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Tornados

Cia - August 23, 2020

Could anyone give advice about preparing for a tornado? We live in central Missouri, tornado country. I just told a friend in Oregon yesterday who is thirty miles from a wildfire that we weren’t in danger from wildfires or hurricanes here, but we certainly are from tornados. We have a closet under the basement steps: how should we prepare it? Thanks!

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  • Comments (2)

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      Jesse Smith - August 23, 2020

      Do you mean how to construct a resilient space in the basement? Or what supplies to stock? For construction I found this guide Haven’t had a chance to read it yet tho. If I were making a tornado safe room within a basement I’d probably also look to have it offer a moderate level of nuclear fallout protection, partly because the marginal cost of doing so would likely be fairly small.

      https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/building-safe-room-home-small-business.pdf

      • 3
        Cia - August 24, 2020

        Thank you for the information and links, but I couldn’t afford to build a safe room. I think the basement closet under the steps would be safe enough under most circumstances. I saw a photo from the Joplin tornado in 2011 showing the staircase and space under it as the only part of that house still standing. The homeowners had gone to it and survived.

        Maybe The Prepared could write an article on this? How to prepare for a tornado?

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