doxdogy]

Have lived in NE Florida my entire life, we have never had a tornado hit us. Last hurricane was in 1964. Now Isabel is out there and watching closely where she is headed.