[dillywho]

Originally Posted by fgrider

I beleive that I read somewhere that going into and interior closet was not a good idea if it had a hatch to the attic and was wondering if anyone knew if this was true. Also this may be a stupid question but does anyone know if the AC vents being in every room would be considered an opening?
Thanks for any replys.

The hatch shouldn't really matter because you are actually trying to avoid rooms with windows to escape glass and other debris. As has been stated before, tornadoes create a vacuum and suck structures apart. In tornadoes, you want to be as close to the ground as you can possibly get. In fact, underground is even better (storm cellar or basement if the basement construction is such that it will not allow the house to collapse on top of you). If you cannot get underground, you want to be in an interior space to avoid windows and flying debris. When we would have tornado warnings in TX during school hours, they would usher us all into the goundfloor hallway where we would sit against the wall with our heads tucked down and our arms over them. The worst place in the school was the gym or cafeteria. Tornadoes do not respect brick, cinder block, or wood. I still have pictures of the Lubbock tornado in '70. Major devastation! One house (brick) stands out in my mind, because all that is left is the foundation and the water heater. In some cases, metal was wrapped around trees without even scratching the tree. Some of the wood houses fared far better than the brick/cinder block ones. Tornadoes are weird in that they seem to be almost selective. One house can be totally destroyed while the one next door is virtually untouched. If you remember the one here in Feb. of 2007, that was the case.