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Name:	Mack -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/18/2011 8:05:10 PM

We arrived at our place on Parker Creek late on a Friday night in 1993 to find 14 trees down on our property and power out. Debris everywhere. 1 week later we were able to get the boat out and look at damage. Terrible damage. The tornado came across the Needle Eye area, destroyed several homes. There was a clear path cut by the tornado from West to East across the land, almost like the path of a giant mower. From Needle Eye, across Coosa 20 to the Narrows, where several more homes were simply crushed, trees scattered like twigs, and continued on to the NE. A miracle nobody died or injured.
The question is, how to protect ourselves from a tornado while at the Lake?? Serious question, because we apparently are in a tornado pathway, and they will keep coming.
A flat lot, like mine, precludes a basement (water level). Plain wood frame house with absolutely nowhere to hide.
Any ideas??
Mack

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/18/2011 8:42:24 PM

My dog always heads for the bathroom. Seriously, I've heard that the bathroom is considered the best place in a tornado, if you don't have a storm room.

Name:	mckaygmc -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/18/2011 8:59:03 PM

A freind of mine is having a House built now and They are having a safe room built. 4" thick rebar enforced walls and ceiling. I am not sure if this can be done on a House that has already been built.

Just a thought

Name:	froghog -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/18/2011 9:09:20 PM

Look for a room with no windows in the middle of your house. A bathroom is good not only for practical reasons ;)... but also the bath tub will provide more protection for at least 2 people. Football helmets are also a good idea. The other thing that come to mind. Stay at your other home, if the lake house is a second home. Mike Arnold

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/18/2011 9:19:25 PM

Its not particularly appealing or comfortable (but neither is being killed), but if you seriously think a tornado is coming go up one of the brooks near your place to where there is enough of an indentation in the surrounding ground to lay at a level below the surrounding ground. You might even scout out a place in advance and clear a path to it. You might even preposition some treated lumber to put over your safe place to protect you from flying debris.

There was a tornado in North Montgomery back in the early to mid 80s that did a lot of damage. I will never forget one airman's story. He was on his way to work at Gunter when he realized the tornado was coming right at him. He pulled off on the shoulder of North Blvd and dove into a drainage ditch. He covered his head, and at one point peeked out just to see his truck with its tailgate staright up in the air, spinning on its bumper like a top. While he ended up wet and muddy he obviously survived to tell about it.

At our place there are still a couple of pits left in our wooded area from when they did the perc test. I do believe they would make a dandy quick-fix tornado shelter!

Name:	lakngulf -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/18/2011 9:38:42 PM

I also have wondered what is the best place in my house to "hunker down" if a severe storm or tornado found its way down my driveway or from across the lake. My house is basically built around the old cement block building that was here when I bought the property. It has a concrete slab and heavy duty brick fireplace. Would it be a good plan to gather around the fireplace and cover with mattress or blankets? Seems the chimneys are always standing when the rest of the buildings are gone. BTW, the fireplace now only goes to the top of the wall, as I removed the section above the roof.

Name:	roswellric -	Reply
Subject:	Tornados?
Date:	4/18/2011 10:01:22 PM

When your time is up ....its up. Don't worry about it.

Name:	Feb -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/19/2011 7:25:58 AM (updated 4/19/2011 7:40:41 AM)

We can think inside the Box. Conduct an internet search for concrete or prefab concrete vaults/structures for tornado protection. If you could obtain one of a proper size, it might also double as a storage shed and a safe room. Cost, size and availability are unknowns until you have done some research. We all know ditches or low spots are shelters of last resort. The wooded nature of most places here would reduce its effectiveness. You might end speared by falling trees and/or large limbs. Depending on the strike points of the funnel, you could just end up speared and transplanted to Kansas where there is a shortage of trees.

Name:	Kizma Anuice -	Reply
Subject:	JUMP IN THE LAKE
Date:	4/19/2011 7:30:03 AM

buy a snorkel and jump in the lake

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/19/2011 7:33:41 AM

Seems like a reasonable plan to me. It also seems to me that when a tornado encounters a hill it kind of skips upward a bit and those on the far side of the hill are OK. Because of where your house is located and that tornados generally travel west to east or southwest to northeast it would seem that your place would likely not be hit. But it is certainly wise to have a plan anyway.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	JUMP IN THE LAKE
Date:	4/19/2011 7:35:09 AM

That;s what they do with submarines down on the coast when a hurricane approaches. They just submerge them until the storm passes.

Name:	Feb -	Reply
Subject:	JUMP IN THE LAKE
Date:	4/19/2011 7:46:00 AM (updated 4/19/2011 7:47:48 AM)

This is thinking outside the box. I always hate it when my cats think outside the box. LOL I have heard of powerful funnels slurping up large amounts of water and dropping fish all over the place miles away. This is another transplanting methodolgy. This could be how mermaids and/or seahorses came about.

Name:	Jim Dandy -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/19/2011 9:44:04 AM

By the time you realize that you are in harms way, there may not be time to leave the house and find another place to hide. Many years ago in Texas, my grandmother survided a tornado by climbing between the matress and box springs of her bed. A wall fell on her, but she was fine.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/19/2011 10:02:36 AM

On the news the other night, they did talk about getting under a table, or pulling a mattress off the bed and putting it over you to protect you from falling debris. Before we built our current house, we had a pine tree fall on our old cabin. Went through the roof and into the bedroom. Thankfully, we weren't here when it happened. It pretty much destroyed the old cabin.

