My new storm cellar installed

[reddog1]

Priceless!

 

[RidgeHunter]

If reddog stops posting for a few hours after a tornado hits BA, like 20 of us would drive over and get him out.

 

[ripnbst]

^Reddog is cheating, your pictures with little people in it make it seem bigger.

If you parked it under an SUV you'd think that should keep enough debris off it for you to slide out underneath the vehicle.

 

[reddog1]

hahahahaha x 2

 

[saddlebum]

I wouldn't worry about being trapped in your shelter, guys.

Odds of being hit by a tornado are low. Odds of being hit by a devastating tornado are even lower. Odds of your exit being blocked by debris are even lower than that. Odds of nobody freeing you from your underground shelter before you run into issues from being stuck down there are next to nothing. You're not gonna be in there for days.

in the may 1999 tornado the was an elderly couple in moore that were trapped in thiers for 6 days, i know i helped did them out. they had water and a little food and where in pretty good shape

 

[CHenry]

FWIW there are some rebates out there right now also I believe.
Check the Oklahoma state website.

I checked this and there was/is a rebate drawing you can register for. It said the drawing would be Jan. 3 2012 but it let me register anyway? Maybe a future drawing in the works?
Anyway its a max $2000 or 75% of the cost of the shelter.

 

[KOPBET]

[cough cough]ham radio[/cough]

I wonder how many people actually have a 2 meter hand held ham radio...

 

[Hawgman]

And yes, our cells work from the shelter.

i used to work in the cell tower service industry. tornados usually take out the tower service.so don't count on your cell phone

Thanks for the helpful reminder. But yeah, if the cell doesn't work I'm not worried. We have a lot of family in the area and they're calling and checking on us (as in driving us nuts) everytime a storm comes through. People have been trapped in outdoor shelters so I know it's possible. But hey, you got to pick a direction after weighing the pros and cons and go with what's best for you.

 

[oufan24]

We are having ours installed by Ground Zero on March 6th. 8 person, total cost including install is $2800. Is this the safest option? Who knows. But it's the option we are going with. I know I would rather have one than not have one. Just like the whole debate of pocket guns. I know I would rather carry my little pocket .380 than nothing at all!

 

[pak-40]

My family was trapped in a celler after the May 3, 1999 tornado in Del City. All the neighbors knew where the shelters were and we were out in less than 2 hours. The shelter was outside, away from the house, but some bricks (debris from someone else's house) ended up on top of us.

My wife and had one installed on our garage, but is has a 4 ton jack attached so we can get out if something falls on top of us.


Some lessons:

Keep some drinking water in your shelter. It definitely came in VERY handy for us. Though we had "ventilation" there was no airflow and it got pretty warm down there. We could have made it the two hours without water, but it was sure nice to have it. Any longer without water would have been tortureous.

Keep a bucket for "natures calling" We had an elderly couple from next door (along with several other people) and she just had to go.

Make sure everyone is wearing shoes/clothes that can can handle walking thru debris. The elderly couple had their pajamas on with slippers. We pretty much had to carry them out of the neighborhood.