Greensburg has shaken the conventional Kansas wisdom that a basement is guaranteed to protect you in a tornado. The survivors’ harrowing stories make it clear that if the twister is big enough, it can rip apart the structure above and imperil those in the basement with winds and debris. Still, it was hard to argue with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ statement to NPR while in Greensburg that “there shouldn’t be a structure in a community like this without a basement.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
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38 Comments
The 99 Haysville tornado did over fifteen thousand damage to our house. I am not ashamed to say that my partner and I were in our basement, cowering in terror, holding our then-12 year old daughter between us
Very scary. I’m glad we bought a house with a basement. No injuries, the damage was easily repaired, and we counted our blessings. There were many who suffered greatly in that storm.
The really best shelter is an outdoor storm shelter with heavy doors underground. Then you don’t have debris falling on you and it is cheaper than a basement when building.
And don’t forget that when in the basement, you should still cover yourself under a heavy table or at least a mattress.
The details of some of the deaths included 2 people who were in mobile homes and 2 who lived in houses without basements.
No…a basement isn’t necessarily perfect, and offers no guarantees in a monsterous storm, but it is sure better than many other options.
Even for those of you with basements, i would suggest building or having built a “safe” room inside the basement. As an alternative, an outside shelter is an excellent option, for reaasons Kev mentioned. The drawback is that you must leave your house to get to it. The best i have seen, though expensive, was a basement with a saferoom, and a tunnel to an alternate exit away from the house.
Is that what you have in your house, LJ?
HA– I wish I could AFFORD such an extravangant idea. Actually, I don;t even have a basement. Sounds like I;m advocating something Irefuse to spend money on myself? Welll, it certainly sounds that way. However, I have no children at home. My position on the Volunteer Fire Department and my wife’s position on the volnteer ems service requires us to NOT be in our homes during severe weather, so a basement or storm shelter is pointless. When we retire, we will build an outside shelter.
So the tornado sirens go off and then you and your wife get in your cars and go somewhere?
Where do you go?
Actually, that is not how it works. At the signs of a threatening storm, my volunteer job becomes being the Emergency Weather Coordinator. I am at the Firehouse, directing and listening to the TV, National Weather Radio, and the rest of thd Fire Department who are all trained weather spotters. It is our job to find the threatening parts of a storm, and warn the civilian population of impending doom (if there is any). We are are on the fronline,in vehicles, and in my case, a metal building without a basement, should a sever storm or tornado threaten our comunity, or one of the other cmmunitys in our coverage area. If a storm is sever enough, and headed towards town, any emergency vehicles left in town, including all fire vehicles and ambulances are sent by me, the EWC, out of town in a direction out of harms way. The reason being is that al the equipment in the world will be of no help if it is torn to hell or buried under rubble. My wife is in one of the ambulances. We do not get in our car and go anywhere.
An FE-5 storm can get you even IN a basement as shown. However, it is still generally your best bet – along with the suggestions above.
I told my father-in-law that just like if he gets hit with a Richter 8 earthquake he will ‘meet his Maker’ so if I take a direct hit from an F-5 I may do the same. On the other hand; just as he will walk away from a Richter 6 I will walk away from less than a 5.
At least woth tornadoes we get some warning – earthquakes still come as a surprise.
I have been in both. I will take the tornado. there just is something “not right” about the ground moving. And it makes a horrible noise.
lj – I saw on the news last night a picture of a crumpled police car where a hero lost his life. Obviously these selfless people place themselves in the ‘line of fire’ to protect the rest of us.
Keep up the good work and stay safe – as best you can.
“The really best shelter is an outdoor storm shelter with heavy doors underground.”
Ok, so the farmgrrl who loves root cellars has only one word for that good idea.
snakes
‘Nuff said.
Another problem with earthquakes, in addition to no warning, is that no place is safer than another. Basements? Nope, not in southern California, very few houses have them. Outside? Nope, trees/poles/buildings fall down. Inside? Nope, buildings collapse (except the newest ones built on rollers). In a doorway? Nope, that is an old myth.
