Bad Storms and Keeping Safe

We live in the west coast, so thankfully tornados are uncommon here. We do have windstorms, and snowstorms, but none tornado-like so far. But we do live by a fault-line so we do have earthquakes that we watch out for. If I had neighbors who are in danger of mother nature's wrath, and I know that my house would keep them safe, I wouldn't mind opening the doors for them.

E generally do not have bad tornado activity here in Cincinnati which is ironic because my 10 year old daughter is obsessed with the fear of them anytime she hears even the suggestion by the weather reports. Today she was driving me crazy, listening to the weather all day, asking people even strangers if they heard that a tornado was coming. I don't discount that anything can happen (a few years ago we had one touch down in the Blue Ash area) but to sit around and obsess about it down here in the valley is a tremendous waste of valuable time and energy. That being said, my heart goes out to all of those who did experience severe weather activity and the losses that go with that.

I have a basement but it has windows all over so don't know if that is actually a very safe place to be...but better then nothing. I would open my house if someone needed it....tornadoes are very scary and something to respect.....I am not one of those that stands outside and watches it like some people do!

I think there are a total of three rooms that might be safe during a tornado...the bathrooms and the laundry room. None of them has windows and every other room in the apartment does. I never gave them much thought but I do know that those would be the safest places to hide if the doors were closed. Thanks for bringing this up!

oh dorannmwin didnt realize you have tornadoes over there. We dont have them here but we had two really bad storms, one in 2007 and one in 2011. Both times the trains stopped running. The 2007 was the worst one ever. The train company posted online the trains would run but would run slower so I thought all right so I get home from work which is roughly a 4 hour trip by train. Have to change trains once and when we were at that station they said its so bad they would stop running the trains alltogether. I first went up to the supermarket and got me bread and water then got back to the station. It was packed full of people by then from other trains and we were allowed to stay in one train over the night. They left the heating on so it was nice and warm and around midnight the Red Cross came by and gave us these lovely emergency blankets made of metal foil so it stayed this warm. They also offered soup to these who wanted. Next morning around 8 am the trains were still not running so I texted my husband and asked to drive one hour to get me out of there. of course I would offer my place to friends and family if they dont have a safe place in such a weather.

My family was in the tornado area but we got only the rain and the wind. All the active was done by like 6pm when the warning went off so people could leave and go out. My place only had a warning so I really didn't worry about it till they say you'll be having one coming your way. my husband's cousin she went out to her mom's house with is closer to the mountains and they got hit with not only the thunderstorms but a tornado there house is gone. My husband's cousin she lives with us but she is staying with her mom and half sister till they get things together. Hopefully they can get things together really soon. I know her sister is out of school for I think the rest of this week because of it. Yesterday was a snow day all the schools around where I lived got to stay home. My husband work only had 5 people out of 12 there at work. Most of them don't have kids or there partner stayed home.

we are pretty fortunate to live in southern ontario, canada where we dont get too many tornados (we have had one in the last 10 years.) we have hurricanes once in a while too so i guess our biggest weather foe would be a blizzard. if we did have some nasty weather, we could all go in the basement.

hi dorannmwin ! ,,,after a long time... really couldnt be here and was missing you all... well abt tornados we dont have here at our place...we never had to go somewhere else due to bad weather...only sometimes schools are given holidays due to much severe winter or due to extreme heat in summers...but kids enjoy at home and dont have to wake up early in severe conditions that's all.... we also never felt the need of giving shelter to someone due to bad weather..if there is really big problem i will surely keep my doors open for them... my city is sensitive to earthquakes...and it had big blow before i got married...after that all was calm...till last year there were some mild attacks again..but nothing wrong happened and no lives were lost....thank God !

Ever since reading the Wizard of OZ I have been terrified of tornados. WE live in earthquake country and I have been through many of those, but the only tornado I want see is on the storm chases show. My heart and prayers go out to all in need after this terrible week of storms.

Hope you all are staying safe!! We don't have tornadoes in our area . . . our biggest thing is being hit with earthquakes. I've been here all my life, so I went through the major ones - especially the Northridge earthquake in 94. At the time I was at my parents . . . and even though we had some structural damage to the house, we were able to be at home. We have relatives scattered about, so surely we'd probably be able to go their homes, but knowing my parents, they'd rather be at their own home no matter what. If anyone would be able to make it over to our house, I'm sure my parents would be willing to take them in. But our situation now is we're in an apartment . . . and back during the Northridge earthquake, many apartments got the red flag, and they were not able to get in. Worse yet, some apartments could not hold during the earthquake and those people, well, perished. So we would probably have to leave the apartment and get to one of our parent's homes (they are local, but are in houses). And knowing "history", no one would want to be in our or anyone else's apartment out here after an earthquake (we have to watch out for those after shocks too!). Stay safe!

