Are there tornado shelters in Villages
 

We are pretty new and this is first time I even thought about it. We have a tornado warning and live in smaller 2bd home in Lady Lake. Unlike MidWest, we don’t have basement to run for shelter. We don’t have interior rooms. People just head to closet ? Are rec centers tornado shelters??:shocked::pray::pray: advise??

The bottom photo is what happened to some villas in Sunset Pointe during the 2/2/07 tornado. They say to go in a bathroom that has no exterior walls if you have one. No one in TV died from the 07 tornado but lots and lots of damage.

We have two good sized walk in closets, figure that is the safest place in our house

Only if all 4 walls are interior walls.

In one of our bedrooms, the closet is against the outer wall of the house. In the other bedroom, the closet is in the bathroom, between the bedroom and the toilet/shower area. That room would be the safest room in our house. The other bathroom *would* normally be the next safest, except it has a solar tube and I'm guessing we'd just end up trapped instead of secure.

Interior closet in cinder block or concrete frame CYV where I going to bunker down if and when one come directly over head. On good note most tornadoes 🌪 are cat 1’s down here, but if it come directly over you it’s still tornado it just don’t wipe everything off the slabs and suck up asphalt. Like they do in Oklahoma. Under ground the only safe place there.

I think if I was in a manufactured home I would run for something more solid as soon as I heard the Tornado Warning. An interior bathroom does you no good if your house is airborne.

Florida tornado's do lift things up including cars. More photos from 07 Sunset Pointe.

If something more solid was in running distance you betcha I'd run for it. Unfortunately, the closest "more solid" structure to my house is the Orange Blossom Hills Country Club - at the highest elevation in the Villages, with a big honking top-heavy watertower planted in its back yard.

I think, given those particular circumstances, I'd probably be better off taking my chances staying put.

Don't know which county you live in but, here is info for Sumter. (No, the rec centers are not shelters)
Shelters | Sumter County, FL - Official Website

They are so guess the closet will be my fort. Will also make it my man cave in case I have to spend some time in it.

As others said...no, we don't have those...not sure if any communities do unless it's a mobile home park. Generally the weather comes too quickly to run anywhere, anyway. When we first moved her it was a tad concerning since we had basements before. NOW we just go with it and pay attention to the weather news. If something seemed imminent, then we'd go to our inside closet.

Even if you don't make it your man cave - keep an empty bucket/pail, a gallon of water, flashlight, and couple packs of cheese & peanutbutter crackers (or MREs if you're into that kind of thing) near the closet door, outside of the closet. Our closet is actually in the bathroom, so we keep that all in that empty bucket on on the bathroom counter.

If anything happens, you now have food, water, a light source and a toilet to last you a couple of days, long enough to dig your way out if necessary. Keep the phone charged, if you have a laptop or tablet, load up some books on them and keep those charged as well. Bring'em all with you and you'll have something to "do" while you're stuck in there til the storm's over even if the power goes out.

Sincerely -
Someone who's lived through 58 years of Nor'easters.

Average length of a tornado is 10 minutes. Digging out may take longer. In my inner closet I have a shovel and work shoes, gardening gloves and a heavy table that could hold roof collapse to get under. Use it to store items on under normal circumstances. Flashlight, drinking water and charged phone. I have considered installing a small (fridge sized) tornado shelter for a few thousand dollars but my uncle who lived in TV 30 plus years, my parents also in TV 20 plus years never had a tornado problem.

As I am not going to sleep all night in a closet, I decided to install a hurricane rated window in the only window in the smaller third bedroom of our Holly. As the window faces a poured concrete house, that house should block most debris from hitting the window and all other sides of this bedroom are protected by other rooms. I was also concerned about where to go when I first purchased here and ask questions in this old 2015 thread.

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...helter-170732/

Thanks for the info