A tornado missed my family by about 2 blocks last night

[ghostjmf]

Apparently it did all its destruction on farms outside of town, so "just" scared the crap out of everybody on its trip through town; winds were "only" 45 miles an hour by that point. But nobody knew its strength was spent at the time. All they heard was that alarm, with no other warning (usually the TV will say "tornado watch/tornado warning" before you hear the alarms).

My sister & I were discussing (afterward) where was the safest place to park my Mom in the wheelchair so as to protect her from glass & falling roofbeam, given that she gets very recalcitrant when required to lie under the massive kitchen table, the safest place in the flimsy little house in a tornado. She can lie flat, but at night in bed, not on demand in an emergency. No basement (the water table is about on a level with the ground; the few in the development who do have basements have water-filled, moldy ones). My sister insists an in-ground shelter in the back yard built like a swimming pool is built would hold up (& people's pools in the neighborhood do escape the "filled with ground water" plight the basements don't escape).

I have conjectured that an air-mattress, a "real bed" thickness one (which unfortunately takes about 6 minutes of a powered motor to fill up; they only had about 6 minutes warning, & you don't want to be handling electrical equipment in a storm, even if you do still have power) secured over Mom might make an "air bag" kind of defense. Poor, but better than nothing. I'm also worried that if we do this wrong, she would smother, as have some people when the air bags went off in car accidents.

There is a brick former school at the end of the block, now some kind of school-system office building, with a neighborhood pool & associated buildings behind it, but the city does not leave it open for emergency shelter in tornadoes.

Because tornadoes never came any closer than the outlying farms, & up along the lake, 'til now.

And if my sister only had 6 minutes next time, she could never get Mom into the chair, out to the car, into the car & down to the school in time anyway.


Please, those who've figured out MyHomeTown before, or can easily do so from this data (supposing that there weren't 16 tornadoes blowing through 16 Ohio towns last night), please don't post it. Just my own personal reasons.


<global subst "storm was tornado" done by hand. I hope>

[Estonut]

I'm also worried that if we do this wrong, she would smother, as have some people when the air bags went off in car accidents.

Air bags may cause other injuries, but they cannot smother people. They deflate nearly as instantaneously as they inflate.

[christie1111]

I think you need to do a global substitute of hurricane to tornado.

And I have more knowledge of preparing for a hurricane than a tornado, so I can be of little help.

[silvercamaro]

My sister & I were discussing (afterward) where was the safest place to park my Mom in the wheelchair so as to protect her from glass & falling roofbeam, given that she gets very recalcitrant when required to lie under the massive kitchen table, the safest place in the flimsy little house in a hurricane.

According to the weather authorities here, where basements are uncommon, the next safest place usually is in a bathroom on the lowest floor of the house. The water pipes are said to provide additional support for the walls. If the bathroom is unsuitable for some reason, ask your sister to take your mom to the smallest room in the house, away from windows. This often translates to a central hallway. Wherever they end up, your sister might wish to cover your mother's head with a quilt and wrap it all around her to provide some protection from debris, just in case.

[MarleysGh0st]

I'm glad your family is safe, ghost.

[andrewjackson]

My sister & I were discussing (afterward) where was the safest place to park my Mom in the wheelchair so as to protect her from glass & falling roofbeam, given that she gets very recalcitrant when required to lie under the massive kitchen table, the safest place in the flimsy little house in a hurricane.

According to the weather authorities here, where basements are uncommon, the next safest place usually is in a bathroom on the lowest floor of the house. The water pipes are said to provide additional support for the walls. If the bathroom is unsuitable for some reason, ask your sister to take your mom to the smallest room in the house, away from windows. This often translates to a central hallway. Wherever they end up, your sister might wish to cover your mother's head with a quilt and wrap it all around her to provide some protection from debris, just in case.

Yep, first floor bathrooms are the best. Typically they are a small room with small windows and lots of pipes and other connections to the foundation of the house. Three of my cousins were in their house in Indiana in 1974 during the Super Outbreak. They went to the bathroom and sat in the tub when they saw and heard the tornado coming. The only part of the house that was left after the tornado passed was that bathroom and part of the stairway that was attached to the bathroom. My cousins didn't even get a scratch.

[ghostjmf]

silvercam says:

According to the weather authorities here, where basements are uncommon, the next safest place usually is in a bathroom on the lowest floor of the house. The water pipes are said to provide additional support for the walls. If the bathroom is unsuitable for some reason, ask your sister to take your mom to the smallest room in the house, away from windows. This often translates to a central hallway. Wherever they end up, your sister might wish to cover your mother's head with a quilt and wrap it all around her to provide some protection from debris, just in case.

The bathrooms have big mirrored cabinets along one wall in each (side by side) tiny bathroom.
What we'd gain in "structure via pipes" we might lose in breaking glass.

In fact what we did decide on was the short, narrow (but big enough for a wheelchair to get through) hallway that seperates the side-by-side bathrooms from 2 bedrooms. My sister picked that because the tornadoes usually come from the southwest of us, & if they moved north & east & tore the central beam off the house, it would come crashing down, we'd hope, north of that hallway. (Of course in real life there's no telling where a tornado will throw the stuff it rips up.) Its good to know the hallway is a good place just because of the lack of debris-making material there. We had thought of that, but its good to know its an official suggestion from "safety authorities".

We thought of the food pantry too, but it would have lots of potentially flying objects, & right now you couldn't get the wheelchair in there, even though there's theoretically room. If my Mom were parked in the narrow hallway & my sister & her dog were under Mom's bed in Mom's room (this is where the dog goes during storms anyway), at least they'd all be close.

[ghostjmf]

AJ says:

Yep, first floor bathrooms are the best. Typically they are a small room with small windows and lots of pipes and other connections to the foundation of the house. Three of my cousins were in their house in Indiana in 1974 during the Super Outbreak. They went to the bathroom and sat in the tub when they saw and heard the tornado coming. The only part of the house that was left after the tornado passed was that bathroom and part of the stairway that was attached to the bathroom. My cousins didn't even get a scratch.

I've heard these "sat it out in the tub" stories before; its nice to know the structural sense behind it. (Also nice to hear a story about your relatives for whom it really worked, though I'm sorry about their house!) I'd definitely mention it to my sister (we don't have a tub any more, due to incompleted renovation in the bathroom with room for one, but my Mom wouldn't get into it anyway due to stroke-related stubbornness). There are still those giant mirrors, though. Buying moving-van-kind-of-insulator-pads (or just stockpiling blankets) we can throw & tape around them in a hurry is an idea.

[ghostjmf]

Estonut says:

Air bags may cause other injuries, but they cannot smother people. They deflate nearly as instantaneously as they inflate.

The "killed by airbag" people were usually children or very short people; the reason kids are not supposed to sit in the front seat has to do with their potentially being engulfed by an airbag in an accident. Whether they are smothered in that case or killed by impact of bag with their head I will have to look up.

I know someone whose airbag did not deflate instantly, or at least did not deflate enough. They hit a deer, the airbag went off, & they had a really hard time getting their feet to the brakes (plus, of course, they were trying to steer off the road but couldn't see a thing) with that at-least-partially-still-inflated airbag in the way. They did eventually get the car stopped, though.

[ghostjmf]

Marley says:

I'm glad your family is safe, ghost.

Thanks, Marley.