Tornado safety
 

I do realize that this is no doubt the wrong place to post this question, but I couldn't see a more appropriate section.

Question: Considering the fact that there are no basements or storm cellars in The Villages homes......and in light of the most recent devastating Oklahoma tornados plus others in the south, what are the recommendations for finding shelter in The Villages in the event a tornado was spotted in vicinity? Is there a general gathering place?

Thank you in advance to all who might answer this tornado shelter question.

Senior, the tornado question has arisen on many threads and is a concern, especially for those who are new to them. We presently live in one of the most tornado active areas in the US, that being Nroth Central Alabama. During our two tornado seasons, spring and fall, it can be very active. We have had as many as 10+ in one day. Three weeks ago we had an active day and had 4 in a 5 hour period. One was very destructive, the others smaller. With that being said, tornados are unlike anyother weather you will ever know. You get minimal warning. We have sirens that go off and maybe we get 10 minutes. UNLESS you are in a manufactured home, and most move to shelter, the absolute worse thing you want to do is driving/getting someplace. The best to do, is shelter in place. Go to your bathroom or small interior closet, take a quilt, or heavy blanket pillows, etc to help protect your head, a battery radio and your cell phone. If no room like that get under a heavy table. Do not do into a garage or near doors/windows, etc!!!! If out in your vehicle, and you see one, do not try to outrun it stop. Get OUT and seek the closest strong cover. In TV the golf cart tunnels are excellent! Protect your head, most injury/deaths from tornados is debris striking you.
Hope this helps.
Army Guy

[quote=Army Guy;264124] In TV the golf cart tunnels are excellent! quote]

I'm not too sure golf cart tunnels are that excellent. During the 2007 tornado one end of the tunnel under Buena Vista by Mallory Country Club collapsed. All those retaining wall blocks came tumbling down and blocked one end. If that were to happen at both ends you could be trapped.

Hopefully we never have another big twister through TV, but it's something to keep in mind.

Understand, however, you should not stand at an end, similiar to not standing by a window, door, etc. Need to get in the center, and I would also recommend getting on the ground and cover your head. If able to get ina fetile (sp?) positon I would do that also. By the way, I would also LEAVE the golf cart OUTSIDE!! I would not want it inside with me, as sometimes tornados can cause what is called the ventri (sp?) effect in that it can cause wind to move very fast in small places, so the cart could get blown into you or on you. That is why the old rule of if out on a road and one comes get under a bridge up top where it is narrow, as the air was found to move very fast there. The most important thing in a tornado is, you DO NOT CARE about anything other then your safety.
Also I would rather be trapped and alive and possibly unijured then the other.

Army Guy

Here is some reading from each of TVs three county government websites:


http://www.lakecountyfl.gov/pdfs/Pub...tSheet_web.pdf


http://www.sumtercountysheriff.org/e...management.asp

http://www.marioncountyfl.org/Disaster/Tornadoes.aspx

Been There, Done That
 

ArmyGuy is right. I come from the West Texas Panhandle, and going outside is the worst thing you can do unless you're heading to a storm shelter behind your house or live in a mobile home. Get into an inside room (no windows), preferably something like your bathtub, taking all the items he mentioned. When a monster tornado hit Lubbock in May of 1970, some of the students at one of the Texas Tech dorms were saved because they got under a sink and held on to the pipes. That one killed 26, many hurt, and left thousands homeless. Many were saved only because it occurred at 10:00 at night and most were home and had not yet gone to bed. As he said, priority is protecting your head. Even simple objects become deadly projectiles. Even though your house is rated to withstand winds in excess of say 120 mph, that is referring to straight winds as in a hurricane. Tornadoes create a vacuum and literally suck things apart.

It seems strange to me not to have the sirens. This time of year back there, they are an almost daily occurrence. Unfortunately, unlike hurricanes, you usually have only minutes to prepare, not days. When they say, "Take cover!", you take cover and don't mess around about it. If the thing never touches down...that's great and there is no harm done. A little inconvenience, perhaps, but that's all. A tornado actually hitting after a warning is totally unpredictable, it may or may not....they don't watch TV, listen to the radio, or care what the computers say. They just do whatever they do.

I am telling you BK, you sure can post useful information, fast.

Very helpful indeed. Thank you very much.

I have printed the list for Sumter County.

Many of our friends with pets will not be happy to hear that most shelters are not pet friendly.

I think a Weather Radio is essential.

When we first purchased in TV, I used to panic at Tornado Watches, but then I got used to them. Now I react immediately to a Tornado Warning. I head for the laundry room with my dogs and cat in tow. I have an "emergency kit" stashed in the laundry at all times ... bottled water, flashlight, emergency papers, etc.

As DillyWho said, when they say take cover, they mean it. If nothing happens, say a thank-you prayer.

