Tornados and where do you go? (new home, crawl space, neighborhoods) - Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary - North Carolina (NC) -The Triangle Area - City-Data Forum

lolligrump · 03-02-2007, 07:30 AM

Our new home in Willow Spring has a foundation crawl space. In a tornado situation, do you go to the center room with no windows? I would think you would want to be below ground, but where is that if you are, “Up in the Air”, so to speak? I wonder if there is a shelter in my new neighborhood of Willow Bluff and if there is an alarm system that sounds? I have a weather radio, but it can’t tell me if a tornado is right in my area. Just a little paranoid – can you tell? I will certainly check with my neighbors once we move in but thought someone might have some thoughts right now. Thanks!

carolinatrendsetter · 03-02-2007, 08:02 AM

Typically a basement is the ideal location to go. However, the majority of home here in the south do not have basements as the ground damp and moisture is an issue. So instead the safest place is the lowest level of your home in a center room with no windows such as a guest bathroom (ideal location in the tub. Plumbing holds walls together) or closet underneath the stairs or similar small windowless room in the center of the house. Basically put as much space as between you and the storm.

I am a resident of NC and have only seen 1 tornado event in my 23 years. But there is always that chance, several have done damage in that time. And severe thunderstorms can be almost as bad around these parts.

CAKD · 03-02-2007, 08:02 AM

I was told you don't get in your crawl space but get downstairs in an interior room or closet with no windows. Well guess what? We don't have that in this house. I have no idea where I should go now. Someone said the stairway? That doesn't sound too safe to me. I could fit my 3 kids in the coat closet but dh and I would not fit LOL! So this is a great question!

CAKD · 03-02-2007, 08:05 AM

My neighbor told me that 1984 was a terrible year and there were several very bad tornadoes then. I wonder what makes some years worse than others. I am clueless about weather but are their certain signs that it is going to be a bad year? I am sick over the one that just hit the school in AL. Made me want to keep my kids home today! Being from CA this is frightening to me!

jgmarie · 03-02-2007, 08:12 AM

Up north, we were told that if you didn't have a basement, go to a bathroom--tub area, or center of the home w/no windows---basically what was mentioned above.

They probably have some type of city alarm system, if not, I"m sure there would be good coverage on the t.v. or radio.

carolinatrendsetter · 03-02-2007, 08:18 AM

There are county alarms here and there in Wake County. I wonder if there is a map of those anywhere.

JustChar · 03-02-2007, 11:24 AM

The thing that scares me the most with tornadoes is them hitting at night. I don't know about there but here there is no way to get current local info on TV and very few radio stations. That is why when I do get back there I will be buying a NOAA Radio. You just leave in your bedroom in "sleep mode" and if there is a severe storm alert the radio "wakes up" and wakes you up so you have a few minutes warning and can get to an inner area. There are many out there. Here is one:

https://www.ifsecommerce.com/hurricanestore/directory.asp?ProdID=1828&ProdView=12 (broken link)

lolligrump · 03-02-2007, 11:56 AM

The weather radio will tell you the general area/county for sure, but it doesn't tell specific neighborhoods - So, in the middle of the night, you hear it go off, but you don't know if you are in the path or not. Running to turn on the T.V., of course, would work, but not if you are supposed to be running for cover!

Guess we will head to the downstairs bathroom, in the middle of the house. Just hope I know when to do so ...

Someone mentioned thunder storms - Do folks have lightening rods?

MoMark · 03-02-2007, 12:06 PM

I live in a tornado-prone area and had two close calls two nights in a row March 12/13th of 2006 and the tornadoes came at 1am.
I watched the local news stations on TV which have live weather radar images and they are instantaneous and they point out where a tornado hook echo is spotted or has been actually visually verified. They usually (at least here) travel after touchdown from southwest to northeast, so you can usually project where it will go through once it's become verified.
Last March there was one supposedly on it's way directly toward where my house is and it was pitch black with a tremendous thunderstorm going on with wild winds, sheeting rain slamming the house, strobe-effect lightning, the whole thing. I was scared.
Yet my house is also above a large crawlspace and on a slight slope, so it is elevated about five feet above the ground in front and about 2 feet in the back. I wouldn't crawl down there to escape a storm as if the house were hit, I'd be crushed by the house. My guest bathroom has no windows, but the bathtub abuts the outer wall of the house and I have no real interior room to flee into except a walk-in closet in my second bedroom. I went into that closet and wrapped myself fully in a sleeping bag to protect my head and body in case the house were hit.
The only other option is to have a tornado shelter built in the garage or in the yard somewhere. I don't like the idea of outdoor shelters. I wouldn't mind having one in the garage though.

cncsmomndad · 03-02-2007, 05:06 PM

In this house we'd go to the closet under the front staircase which is in the center of the house and butts up to another closet which would provide some additional structural support. My husband (raised in CA) wants to build a storm shelter of some sort.