Tornados! Ah... now here is something I have some experience with... well.. sort of. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I have lived in Texas for the past 30 years. Almost my entire life. I have lived in South Texas, North Texas, East Texas and West Texas. First of all some good news. Tornado season is just about over. Most tornados in Texas occur in the spring and summer (of course they "can" happen at any time). More good news. It is extremely unlikely that you will be hit directly by a tornado even though if you live here long enough, you'll come "close" more than once. I have been within a mile of several touch-downs in West Texas and a couple here in North Texas (DFW) as well as one in South Texas and even one in East Texas, although in all fairness, that one was attached to hurricane Alicia IIRC (I was young).
With all those times, being that close, I have never been injured and only suffered mild property damage once. This was a couple years ago here in DFW (Arlington to be exact) when blow-back winds (I think that's what they call them) took out my entire fence... and every other fence in the neighborhood too for that matter. I have since relocated to Dallas and I now live in an apartment (ground floor) in a very urban (as opposed to suburban or rural) area.
Another interesting bit of information about my experiences. In my 30 years in Texas I have probably lived in almost 15 different houses (plus a couple of apartments and dormitories) and visited probably hundreds more. Out of all of these houses I have seen exactly one that had a tornado shelter. It was a house in Carrollton (northern suburb of Dallas) that was probably built in the early 80's. The point is that shelters are extremely rare, even in West Texas where some would say they get more tornados than rain. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Ok now in all fairness, having said that, I actually used that shelter once when a tornado came within a couple miles. Nothing like climbing down into a 12? thick, poorly ventilated, concrete-lined hole in the ground in the heat of a Texas summer with 2 adults, an infant, a German shepherd, and a Labrador retriever. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Here?s my advice on tornados. If you have a shelter, great then you know the best place to go. Now, back to reality. Nobody has shelters so the next best thing to do when in your house is go to an interior room, with no windows, on the ground floor and cover yourself with a mattress or heavy blankets. Now, here is the most important advice I can give.
Watch the TV (the power is usually not out before a tornado enters your area) or if in that rare situation where the power is out, listen to the radio. WBAP 1080am is the best station for this in DFW as they are the EAS station that all the other stations actually get their alerts from. The TV/Radio reporter will be tracking the tornado and telling people in various areas that it is time to ?duck and cover? or ?seek shelter? (that is usually how they word it). He will say something like ?if you?re in southern Collin county you should take shelter immediately? then 15 minutes later as the storm moves south (as an example) he?ll say ?if you?re in Northeastern Dallas county you should take shelter immediately?, and he?ll go right on down the list as the storm moves from one area to another.
IMPORTANT: I may be wrong about everything else, but you can take this bit of advice right to the bank. When the forecaster gets to your area and says it?s time to take shelter, DO IT IMMEDIATELY!!! Do not hesitate; do not grab gear or mattresses or blankets or water or a radio or anything else. If you didn?t have all this ready and in place then it?s too late. It won?t do you any good if you?re dead because you didn?t take shelter in time. Tornados start and stop and start again and change direction without warning, so the forecaster on the TV/Radio isn?t given much warning either in many cases. Take shelter as soon as you?re told to. DO NOT HESITATE. Okay I hate to use caps but I just can?t stress that enough.
Here?s how I recommend thinking about what gear you want for a tornado. Go sit in your shelter spot (for me it?s a tiny little half-bath in the center of my ground floor apartment) and imagine yourself trapped there under a mattress for 24 hours. Now think about what you would want and need to have with you. That?s the stuff that I would have in a bag or box or Rubbermaid tub or whatever container suits you. At the first sign of a tornado (long before your area is told to take shelter) that gear, plus a mattress should already be in your shelter spot. This way when you are told to take shelter on a moment?s notice (if that much) you?ll be ready.
Now, there is one piece of specific gear that I am going to very strongly recommend and that is a portable, battery-powered radio that gets good reception for WBAP from within your shelter area. Small TVs are great since you can see live radar (and often the power will never go out) but if you take a TV into the bathroom, make it in addition to the battery-powered radio? not in place of it. The reason why this is such an important piece of gear is so you know when it?s okay to leave your shelter spot (and the broadcasters will tell you, so wait until they do). Lots of people make this mistake. I have made this mistake myself, and believe me you really don?t want be sitting in your bathroom wondering if it?s safe to come out. One time I didn?t have my gear together in time (the time I lost my fence actually) and had to take shelter without a radio so I had to wait and wait with the dogs and [now ex] wife and the kid until eventually I had to go out alone and check to see if it was ok for us to all come out. Trust me, it?s an uncomfortable feeling. Fortunately the power was still on and of course the TV was on the proper channel so I had only to look at it to see the tornado tracker (rather than searching for my absent radio). The only real way to know for sure if it?s okay to come out is to watch/listen to the meteorologist on the TV/Radio. Since some tornados happen during thunderstorms and others will come when the sun is shining, you can?t just look up at the sky and tell what?s going on.
Well I think this may be my longest reply ever to a thread on this (or any) forum. I don?t claim to be an expert. Just a guy who has been pretty close to quite a few tornados and who takes them pretty seriously. I hope you find my experiences useful in some way.
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