Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Tornado shelters

I guess if they don't show up I get the water hose out.

I don't like those shelters that they build under your garage or those safe rooms in the house. If the house collapses on top of them, how ya gonna get out? I have a shelter situated just to the southwest of my house. If we take a direct hit, my house and vehicles will be carried, blown, or rolled to the east of my shelter allowing us to exit after it's all over. Here's some pics.....

I took your advice and dug my hole south west from house about 40 feet away.

Good idea.

Looks great! How do you know that it's safe to come out?

I think i would of made a walk way from the house to the shelter.. If its 100 mph winds and golf ball size hail gettin to that shelter could be rough..

Well my game plan for the last 8 years was run to car and drive 2 miles to my moms house and get in basement. Sure ill be fine with NWS warning.

If'n chit's hitting the fan, it's a little too late. Watch the weather and know your clouds.

Jwwann, Grab a empty 5 gallon plastic bucket and toss in it a hammer, blanket, hand crank radio/flashlight and store it in your new shelter.

We actually had a safe room put in last summer. My wife had to have one which makes for a great (just in case you need it). We had ours installed in the garage as my wife did not want the ones in the ground, (like being in a coffin) is what she said.

The odd thing is we had to get in it two times last fall already. I truly hope we never have to find out how well it works, but in case we do we will have it.

We have some Tap Lights in it, but I do need to add some water and snacks for sure, as storms will be ramping up soon.

Will do along with 3 days of food and water. They just called and said they will be here In 2 hours. I always fear this bad boy going to come for my town.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfdK6H9d6J0

That video made me cry. Reminds me of the May 3rd 1999 tornado in the Oklahoma City area. Safe rooms are okay, but a direct hit from an EF-5 will not only take the house and clean the slab, it will take the slab too. Need to be below ground to survive an EF-5.

Doppler radar picked up the strongest winds ever recorded on this planet in the OKC tornado of 1999. I believe it was 317 mph, give or take a mph. Some of the victims in Bridge Creek were ripped to pieces. They were bringing in torsos with no heads, arms,legs, or skin. I read about this years ago. The folks who had set up a triage in Bridge Creek said the victims reminded them of wartime conditions. In OKC, they brought in a woman who had a 2x4 rammed through her neck. The trauma doctors were having to deal with injuries that they had never experienced..... Ya know, some people don't take tornadoes serious and maybe they'll make it through life unscathed, but I've seen what it can do and you can bet your sweet azz that you'll find me below ground with my wife, mother, and dogs when the finger of God comes a callin!

When I lived in Southern California a lot of my friends said "aren't you worried about an earthquake?"

I told them that I'm only worried about a large earthquake. I would be worried about even a small tornado.

Not that I live in fear, but the ones that I'm concerned about are the ones that come at night when you can't see them.

If I'm asleep, I'd never know one was coming.

Brother, get you a weather radio and put it on your nightstand. It'll only go off when the weather turns frightful. My bride and I also bought one of those crank up radio's and have it in the "fraidy hole" along with bottled water, a 10 ton jack, snacks, a bucket, wet wipes, toilet paper, a 1st Aid kit, a whistle, etc. Our shelter has been certified to withstand an EF-5 and is registered. That way, if we're covered up with debris they know where to find us. My prayer is that we never have to use it. Trying to get our three dogs down there, my 85 year old mother, my wife, and lastly me will be no easy chore when seconds count.....We have the possibility of severe thunderstorms coming in the week. Maybe I need to stick everyone down there now, huh......

Do you have a good one to recommend? My parents bought one from Radio Shack and for some reason it goes off from time to time when the weather is fine.

Well are room is rated to withstand an EF5 or at least that is what it says. I hope I never have to find out to prove it.

Ours is a Midland. You need to key in where you live..... zip code????? Can't remember. If you don't that sucker will send out an alarm when it's storming a hundred miles from you! Good thing about where I live is that the National Weather Service(NOAA) and the Severe Storms Lab are all about 20-25 miles away...... If that doesn't work, try this..... If Jim Cantore is live feeding to The Weather Channel from the front yard of your house you may need to get below ground or leave quickly!!!!!! LOL!

I need to get a new one, the battery on hours does not hold a charge very long any more.

And yes be sure to set it up correctly, as we would always get warnings out of KS, and we all know how many storms they have up there. I tried many times to fix it and when I thought I had it, the alarms was not working for us locally when we had a tornado warning.

Needless to say the wife was not too happy about that one.

Here's some pics of a severe thunderstorm that developed practically on top of us and dropped an inch of rain and enough hail to turn our yard white.....I took various pics of the storm as it came over and departed. This happened back in April. Then it turned bitter cold and spit snow and sleet.

Hey Esshup, and others. The weather service at least weekly sends out a test to make sure all warning systems are working. That's why sometimes you come home and the radio is in alert.

You guys have all got me thinking about updating my emergency preparedness. THANKS!


Also here's a pic of some excitement we had here a few years ago. NOAA came calling. Where I am located I see funnel clouds and rotations quite frequently. I can see for miles from my house, and very grateful. They only sneak up at night.

Impressive picture of a trailing flank. Noticed the Doppler on wheels. See one of these out front of your house, you need to become "weather-wise" and quick!

The guys with the truck. I told them that was nothing, we see much worse than this occasionaly. They should come back more often. They just looked at me like I was an idiot (good judge of character) and got in their truck and went north towards Maryville.


This pic was taken maybe 400 yards from my front door.

I've probably seen 2 dozen funnels in the last 10 years. Actually had one touch down in 1983, and wipe out an airplane and hangar. It sucked windows in the house shattering them. I saw the twisters from the highway, was on my way home from school. Mom and dad were at home, but ok.

Plus some bottled water and TP (might ned an extra 5 gallon bucket).

jims place, your picture on your post put a big grin on my face... Thank you.

I have had 5 different radios. The Reecom is my favorite. You can set it to ignore every warning you want. I don't need an iceberg warning in missouri or a flash flood on my hill. I programed it for severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings only. It's the best as far as I know. $60 on amazon.