Storm Cellars/Tornado Sirens

[conestogo_flood]

$50? I have that warning email thing through Environment Canada, they email all the warnings and watches for Waterloo Region. I am also signed up with wxCanada mailing lists, I get all watches/warnings/statements issued for southern Ontario. It's handy, not for warning purposes though.

[simplykristi]

I don't understand this anti-basement and anti-tornado siren talk here. I just don't get it. I am happy to live near a tornado siren and have a basement. When I was young, it was instilled into me to seek shelter in a basement and listen for sirens. I grew up to the wail of police cars warning people of severe weather. When severe weather is around, I am monitoring both the TV and computer because I want to see where things are. I will not rely solely on NOAA weather radio.. Just like I do NOT rely on TWC during severe weather coverage. I turn on a local TV station and follow the severe weather.

Kristi

[conestogo_flood]

I'm not bashing either, I think in the future that houses will be built with tornado alarms, a loud sound goes off in a tornado warning, maybe from the phone.

[Tamora Mennenga]

I don't understand this anti-basement and anti-tornado siren talk here. I just don't get it. I am happy to live near a tornado siren and have a basement. When I was young, it was instilled into me to seek shelter in a basement and listen for sirens. I grew up to the wail of police cars warning people of severe weather. When severe weather is around, I am monitoring both the TV and computer because I want to see where things are. I will not rely solely on NOAA weather radio.. Just like I do NOT rely on TWC during severe weather coverage. I turn on a local TV station and follow the severe weather.

Kristi

I agree. I was terrified of tornadoes as a child and I am still very watchful, but as I got older and now have a family, I have learned I can't freak, but be as knowledgeable and watchful and I can, I don't have time to worry myself sick over the possiblity of bad weather. I grew up in West Texas and had a basement. During the spring, I lived down there :*) but when we moved to the DFW area I was shocked that there wasn't basements and when we were building the home that we are in now, when I talked about a safe room, the builders looked at me like I was crazy! Needless to say, we don't have one. I wish more builders (not custom per se') would be offer that as an option.

[scostorms]

I live in Topeka, KS and have no shelter...but i can hear 4-5 sirens where i live. In the event of a tornado i go to my counsins which has a basement.

[senorpepr]

I don't understand this anti-basement and anti-tornado siren talk here. I just don't get it. I am happy to live near a tornado siren and have a basement. When I was young, it was instilled into me to seek shelter in a basement and listen for sirens. I grew up to the wail of police cars warning people of severe weather. When severe weather is around, I am monitoring both the TV and computer because I want to see where things are. I will not rely solely on NOAA weather radio.. Just like I do NOT rely on TWC during severe weather coverage. I turn on a local TV station and follow the severe weather.

Kristi

I don't think anyone was really "bashing" basements. It's just not practical in all parts of the country. In some places, building a basement does MUCH more harm than good. However, the tornado sirens, while a good idea in theory, isn't cost effective. Unfortunately, too many people rely on tornado sirens when they don't provide a good service. They were a good idea during the Cold War for atomic protection, but for tornadoes... not all that great. Yeah, they are wonderful if you live next to it... but how many people live next to a siren? Beyond a 1/2mi, they become worthless during a thunderstorm. Furthermore... (another point supporting radios/cell phone alerts/etc) a tornado siren a 1/4mi away muffled by the rain won't wake you up in the middle of the night during a tornado nor will having the TV on while you are asleep.

[brunota2003]

I don't understand this anti-basement and anti-tornado siren talk here. I just don't get it. I am happy to live near a tornado siren and have a basement. When I was young, it was instilled into me to seek shelter in a basement and listen for sirens. I grew up to the wail of police cars warning people of severe weather. When severe weather is around, I am monitoring both the TV and computer because I want to see where things are. I will not rely solely on NOAA weather radio.. Just like I do NOT rely on TWC during severe weather coverage. I turn on a local TV station and follow the severe weather.