Does anyone know if a first floor closet/bathroom etc. is safer than a second floor closet/bathroom if there is a choice timewise?

Rosalie, read through the information in the links I posted above. The lower the better in a tornado. An inner room, ie. a room that doesn't have an exterior wall, downstairs is best if you don't have a basement or celler.

My brother has lived in Tennessee for about 20 years. They have a laundry room in the center of their home which they keep stocked with extra blankets, pillows, battery powered weather radio, flashlights, clothes/shoes (in case they are in their night clothes when they go into the laundry room), medicine, a deck of cards, water and some food.

It breaks my heart to hear my 11-year-old niece tell me about sleeping on the floor in the laundry room when there are tornado warnings in the night. But, she is going to be like her Mom. A native of Tennessee who grew up with that type of precaution as a way of life.

I have been down south for about 14 years now and lived in Tenn and Ark where we have been in some awful tornados. Both of our houses in those areas were ranches with no basement, so we picked out an interior closet as or emergency room. I also Keep a large plastic container in there with our emergency stuff. I change out the emergency food stuff every few months and same with water. Good idea to have a list of your insurance, meds and any emergency numbers you would need. Flashlight, extra batteries portable radio, list goes on but plenty of we sites out there with information to help you.

Thanks
 

Excellent preparatory advice just in the event a tornado does threaten TV.
Hopefully, The Villages will stay safe.

Thank you for all the links........especially the Sumter County Sheriff's hyperlink to the "Sumter County's Most Wanted" list. A real eye opener for sure.

All great information.

Many thanks for all your words of wisdom after having experienced the wrath of tornados first hand. There is nothing like advice from someone who has lived through this type of "weather".

We will take all of your advice to heart , both when we visit TV and should we eventually buy our retirement home there, which hubby is seriously contemplating as the best retirement location.

Thank you again for your very excellent instructions to newbies who have not yet experienced the wrath of a tornado. A frightening thought to say the least.

Your own personal experience speaks volumes and we will remember them if we ever find ourselves in the middle of a tornado warning........or worse case scenario......with no warning. Appreciate all the advice.

More GREAT information. I can only imagine the fear you've actually lived through.........will take your advice to heart as well. WELL WRITTEN. Excellent explanation of the "fury" of a tornado. Thankyou.

The weather radio is something my husband totally agrees with.
Thanks for the info. Definitely bottled water. Lets hope TV never sees another tornado.

Publix
 

Pulix Grogery stores are designed to withstand type 3 Hurricane force If I were near one that's where I'd go.

PUBLIX sorry I can't speel this morning

Good to know
 

[quote=English Ivy;264134]Good to know the "potential" for even more disaster if those retaining wall blocks crumble down on top of someone inside the golf cart tunnels.

Are they cemented together? When we had a retaining wall built up here in Vermont, they actually are not cemented, but just placed on top of each other. I think only the capstones were cemented.

However, it's a lot different to have an un cemented retaining wall simply holding back a hilly section of the lawn.....vs a tunnel that people travel beneath.......so probably they are cemented, just couldn't withstand the strength of the tornado.

Cinder blocks cemented or mortared together is what I mean. But I assume no matter where one was outdoors, if a tornado really was coming at you, no place outdoors is really safe. Not sure what the golf tunnels are made of.

Vermont rarely, if ever, gets a tornado and if it does, it is pretty mild and just called straight line winds which can take a roof off of a house......however, not too long ago, in our bordering state of Massachusetts, in the Berkshire Mountains, a school teacher was driving some students in a van when out of the blue a tornado came through and literally picked up his van and threw it across the road , landing in a field......the teacher and students were all killed.

That was a very very rare event. This was really a fluke of nature as it isn't something anyone worries about up here..........but even our weather has been changing, and not for the good. Snow due today in higher elevations........in May. We had our May weather in March and April. Go figure. It also snowed on Mother's Day in northern Vermont.

Another good suggestion.........supermarkets, high school, hospital????

If there was adequate warning. Often there is not, from what I've read.

For tornados, large structures are not the safest place. They may be rated for hurricanes as others have posted, but tornados are not straight winds, they rotate, create a vortex, and s u ck! Those large roofs offer little protection in a tornado. Nothing like them, once you personally see one and the destruction, you can not EVER forget it. That town I mentioned in an earlier post, that was completely destroyed, I still ride through it every day, Ragland, AL, and at this one place, where after the tornado passed, the Salvation Army had one of their trucks set up for coffee, etc. It wa son a circular driveway, that is all that was left. Well of course now the house has been rebuilt, but everyday I still can see in my mind that truck set up there! And trees? Where in a hurricane they are just blown down/over, remember in the King Kong movies where he tears the trees apart, you know rips them off, that is what a tornado does. The stumps are there, but the rest is ripped off. Like I said, nothing like them. I have been to combat zones, etc in my career, they don't scare me like a tornado.

Army Guy