Mother Nature can be really nasty sometimes…
I agree with LJ. The thing about an outdoor shelter, they’re scary as hell running to in the middle of golfball sized hail. And most of the time you won’t go just because you think the storm won’t hit and you don’t want to sit in there for 45 minutes or so.
I like having the security of a basement. The strongest part of my house is under the staircase. It also could be the most deadly place if it should fall upon me. And my gas line runs right next to it.
Our town policy for the ambulances is to move one away from the other. So that if one part of town gets hit it is unlikely it would hit both ambulances. We ALL go out stormspotting in our vehicles.
I HATED that part.
Storm spotting, though sometimes nervewracking and often uncomfortable, isn;t so bad (except for the responsibility) unless it is dark. Scary as hell then. Lightning flashes just is NOT enough light!
Political Mom is right about the outdoor shelter. Many (especially those that did not grown up on a farm where it is more natural) will not go.
If possible, think about building a small (safe room) inside the basement. My daugher is lucky, her basement has a whole section that is reinforced concrete all the way around, including the ceiling. It was that way when they bought the house.—–
LJ–thanks for the detailed response.
I always wondered how the storm spotters, rapid response teams, etc. were organized.
CapnAmerican-
no problem. Although it does vary from community to community, that is how we are organized.
Year after year, decade after decade of tornados, I am still amazed on how stupid and selfish Kansas is when it comes to storm shelters.The next time someone wants to brag about having educational degrees, I will be asking them where do they go when a tornado is coming to knock down their house.
Wiseman, as a possessor of two degrees, I head for my basement. Can’t speak for others, however. Of course, I don’t head for the basement until I see that sucker headed for me….
In Hiroshima the reinforced concrete survived the atomic bomb.
I tend to head for the basement – AFTER making sure the wife and grandkids are safe.
I put my son up on the roof to spot the funnels for me.
;^)
Ben, in my case, the wife (and kids, when they were still home) is already in the basement long before I’m ready to traverse the stairs.
Never was able to convince the wife to let the daughters, or either of them, serve as funnel spotters for me. :-)
Ben-
If the grandkids comment wasn’t there, I would think your son was a teenager! :)
Getting in an underground shelter is just common sense. My grandparents both had root cellars – smelly, musty, spider infested – but the best place to be when a tornado popped up.
My grandfather used to joke, he could tell when a twister was nearby as the clouds turned green and the floor tiles started floating. :)
Tornados, although incredibly violent, pack all the violence in a short period of time. It’s all over in just a couple minutes.
Earthquakes, too, but the handful of minutes spanning an earthquake seem to go on FOREVER. In my opinion nothing compares to the awful realization that even the earth under you can be liquified, and that nothing — absolutely nothing — beneath you is solid.
Hurricanes suck too. The noise goes on for hours and hours. Just a relentless howl of wind and stuff banging around. Really, really puts this old midwesterner’s teeth on edge.
IF you, yours, and your stuff survive….tornadoes and earthquakes are strangely invigorating, imo. Hurricanes, otoh, are sapping.
As for waiting to see the twister, there’s the (small) risk that it will drop down on top of you, and you wont have time to get to safety.
No basement? It’s expensive, but an underground shelter can be added to a house built on a slab — usually out in the garage.
July/Aug 2006 issue of ‘This Old House’ magazine has good ideas on homes and storms.
Dupont makes a kevlar reinforced “StormRoom” that can be bolted and epoxied to a house slab — supposed to withstand > 250 mph winds.
Homes can also be made stronger
For the roof — in the attic, run a thick bead of construction adhesive (caulking gun) where the rafter contacts the roof sheathing. Do both sides of all rafters.
Bracing can also be added to the rafters.
New homes — HurriQuake nails add only about $15 to cost. Use hurricane straps to tie the roof and walls together.
Windows can be protected, or install impact resistant ones. Garage and entry doors can be beefed up.
Growing up in Haysville, everyone in our neighborhood had basements. However, when their were tornado sirens going off, that’s when the WHOLE neighborhood would be out, in the middle of the street, looking for a tornado. Didn’t actually see one until I was a teenager though, in ‘91. Scared the daylights out of me, and I ran as fast as I could to the basement then!!
