[Cruikshl]

My son and daughter in law have the opportunity to move to Ft Sill when he returns from Iraq. With that said, is there any place safe in Oklahoma from tornadoes? Do some houses have basements? I can' imagine living in a state so threatened by this kind of weather and having no protection for my grandchildren. Please give me some feed back, his other option is back to the NTC in the desert of California, much further away and desolation.

[Mattie Jo]

When you go to either buy or rent, ask if the place has a storm celler. Some do; most don't. Where the tornadoes are worse you will find more storm cellers.

[myevilalterego]

My wife and I are planning a move back to OK and in spite of what I am about to write, tornados are certainly on my mind as well.

It is about having a plan of action. Every community I lived in had a gathering point/shelter of some kind. Get with neighbors that might have a shelter. Have a plan for every variable. Where am I going to go if all else fails.

My wife grew up in OK and never experienced a single tornado. I lived there for about five years and never experienced one, but the plan of action was always in place.

[Cruikshl]

I have great respect for the weather growing up in southwest Iowa and then moving to the southeast. In fact, I just came back from North Carolina where I had to put my daughter inlaw and granddaughters in the tub with the mattress over them due to the last round of tornadoes to rip through there. Helplessness is all I could feel when there is no where to protect yourself from the force of nature. I hadn't been that scared in 25 years. To say the least they went around us by a narrow margin. Thank God! The saving grace of where I am now is the lack of tornadoes, that is the high light though.

[debbie at bouontiful]

My home is fairly new and it is a ranch with no shelter. It amazes me that they (Oklahomans) build without any safe rooms. I moved here from Ill. where we had basements. They say it is the water table. Well, I've been in some homes where they built basements and there was no water. My husand is driving me nuts because he doesn't see any reason to pput in a shelter. I do. This place is quite scary. I've had them go over my house and I saw the one last week near McAlester. People are plain nuts if they don't put in a shelter. As one of my friends (retired Navy) said, I might look like a sissy going into my shelter for every storm but I'll be an alive sissy.

[myevilalterego]

Well, I spoke out of turn. My wife did have one experience when she was very young (too young to have her own memories of the event).

I was also thinking of when we lived in El Reno. The alarms went off and everyone (including my wife and son) were headed for the community shelter thing. There I was at the house, with my dog. I wasn't willing to leave him at the house. So best laid plans and all.LOL

[Annemieke Roell]

Our place came with a shelter but it was all caved in so we dozed it over. There are several ditches on the property, hidy-holes, where we can go to.

[Goodpasture]

Originally Posted by Cruikshl

.......is there any place safe in Oklahoma from tornadoes?

nope. that's why we don't build basements.....too many folks get covered up when their house collapses around them. I still wouldn't worry too much about them though, tornado season only lasts from March to November. We never get more than one or two the other months.

Seriously, Oklahoma, while having more than it's share of tornadoes, is pretty safe. If it wasn't, there would be more storm shelters.

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by debbie at bouontiful

My home is fairly new and it is a ranch with no shelter. It amazes me that they (Oklahomans) build without any safe rooms.

They say it is the water table. Well, I've been in some homes where they built basements and there was no water. My husand is driving me nuts because he doesn't see any reason to pput in a shelter. I do. This place is quite scary. I've had them go over my house and I saw the one last week near McAlester. People are plain nuts if they don't put in a shelter. As one of my friends (retired Navy) said, I might look like a sissy going into my shelter for every storm but I'll be an alive sissy.

I'm from Mi, where every house was built with a basement. There were even Basement Houses.

But back then they known and used as "Fruit Cellars.
I'm surprised they don't have em' in San Fransisco.

[colleeng47]

Don't let the threat of tornados bother you too much. The weather people are VERY good about letting you know exactly where the tornados are. Our community (Mustang) opens up the schools when there are tornado threats. We have a storm cellar, but it's always flooded. (my son joked "okay, so here comes a tornado, everyone get your goggles on" ) So in the event of bad storms, we can go to the school. Otherwise, my dh designated the central hall as a safe spot.

Letting something that most likely will never happen to you prey on your mind is not good. S*** happens. Chances are it won't happen to you.