Top Ten Lessons for Living in Tornado Ville

We're anticipating tornadoes overnight. I'm writing this today because who knows? Maybe I won't be here tomorrow? Or maybe I'll be here, but the house will be in Oz or some other fantasy world. I never thought I'd live in a place where I'd be hiding from tornadoes many months out of the year, but here I am. Don't have to like the situation, but I have accepted the reality.

Here's what really makes me scared about tonight. All the tornado events that occurred on April 27th. We were slammed hard. We lost power and lives and homes. And we were forgotten. Yup. Out of all the massive weather events that required FEMA to help, Alabama got the least amount of the moola. I don't care for myself. I have insurance and I have the financial means to crawl out of a disaster, but many do not.

Now I'm also lucky because we could afford to build a tornado shelter. I love that it is above ground, weighs a ton and will protect me, the fur babies, the Teen and the Physicist. I wish I could protect more people in my 4x6x6, but I can't.

Which leads to the valuable conclusion that I am not all-powerful and important and special. I am human. This one is up to the Universe and God. I ask WHY NOT ME more often than Why Me so I have been very fortunate and blessed and spared from lots of things for reasons that go beyond my understanding.

So having said all this--here goes my take on surviving these events.

Top Ten Lessons for Living in Tornado Ville for the Non-Survivalists (people who stock up food for 6 months-have bomb shelters-think we'll be taken captive by mutant aliens to name a few)  in Northern AL


1. Have all cars' gas tanks full.
2. Make sure you have cash--at least $100 if not more.
3. Gather all your important papers and put into a file that is easy to carry to a safe place. For us it is a shelter. For you it might be an interior closet or bathroom.
4. Have all computers and phones and purses and wallets and chargers loaded in a bag ready to go to your shelter or safe room.
5. Be sure you have closed toe shoes and comfortable clothing in the shelter and/or near the door/or on your body.
6. Have blankets and pillows loaded in shelter or near safe room.
7. If you have a shelter, stock it with water and basic supplies but really? It won't hold 6 months food supplies so don't go too crazy. Assume you'll only be there for about 20  minutes.
8. Get emergency radio and so forth locked and loaded.
9. Keep TV on for weather alerts--I have the station call me with weather alerts on my cell phone and home phone for a small fee.
10. Don't bother cleaning the house--just chill and be aware.

Oh, and on your way out to the storm shelter or to the interior bathroom, grab a corkscrew and a bottle of wine. If you're going to lose everything, you may as well get a bit tipsy.

My New Tornado Shelter--Valley Storm Shelters to the Rescue!

The shelters are delivered.

My family has lived in Northern Alabama for 3 years. We've had several tornado warnings, but this year was the worst. Up until April 27, I was perfectly fine sitting in the interior bathroom with two cats, the teen, and the hubby during a tornado warning.



April 27 changed my mind. Try riding out 21 tornado warnings over a 16 hour period, the last 4 hours in the dark with no communication, in a small bathroom. Try doing this after seeing 2 tornadoes begin to form over your house and one heading your way. Try doing this after realizing that an EF5 tornado with winds of over 200 miles has blown through 100 miles and just missed your house by a few miles.

Bob and Mean Bill move it!

 Not fun. Very scary. Very very very scary. So I finally decided to cough up a big chunk of change and I called Valley Storm Shelters to discuss getting an above ground tornado shelter installed in our garage. You can learn more about this company here.

 I ordered a 4x6x6 steel shelter with carpet, a light, a fan, the ability to run power and the strength to withstand an EF5 force tornado in May. It was built off-site, then finally delivered on July 6th. Bob and Mean Bill (yes that was his name) installed the 2000 plus pound shelter in our garage during a rainy, thundery, tornado like day. To be honest, any dark cloud with a whorl in it scares me these days!

Pulling her through the door!

Will it fit?

Mean Bill gets it in!

I'm really pleased with my new shelter. It fits perfectly in our garage. There's only one problem. It's white. Super white. It's a big box of white in my garage. I want to decorate it. Darling Teen agrees. Maybe some applique stickers? I don't know, but I can't stand the idea of sitting in the all white room. It's too coffin like to me. Darling Hubby is worried it will impact a future buyer's opinion. But I think it is no big deal. All a buyer will care about is if it is a shelter. 

Bob and I pose for a picture. 

So who do you think should win? Me and Darling Teen or Darling Hubby? Look at the pictures and give me your vote.

Stay white or decorate? You decide!