Rete

Hoping everyone who is residing in the states above were untouched by yesterday's/last night's tornadoes.

I see that Memphis was hardest hit with 45 dead. BritTN let us know you are okay.

basementwaj

those storms were CRAZY! the thunder storm in the middle of the night was intense, like i have never seen before. Flashes of lghtng every second for over an hour!

Rete

The first thing I did this morning when I saw the news report was go into the local newspaper for Hattiesburg, MS to see if they were okay down there. That is the one thing I fear for my daughter, grandson and s-i-l, a tornado. Talked to them about putting a storm shelter in. Wish they would.

Glad you are okay.

BritGuyTN

Dunno why, but although it apparently went right over our heads, we seem to be fine, which is a relief since we have 7 or 8 large mature trees in our front yard

its nasty to think that if one comes along there is absolutely **** all you can do to protect your house.

joyceygreen

Thoughts are with you all in these devastated States...please keep us all in touch with the situation...

dan_alford

Things here in Memphis got pretty hairy. At one point we had 5 or 6 Tornados in the area. I was at home and hiding in the closet listening to the radio. My work was very lucky. The pic is from just outside the front door and the area where the clouds are above is near where I live. If that had touched down it would have been very bad.




Currently the death toll in Memphis is under 10. The 45 you are hearing is for the entire region.

ugacrew

Whoa! I would have been scared and quite amazed at the same time if I had saw that outside my window. I'm just glad you only took a photo and didn't go out with your camcorder.

dan_alford

I can't take credit for the photo. That was my office manager who took it. I was at home, hiding in the closet, under a blanket! THAT clouse was what was over the top of apartment complex at the time !

ugacrew

I'm just glad that you are okay. I have family that live in the Memphis area and they are doing alright. Where you there when they had the microburst about 4 or 5 years ago? It just tore through downtown Memphis and left the metro devastated with power outages and fallen trees. This was during the middle of the hot summer so you can understand the ramifications of not having air conditioning.

dan_alford

Yeah I was here. It's what we refer to as "Hurricane Elvis". I remember being in bed at the time and my wife getting up to go to the restroom. She came back and said "hunni, look out the window, its very windy". As I did, half of a 60 year old tree, about 40ft long, split and fell in front of my eyes. At that point we decided to get near the middle of the house

racing girl

Up here in Michigan we're at the end of tornado alley, not that we get hit much at all, but we have taken shelter in the basement a couple of times over the years. Now I understand the main reason we have basements in the North is to protect the utilities and keep the pipes and stuff from freezing, at least that's what the natives tell me. My question is this, why no basements in the states worst affected by tornadoes? Taking shelter in the middle of the house isn't going to help if the house is about to be destroyed. Most of the stuff I've read about the storms the eyewitnesses say something like "they had no chance, the house was ripped off it's (concrete) pad right before our eyes". Are newer homes being built with basements?

Glad to hear everyone is OK though.

Brenda

Bluegrass Lass

Well, one other thing to take into consideration is that a lot of the people living in the tornado alley are people with lower incomes (i.e. farmers). A lot of their homes are mobile homes, or are manufactured because that's all they can afford. Those types of homes are the worst kind to be in during tornados. More of these type of communities need to build community shelters for people to flee to during the weather outbreaks. But that also assumes that folks would use the community shelters.

And depending on location, you may not be able to build a house with a basement. There can be groundwater issues that prevent you from having a b'ment. But I think that issue is more likely to be found closer to coastal regions.

Rete

[quote=sunflwrgrl13;5899642] But that also assumes that folks would use the community shelters.

[quote]


That also assumes that they can reach it in time. There isn't a heck of a lot of time between warning and the tornado touching down. Far better to build a storm shelter/root cellar next to the house with reinforced door and supplies and pray for the best.

penguinsix

'It's not a baby doll it's alive': rescuers find boy in twister's wake

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/...234066297.html

For those looking for some good news....

Bluegrass Lass

Very true. The best thing is to have that cellar right outside your backdoor. But I was also thinking that with the technology we have today, people know when bad weather is coming in. They can always go to a shelter before any sirens or the meteorologists tell them to. If I lived in a trailer or mobile home, I'd be willing to be on the safe side and get myself to a shelter early.