Name:	DirtDiva -	Reply
Subject:	I was in
Date:	4/19/2011 10:36:06 AM

one of the biggest tornados ever recorded. Spring 1979 Wichita Falls Texas. 1 to 1 1/2 miles wide. Killed 40 people in WF alone. Demolished at least 10% of town. Sheppard Air Force Base was badly damaged. I was in the mall - Sikes Center working at a Walgreens restaurant (remember when they had restaurants?). Someone came running down the mall yelling the tornado was coming. (all sirens were destroyed so none sounded). I had customers - one in a wheel chair. I took him and my other customers and went into the ladies bathroom. I don't remember hearing the storm. I do remember feeling grit and particles hitting us through the vents. When we thought it was over, I peeked out the door. The entire restaurant was destroyed. Tables that were bolted to floor were torn up, all windows gone, all ceiling tiles, frame work etc. were demolished. When we went out the store, the end of the mall next to us was gone. Cars in the parking lot were tossed around like toys. There were some reports that 20 of the 40 people killed were in that parking lot. As luck would have it, my car (ford pinto with the blow up gas tank) was at the other end of mall. Only the side windows were broken about and the frame badly damaged. And better luck, I had filled gas tank that day. The destruction was really like an atomic bomb being dropped. There were a many places where only the slab was seen - no debris. Since then, I have had a very healthy fear and fascination about storms. Many times I will get out on our deck on top of the table to watch. If I feel the need, I go to the basement. My place of hiding is below ground. Either a basement or storm cellar. If I'm in a storm without those, I go for an inside closet on the lowest floor and cover up with whatever I can find. Bathrooms are good, but pipes, ceramics, etc. make good missiles. The framing of the bathroom won't be any different or better than the closet. I heard once on the news that a ditch is not a good idea - I don't remember why. Faced with a car or mobile home. I will pick a ditch anytime.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Protection from a Tornado
Date:	4/19/2011 10:39:42 AM

Having lived in the south most of my life, and witnessing the damage from multiple hurricanes, I have observed that the limbs of a falling pine tree will break off about half way to the trunk as they strike something of resistance (ground, roof, etc), leaving the intact half of the limbs to act as daggers, punching holes in roofs, embedding themselves in the ground, and so forth. Not a pretty sight and very destructive.

Name:	Murph -	Reply
Subject:	Something Else to Worry About
Date:	4/19/2011 11:15:48 AM

When bad weather threatens, my mother always calls me to tell me to put on a life-jacket. Her thought is that if a tornado strikes, it could throw me into the middle of the lake where I would subsequently drown without a jacket. My response is, if a tornado hits the house, it will drag me up through the rafters & shingles. Twirl me into 200 MPH winds with the neighbors refrigerator and a tractor from central Coosa County, lift me up a couple of hundred feet, then sling me into the middle of the lake. I really don't think the life jacket will be of much assistance, however, If any of you find a guy badly beaten, bruised, severed and drown after a storm...PLEASE TELL MY MOTHER I WAS WEARING A LIFE JACKET!!!

Name:	lakngulf -	Reply
Subject:	Something Else to Worry About
Date:	4/19/2011 12:14:34 PM

and clean underwear.......on second thought, after that ride it would not be clean

Name:	Mack -	Reply
Subject:	Anybody Got Experience with Fiberglass Igloo?
Date:	4/19/2011 12:54:30 PM

Used to see them displayed at roadsides. Round ball of fiberglass with a door cutout and a vent pipe at the top. I think the intent was to bury it in the side of a hill except the door.

Name:	MrHodja -	Reply
Subject:	Anybody Got Experience with Fiberglass Igloo?
Date:	4/19/2011 1:21:19 PM

When my neighbor built across the street here in Montgomery, he put a cylindrical fiberglass unit under his slab, with about a 2 foot diameter entry hatch above the slab. It looked like a miniatuere underground gasoline storage tank. I thought it was a good idea, except that the entry and exit lid opened vertically, and if debris collected on top of it they might be trapped. I would have gone with an L-shaped hatch with the door opening horizontally

Was a bit comical - he excavated the hole to put it in, placed the unit, then covered it with sand in preparation for the slab. He hadn't expected the very heavy rain that came before he got his slab down. The thing popped up out of the sand like a cork, and he had to re-bury it...:>)

Have you ever thought about building a safe room in the house (if enough room) or just outside? A small slab, some concrete blocks, and some rebar and you'd be in good shape. Wouldn't have to be big or elaborate. A friend built one in his garage here in town. Put rebar down in the open spaces in the blocks, then filled the voids with concrete. Door is exterior steel.

I'll stop by the next time we are up. Hopefully my boat will be ready soon.

Name:	Kizma Anuice -	Reply
Subject:	JUMP IN THE LAKE
Date:	4/19/2011 3:19:01 PM

although not impossible, it is highly unlikely. I would only believe that a person would be removed from under a body of water if I had seen it or if the person to whom it happened were to pass a polygraph

Name:	greycove -	Reply
Subject:	May have to make a fast decision
Date:	4/20/2011 12:52:09 PM

We were camping in Eufala Alabama many years ago when a tornado hit. We had a pop-up tag-a-long tent camper. I had walked to the camp store and saw it hit the campground where my wife and two daughters were located. Absolute terror on my part. I had not idea what I would find at the site. Thankfully, my wife and daughters, having no other options, got into our car and hid in the floor board of the back seat. I thank the higher authority that a tree did not hit the car. It lifted a bit just before it hit our campsite. Camper was completly destroyed.

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