Tornadoes almost seem like something that is second nature. And the dice really has been rolled over with fate a lot of time, where tornadoes have really come all too close for comfort to hitting. It is rather scary how close tornadoes can come to hitting sometimes. Each and every year, it happens, I hold my breath, and things are really just going to hopefully pass over. At least that is the intention. Still when watch turns to warning. I know what to do. Emergency supplies have been prepared and its down to the basement. Hopefully not to get buried alive however, but it is either getting blown halfway across the city or get buried alive…not exactly a fun choice to make to say the very least. Of course the basement is small with only a handful of people, so it would not be a good idea to open it up too wide to too many people.

doannmwin: While staying in USA six months back in Detroit we came across storms and tornadoes --we use to keep track by watching TV and not move out of house. I wish tornadoes come to end quickly.

I've seen the news about it on Yahoo and on TV. It was sad that there were a lot of homes that have been destroyed by the thunderstorms and tornadoes. But it is glad to know that you and the kids are safe at home. Yes we have had several bad weathers and we will definitely open up our home when there'll be someone that needs a safe place. I remember when I was very young I woke up seeing a lot of people in the house. I then learned that there was a storm. We are living near the sea that time and several houses of our neighbors which their houses were built on a sea have been swept away. Some of them left their homes and sitting inside our house. My dad tied up our home so it would be safer for people to stay there; then he brought us to my grandfathers (dad's father) house - the house is a bit far from the sea. We walked in floods and I remember how I was scared to be hit by a roof or any object - and scared too because it was so hard walking on a big flood.

i have only been through 1 tornado my whole life. i was n the car with my aunt and my 2 kids and we were headed straight for it when it crossed the road. thank god we were able to pull off down a road and find a place that let us in to take cover! If we have a tornado warning or ne thing we put the kids in out black closet with their pillows. itisthe safest place in our home. i would most definately open my doors u for something like that!! doors were open for us and i always say do as u would want done for u. :)

We live in the midwest therefore tornadoes are common here. When the sirens blow I get nervous beyond nervous. We don't have a basement but I have cleared out one side of our closet on the lowest level of the house. I have pillows and blankets in there and a place to put other items also such as a flashlight and phones. I wouldn't call this a safe area but it's better than being out in the open part of the house surrounded by windows. I would let anyone come inside and try to help shelter them in unsafe weather. I've always wanted some kind of underground storm shelter but just never got around to doing it. My thoughts and prayers are with the families who lost loved ones yesterday in the mess of twisters running rampant through the midwest and southern states.

I am like you the schools around here closed early today also and the winds was rough a tree beside the house blew down was with out power twice and but the bad thing is all the rooms in the house has windows and there is really no place to go but I would take people in if they needed it I beleive if you help people it will help in the long run.

I am very fortunate to live in an area where we are totally untouched by storms or tornadoes.The only such disaster was the one in 2005 when it poured more than 900 cms of rain in one day and my city,Mumbai, was totally flooded and many people lost teir lives.Beyond that and by God`s grace nothing untoward ever happens here.I guess we are very lucky.

i was just reading the news today about tornado that hit illinois. i am hoping you are not at least near the place. i have never seen a tornado live my entire life. but i have seen the pictures online of how it destorys a town or a state guess i would know how to react to such a calamity happening at my place. do take care. ann

We do not have twisters here but we usually face typhoons and floodings and from time to time earthquakes. Our house was built in the 70's from very strong pre-fab panels ( it was not yet a rampant practice then for contractors to cheat on building materials unlike now), It survived the 90's Baguio earthquake without damage and hundreds of typhoons. I'm some sort of a "prepper" so we always have extra food, water supply and back up power plus all sorts of safety and survival tools, equipments and gadgets. I always pray too so I'm glad that you are safe. . Although I would welcome people to my place, I hope that they would make preparations for themselves next time and be always ready. I teach friends and family members to think and do as i do from time to time.

I think if it was floods it would be fine because i live in a condominium that is on the fourth floor and yupp im more than willing to share my place with loved ones and relatives, but if it was earthquake id go to my girlfriends house or my mom's since most like if this place gets hit i'll be under rubble, and that cant happen since i am claustrophobic and id kill myself first before i go under.