Kristi

ok, I WILL NOT put a basement in at my house...unless i want my own private underground swimming pool, or in this case, drowning pool. #2 i am so used to hearing the local volunteer fire dept's sirens (which sound like the midwest tornado sirens) and sirens on the airbase, i just ignore them now...so what good would a basement or sirens here do me? plus, with this being a large town (even though it is techinally a "city"), it just wouldnt be feasable to begin with...i will rely on NOAA Wx Radio as its the best i have, and i do watch the local stations/track on my computer...but at school the best thing i have is NOAA...just my $0.02

[snoopj]

I have tons of stuff to keep me informed. I don't have an alerting NOAA radio, but I do have the Weather band on a portable Sony Walkman. I have the NOTIFY service contacting my e-mail, my pager, and text messaging my cell phone. I also watch local TV and with the exception of the NOTIFY service, I have an extreme distaste for the Weather Channel. I mean, I got a NOTIFY message when I saw a Tornado Warning for Clay County earlier in March on TV/NOAA Weather Radio/GRLevel3 feeds/etc.

I just like to be informed on the severe weather in my area. Heh.

--snoopj

[luvwinter]

I was watching something the other day about Tornadoes and they said the starting price for a tornado shelter is $2000. They are made of reinforced steel I believe, not sure. I remember watching storm stories a couple of years ago and they had a story about a community that was hit in the very same spot twice in three years. After the first one this guy got one of those tornado shelters. He said he just goes inside with a lawn chair, his radio and some food and things to do and waits out the passing of the tornado and the storm. It held together and kept him safe the second time they were hit by a tornado. As for weather radios, everyone should have one. On the NOAA site they have a page in there somewhere that gives county coverage for every state and the frequencies they are on. All you have to do is look up your state and your county and program it to your specific needs. I have an Oregon Scientific radio that portable it reach atleast six surrounding counties and possibly more. You can put it on silent mode when you sleep and it goes off when a warning or watch is put out by NWS. We rely on it a great deal when camping or any bad weather happens. It was reasonably priced at Radio Shack. You who have them what kind do you have?

[gwalls]

I have a steel storm safe room in my garage. We have our folding chairs, lantern, and a small battery powered fan in there also. We didn't want one that went in the ground because I didn't want to have to run outside to get in it and I was afraid spiders and other creepy crawlies would get in it. We haven't had to get in it yet, but I hope it does the job if we ever do. We also own a weather radio (Midland) with S.A.M.E technology that allows you to program the counties you want and what kind of warnings you want the alarm to sound for. It's also a am/fm radio and alarm clock. I got mine off of Ebay.

[GeneratorPower]

Sirens do cost a great deal of money to buy and keep serviced. It's up to individual communities to decide if the cost justifies the extra safety. I lived in Central FL for many years and they had no sirens.

When I moved to Huntsville, AL, they had sirens and still do today. We can hear the sirens indoors in most buildings all over the city. When it's loud, like a restaurant, you hear a faint whining sound that our ears are now trained to listen for. When we hear the sirens, we turn on the TV and watch the locals (who are very good) keep us updated.

I use the SAME technology to single out my county and only alert me to Tornado warnings. Severe T-Storm warnings and Tornado watches do not alarm. If there is a warning for my county, I need to know because we live on the far western edge of the county and don't have as much time to prepare as folks on the eastern side. It takes a tornado about 20 minutes to cross the whole county.

About the shelters... down here it costs 2,000 to 4,000 for an underground shelter. But you see a lot of older homes with them in the yard. I don't think it's the government's responsibility to make people buy a shelter anymore than it is the governments responsibility to force people to buy Volvo cars for safety. However I think that owners of trailer parks should be required to have a community shelter or access to a strong building. Trailers turn into disaster areas with even a small F1 tornado.

[gwalls]

Some states actually offer incentives to buy tornado shelters. Here in Arkansas, you can get 50% of you storm shelter paid for if it cost less than 1000 or if you buy something more expensive, you can get a 1000 cash back. I think Mississippi has something similar.