Public "Storm Shelters"(large buildings) in East Dallas (Lancaster: mattress, house)

[whj3773]

with the nado yesterday in MS, got me thinking of where i would go if there was a high chance of tornadoes. Live near WRL in a one story pier and beam so more or less no shelter against a violent tornado and im not willing to roll the dice to wait to figure out if its only a ef1


I was thinking about watching the radar, and then about 20 mins out head to one of the following locations:

Whole Foods Parking Garage at park lane
Mockingbird Station
Northpark Mall

Thoughts?

[TurtleCreek80]

I think all but Mockingbird Station are too far away from the lake to get there and not risk being in your car when a tornado rips through....there usually isn't a 20+ minute "warning". Are you going to sit in a garage every time a bad storm comes through?

Your safest place is an interior closet or a 1st floor bathtub with a mattress pulled over the tub for protection.

However, while Dallas may get a big one through the residential neighborhoods at some point, remember tornados are a "block by block" disaster, not an entire neighborhood/city disaster like a hurricane. The odds of a tornado coming down your particular city block are close to zero.

[whj3773]

your right on the 20 min warning, although i think we know when were elevated risk of tornadoes and the probable time when the storms will come through, i wouldnt mind spending an hour at the mall to ride it out.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by whj3773

your right on the 20 min warning, although i think we know when were elevated risk of tornadoes and the probable time when the storms will come through, i wouldnt mind spending an hour at the mall to ride it out.

But you'd need to be underground, not walking around NorthPark, to be in a safer place during a tornado warning. NorthPark doesn't have any underground garages like Mockingbird Station & Park Lane do.

[whj3773]

ya but its a rather large building, a tornado is not going to rip a building that large off its foundation, but will do sever damage

[taroberts]

I think the OP's plan is a bad one. If you are that concerned then build a storm shelter. They are not as expensive as one might think. We plan on building one.

[metroxian]

Originally Posted by whj3773

ya but its a rather large building, a tornado is not going to rip a building that large off its foundation, but will do sever damage

If you and a half million other north Dallas residents head for Whole Foods or North Park then it's likely most of you won't be able to get inside before a tornado has tossed your car to south Dallas. Actually, with roads jammed with everybody headed to the same place it's not likely you'll get there but will be inside that car when it goes careening through the windows of a high rise building.

The safest place you're going to find is in your own home. So you need to find the safest corner at that location. If the closest is full of ten years accumulation of junk then you need to decide where you're going to fit. And you're not going to get a twenty minute warning. For a twenty minute warning you'll get a report that tornadoes may be likely in the area. By time you know it's headed towards you then it's probably already on your street, which gives you about 45 seconds to decide where the closet junk goes. Know where your pillows are for head protection. No heavy objects on high shelves.

And a tornado isn't going to rip a structure off a pier and beam any sooner that it would a slab. A tornado is a an equal opportunity construction destructor.

[ChristieP]

As I have said a million times, the likelihood of you or your house getting hit by a tornado in the DFW area is minuscule. We just don't get that many of them here, and the few that we do get usually do not do major damage. Now, if you choose to live in Granbury or Lancaster, or any of the other communities to the south of I20, then the odds go up slightly.

Think of this: how old is your house? If it's a pier and beam, it's at least 40 years old, right? It pretty likely that your house has NEVER been hit by a tornado!

If you are really worried about it, then waste several thousand $ and put a tornado shelter in your backyard.

[Aceraceae]

How Rare Were the Dallas Tornadoes on April 3, 2012? - AccuWeather.com

Since 1952 172 tornadoes have hit Dallas and Tarant Counties with 42 being at least EF2.

[whj3773]

its not that i am extremely worried about it......i know the odds are miniscule, just got me thinking about where i would go if we knew there was a day where in a 2 hour window we had a high likelihood of seeing a tornadao. Spending 1 hour in a big public building or underground parking shelter sounds safer than a 50 year old one story with absolutely no defense against a tornado.

as far as the storm shelter, its not worth the 4k for a 1 in a 1000 chance