Relocating to Huntsville Al but Afraid of Tornados! (Madison: home, buying)

[CoreLysium]

I wouldn't say I'm anti-shelter, but I'll never build one. I'd rather remodel the kitchen, windows, install solar cells, etc. In fact, I'd say digging a well would be higher on my list than building a shelter.

Granted, I might be a little too dependent on how we have three stations that will stream doppler info. But, really, if it came down to it I'd drive over to my mother-in-law's house if our power went out during some sort of epic tornado event.

In my opinion, neither her house or ours has a good interior room that would shield us well. In my house, the walk in closet and master bath both face a large window. And in hers, the only fully interior room is the guest bathroom which has its door 3" from a large window.

If a tornado is headed to our house, we'll go to hers. If after that a tornado is headed toward her house, we'll go to Waffle House on Shields Rd. Not that it provides any protection, but it's close and if I've run from two tornadoes I could use a sit-down and some coffee.

[FiveDime]

We moved here from South Florida in 2007...from hurricanes to tornadoes. Yes, I was nervous about it when we first moved here. But I'll take tornadoes over hurricanes any day (they're over faster LOL). Here's the thing: the weather folks here are astoundingly good at tracking and pinpointing tornadoes. The biggest danger in watching the reports is that you might be warned to shelter when "all" that is happening is upper-level circulation or a wall cloud is passing overhead. Of course a much larger danger would be to ignore them, and get hit with an actual tornado. Bottom line...stay weather-aware (you will almost always know when severe weather is expected), get a weather radio, listen to it or for the sirens, shelter when they go off...or turn on your TV to see exactly where the concern is and shelter if needed.

Tornadoes can strike anywhere at any time. However, the worst ones *tend* to stick to historic paths. See here:Tornado History Project: Madison County, Alabama and notice the cluster of black lines (EF-5 historic tracks). Best to avoid that general vicinity.

A good solid interior room, or basement should protect you for up to EF-2 or -3. If you are worried about stronger, a built-in storm shelter should protect you. Other than that, be prepared at all times to be without power for several days in a worst-case (but not directly hit) scenario...canned foods, candles, batteries, camp stove, etc.

[Becky2517]

Moved here a year ago (next month) & I have never been overly concerned about tornadoes (or most bad weather for that matter...) - the possibility of a tornado is by far outweighed by how much we are enjoying living here!

[cpg35223]

Well, don't listen to the "Awww shucks, don't give tornados a bit of thought" crowd. Because nobody ever thinks they'll get hit by a twister until they do.

At the same time, it's not as if we're dodging the things during our morning commute to work. It's really a matter of every spring and fall keeping an eye on the weather and being prepared. To wit:

1) When buying a house, go to Tornado History Project: Maps and Statistics and see the path of all the tornados that have struck the Huntsville area. While there is no place that is completely safe, there are areas that are more prone, particularly to the larger ones. The area north of downtown Huntsville, for example. With three F5s tracking through there over the years, you might as well be living in the barrel of a gun.

2) Second, do yourself a favor and buy a house with a basement. There's no way I would live in Alabama without one. On 4/27/11, there was one rampaging through a neighborhood a mile away from me while we were in the basement with a mattress pulled over us. As it turns out, the area within a 1.5 mile radius of my house in Birmingham has actually seen four small tornados since 2000. If you live in Huntsville, the odds are going to be roughly the same.

3) Invest in a really good weather app on your mobile phone. iMap Weather Radio is an excellent one.

Hope that helps. Really, information will help allay a lot of your fears.

[Tennhioland]

Agree you must stay weather aware, but the facts are in the last 23,000 days, about 3 or 4 tornado days have caused all fatalities in the area. And two of those days were two of the worst in US history, very rare, but obviously can happen.

I've only been here a few months and was nervous as well when I came. Right after we got here we got a small taste with the smaller tornadoes that hit in the area in February. My fear is being at work during a tornado when my family is at home or kids are at school. Not sure I'd handle an April 2011 day very well being away from them! We do have an in-ground shelter in our garage, so feel pretty good about that. Also, they seem to know days in advance when a bad day is coming.

[writerwife]

Also be aware that most houses down here do NOT have basements. Out of all of the people I know, only myself and one other person have a basement.

[LCTMadison]

There are a lot of basements on the south/east side of HSV around Monte Sano due to the terrain in many different price points. Also, there are some in the Madison area, although few and far between and they tend to be in the $300k and up range. I showed three basement homes in Athens today, but again all in the $300K+ range.

[CoreLysium]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

3) Invest in a really good weather app on your mobile phone. iMap Weather Radio is an excellent one.

One thing I'll add to this. AT&T's Uverse cable modem thing comes with a giant battery that feeds it. The wall AC powers the battery which powers the cable modem.

Why is this significant? Because you're on DSL, the phone lines, which are powered independently from the house power. And when the house power goes down, you have who knows how many hours of battery left. Plenty. So, you can still use your ipad or laptop to access the internet.

However, if all of north alabama goes down, not so much.

[RatSnake]

I live in HSV but am not in those tornado paths.
I don't have a shelter ... we use an inner room / a closet.

I have DSL ( which is good and bad) ... gas-line for the house.

I would rather invest in a generator, water containers, full month supply of food ... and maybe someday - a portable power generating unit (wind or solar). Also - in the meantime, I am planting fruit trees, berries, vegetables ... I'd rather be prepared and self-sufficient when those disasters strike.

Maybe I am just sour graping ... because I can't afford a shelter right now ... and I neglected to build a safe room during my house construction ...

[Keeper]

I have to agree with everyone. I live a few miles from where one of the 2011 tornadoes came through. I think you can take this however you want but there was a family who lived in next door to each other. The son and his family decided to go to the parents house during the storm. The parents house was blown away but the son's house right next to it was untouched. Only 2 children survived. If they had all gone to the other house they all would have survived. Only a few feet apart.

If you are really worried get a shelter. You might never need it but it will give you peace of mind.