Do you go to the basement for tornado warnings?
By moonshadow68
@moonshadow68 (723)
United States
April 3, 2007 5:16pm CST
We had a really ugly thunderstorm here today with lots of rain and hail...pretty big hail. I actually have a basement but I never go there during storms. Today when the tornado sirens began sounding, my cat ran to the basement (I think to get away from the noise), but I just finished what I was doing. What do you do in really bad weather?
3 people like this
5 responses
@Denmarkguy (1845)
• United States
22 Apr 07
Back when I lived in Texas I took the warnings pretty seriously... but not until we had some confirmation that there actually was a tornado on the ground. We had a downstairs bathroom against an inner wall that actually faced into a hillside, so that was the designated "safe room." We had some pretty severe straight-line winds knock trees down, but never a tornado in our neighborhood. However, the Albertson's grocery a couple of miles away got taken apart by a tornado one year.
@moonshadow68 (723)
• United States
22 Apr 07
The first year I lived in Illinois the town I lived in got hit with an F-3...They tried at first to call it a microburst, but the severe storms center reclassified to an F-3 tornado based on the damage patterns. It hit the high school gym and several houses, and hit about a block from where I was at work at the time. It was horrible and awful, but the worst injury of the night was a person whose car spun out on the wet roads and broke her leg. I'm much more afraid of severe storms now, but I still don't trust the basement.
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
16 Apr 07
When I heard the sirens I did when I lived up in Michigan. It was just what you did. Of course I moved when I was 15 so who knows what I'd do as an adult. Down here in Florida we don't have basements, I wish we did, and I have never heard a Tornado siren down here even though we do get them. It's strange but I don't think they have the sirens here. I might just have to check and find out.
@moonshadow68 (723)
• United States
22 Apr 07
I guess a basement in Florida would be a really bad idea :)
When I lived in Colorado we didn't have storm sirens either, but well, they really didn't need them. I think now (in Illinois) I just notice them more because I am so close to the fire station. I hear them when they test them, when they use them, when there's a fire call...you'd think you'd get used to them and start tuningt hem out, but I sure don't.
@Withoutwings (6992)
• United States
11 May 07
Unfortunately in Florida we don't have basements. We just stay in the house and weight for the train noise before we head to the hallway or bathroom.
When I was younger we lived in Ohio and my mom always sent us to the basement. We took books or toys down there to keep us occupied until the tornado came or things blew over.
@moonshadow68 (723)
• United States
4 Apr 07
I'm not sure I could deal with hurricanes...first you get the tornadoes and the wind and the rain and then the flooding...nope...coastal living is not for me.
@sherrir101 (3670)
• Malinta, Ohio
3 Apr 07
We don't have a basement. But in the past that is where we have gone. I usually stand in the doorway and watch the storms go by. I have never been put in the posistion where a tornado has been close enough to worry (Thank God).
@moonshadow68 (723)
• United States
4 Apr 07
Today I stood on the porch to watch the storm until the hail started bouncing off the porch rail and onto the porch. Then I decided it was time to come inside.
