On Faciebutts, on the local "awareness" page, I posted an idea for a storm shelter, that I thought would be something that would interest folks. This is what I posted:

"Forgive me for thinking out loud.. But I think I have an idea for those of us who won't leave our pets behind to go to a shelter during these severe storms.
What do ya all think of an underground parking shelter? Fully underground, drive through doors on each end, angled parking spaces on both sides. You would drive in, park in a space, roll the windows of your car down partially, we don't want a bunch of loose dogs, and shut off your car.
We could have a lounge area with a big screen TV off to one side, but the dogs would have to be in crates or in the car. We could serve coffee and tea and have restrooms.
Does that sound like something we would want to do?
Let's stop all the talk about costs.. I'm not asking this city or this county to do anything. This conversation is about ideas and possibilities. The City of Arab and Marshall County have nothing to do with this conversation."

More than 90% of the responses are folks telling me that the city or the county won't pay for it. I don't care if the city or the county would or wouldn't pay for it. I just asked them if they thought it was a good idea, I was kinda hoping for suggestions to make my idea better..

So, since I can't get anything positive out of the local folks.. What do ya all think about it? Especially those of us in tornado prone areas.

I have lived all my life in tornado alley. Parking garages in general are very unsafe in a tornado. It would be extremely expensive to build a fully enclosed shelter that could protect automobiles. Cheaper to build a shelter at your home.

When I lived in Dallas, when hailstorms were projected, friends without garages or carports would rush to get to the nearest self serve car wash. You know the ones with a wand and brush you used to self wash the car. Or parking garages.

I don't think your idea would ever work. How about doing storm shelters for people instead of cars, without cable TV, because thats gone in a tornado or hurricane.

Think of it this way. A friend in Florida couldn't buy gas because there was no electricity to power the pumps.

Think saving human lives verses pets cars and watching TV.

You've obviously never personally seen the devastation a tornado or hurricane causes. I have. Your idea is nuts!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2025 03:25AM by wrosie.

Fortunately, I don't think I've ever technically experienced a tornado. But regarding hail, when I was younger, a few people would get excited over hailstorms. I didn't understand why, but it turned out, some people were looking forward to claiming hail damage on their cars through the insurance and not fixing it. I guess the car was towards the end of its life, and the money was needed.

I saw the title and thought the thread would be about those icky roller grill thingies

:-D



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2025 01:40PM by CoolMusic.

I wouldn't want to be around that many people in a crisis, tbh. I do think the USA needs to build stronger or more fortified buildings as we see more and more natural disasters, fires, etc.

I watched an episode about some bunkers for likely wealthy people, it was kinda neat - this is the company that makes them:
[www.terravivos.com]

Rosie,

I live in an area that has been hit hard a few times in the relatively short time I've lived here. I won't abandon my pets, I sleep where my dogs do. I also have chickens, and I've had goats, but we had issues getting a vet to come here, and I couldn't get them to a vets office, so we sold them, or my son did. I just cried.

The storms on Saturday had a couple well established active tornados heading in a straight line for my home. The first one was larger than the second, and it traveled almost 60 miles as a fully formed tornado.
It only touched down in a few places, but the rotation was obvious on the weather maps on the tv. When the first one got to the crossroads that are less than 5 miles away from my home, we bugged out, 3 dogs in my car, 1 in my son's. We went North, because the storms had mostly petered out up there. We didn't go as far as we should have, because when those tornados broke up, they spread out and we didn't go far enough to not be impacted by the remnants. We were undamaged, and the tornados broke up just as they passed the 4 way crossroads.

I've wanted an underground home most of my life. I've done a LOT of research. I know what is going to happen when I get my retirement money from the phone company. My house will be built with 2 full levels below ground. One level for storage, water storage, my backup generator, and emergency supplies. The level above that will be a garage with a drive on vehicle hoist (for cars, not trucks), so that I can work on my own cars again. and a full finished basement apartment, only 1 bedroom, because it's just for me, with everything including a small apartment type kitchen. On top of that will be a 40'x60' quonset hut, rated to withstand up to 150 mph winds.

On the South side of the top structure there will be full outside kitchen in a screened room. with a regular stove and oven, a blackstone griddle, smoker and gas grill, with cabinet refrigerators under the tables. Inside there will be a large cooking wood burning fireplace, made of stone, a full family sized kitchen with gas (propane) and induction cooking, I probably will install a dish washer, but I'm not a fan, I like to hand wash my dishes so I know the soap and crap is all of the way rinsed off. There will be 4 good sized bedrooms, and a master suite with a nursery/tv room, (because I don't want a tv in the room that I sleep in). My DIL's mother lives for decorating, and I hate it, so I'll probably get her help making the main level of the house presentable for visitors.

Wow, you have done a lot of research on this....so it's an underground home with an apartment attached to the home? I am just trying to visualize... you'll be safe not just from tornadoes but also the end of the world.

Bare,

level 1 is just for storage, it'll be made of shipping containers, steel and concrete, there will be water storage, an emergency generator, and one entire container of food storage, freezers, bulk pantry, ALL food will be stored in metal or glass containers and bins. And both of the underground levels will be made entirely of concrete and metal. No place for bugs or rodents to get in. Level 2, on top of level one, will be half garage, and half apartment. Level 3 will be a 40' x 60' quonset hut, all metal on the outside. I believe, because of the size of the structure above ground that there will be 2 levels above ground. But I don't have a clear idea what I would put on the upper level above ground..