Another thing to note, whether you have a strong room or basemant. If you have a fireplace with a brick chimney avoid that area of the basement!! IIRC a family of four died in Hesston when the brick fireplace chimney on their 2-story home fell over into the basement. Right on top of them.
Set up a webcam on the roof so you can watch the storm from the basement.
I have to admit to having a pretty cavalier and fatalistic attitude about tornadoes when it comes to me alone. Add my kids or grandkids to the equation and the story changes.
Just a thought – I have been helping my daughter and son in law as they look to buy their first house. None of the homes that they looked at had basements. Most of these homes were built in the forties and fifties – ranch style homes built on a slab or a minimal crawl space.
I would have thought that more homes from that era would have basements. I have a basement, but during a storm, I am likely to be out in the street looking around.
One of the older fellows killed in the tornado was in his basement. It looked to be made of cement block though. When the house went south it looked like the walls of the basement collapsed and fell in on him.
These basements need to be built right to prevent collapse inward when bracing above is removed. Poured walls shouldnt do that but the old concrete block ones can topple over.
The safe rooms are great and a lot of homes now use them as the walk in closet, which provides a lot of padding also. heh.
I can tell you that when the sirens go off, the last place you should be is out looking for it if you’re stationary and it’s heading for you.
You can’t always see them coming, and they more often tend to pop up and down.
Well First WS, the county area responds, and then the region.
Here is a good article on the regional response team.
http://www.emsresponder.com/online/article.jsp?id=5313&siteSection=1
The state put out that any available EMS to sign up for shifts there, and I’m so P’d off. I begged my boss to let me off so I could go volunteer down there. Was going to go tomorrow. But no, he won’t let me.
I would also point out that, if you intend to use your basement as a storm shelter and a warning has been issued you should learn where the valves are that shut off the gas and water and shut them off so that, should you become trapped under debris, you do not have gas and water leaking and putting you in further danger. The elctricity will usually shut itself off if it is destroyed.
Don’t assume the electricity is off if the lights go out. Those lines have the ability to come on and off…I wish I knew the facts, but I think every thirty seconds it’ll try to kick back on.
How do you shut off the gas valves to your home? Mine comes in directly from the outside. I don’t see no valve until it’s almost center of my house.
We don’t have a basement, but want to put one in. It isn’t cheap by any means, and we couldn’t get a construction loan to put one in because we didn’t have enough equity in our house to make it work in their 90% formula. But if we wanted just a $30,000 loan for a car we can get it. Doesn’t make sense to me at all. The basement will save lives and add value to the home, where a car will only loose value. For the govenor to say “there shouldn’t be a structure in a community like this without a basement.” that is easier said than done. They need to have some kind of government loan or something to make it easier for homeowners to put something in. We are looking into an outside underground storm shelter solution, but a basement would be our first choice.
Basements are better than no basement, but safe rooms are better yet. We’ve been installing safe rooms that exceed FEMA recommendations and the home owners use them in a variety of ways, but usually as a Master closet. We pour steel-reinforced concrete walls with steel beams concreted 8 ft deep under the foundation. The ceiling is reinforced steel, also, so no minivan is coming through it. When not in use, the room functions as a normal household room, with a regular door that closes. But, when needed, the resident enters the room, closes the regular door, then pulls the steel pocket door from the interior wall and secures it. We run a bypass air system for oxygen purposes, and telephone wires and electrical is run through conduit that drops through the foundation concrete. All in all, the rooms will withstand a tornado like Greensburg while the occupants are playing Parcheesi.
The best part is that our rooms look like a part of the house – no one can tell they are there – unless informed.
Hey – was that a plug for me – or what? lol
The problem with basements is that the house above can come tumbling through and kill you. That is especially true of fireplaces. Don’t huddle near one if you must take shelter there.
PM – turn off the gas at the meter. There is a shut-off valve there. Best to acquaint yourself with it – before you need it.