By Chuck Ross
The hurricane threat faced by residents of coastal zones may get more press, but those living in Tornado Alley—the broad, tornado-prone swath stretching across the U.S. midsection—know that tornadoes can be just as deadly. These devastating windstorms arrive with far less notice than hurricanes, and they can wipe out homes and lives in seconds.
"Safe rooms" are now gaining attention as a possible means to protect the lives of those who may be caught in a tornado's path. Though the idea of a storm cellar is at least as old as the Wizard of Oz, new efforts are underway to standardize and test safe-room designs, and builders and suppliers are seeing increased interest from homeowners.
"We've started putting them in every spec home we do," says Bill Rhees, owner of BMI Construction, LLC, in Tulsa, Okla. His firm constructed its first safe room for a spec house in Tulsa's 1999 spring Parade of Homes, which, coincidentally, opened just one month after a devastating series of tornadoes swept through Oklahoma and Kansas, killing 49 people.
A powerful endorsement
Demand in Oklahoma was heightened when then-president Bill Clinton visited the affected area and held up a copy of a publication the Federal Emergency Management Association had just released, "Taking Shelter from the Storm." The document provides detailed plans and requirements for safe rooms that can stand up to a tornado's abuse.
"It continues to be an active market," says Ernst Kiesling, executive director of the National Storm Shelter Association and senior associate dean at Texas Tech University's College of Engineering. "I think many people, when building or remodeling, are thinking of putting them in – particularly in the high-end homes where an extra $4,000 is not a big thing."
That's certainly been Rhees' experience. Since his initial venture, he and a set of fellow builders built out a high-end Tulsa development called Legacy Park, in which he estimates 80 percent of the homes now have safe rooms. His says his costs totaled approximately $3,200. (Some states and local governments offer rebates and grants to help homeowners with added safe-room costs.)
Options for new and existing construction
Safe rooms are most economically incorporated in new-construction projects, when their specially reinforced slabs can be poured without disturbing the rest of the house. However, site-built options for existing homes are noted in FEMA's guidelines. Additionally, a number of manufacturers now are offering safe-room kits, which come with prefabricated wall, ceiling and door sections, and instructions for contractors on site preparation and assembly.
The National Storm Shelter Association is a good place to start for information on kits that have been tested to meet stringent performance requirements. The group also is now working with the International Code Council to create a standard that local jurisdictions can use for plan approval and inspections.
Not just in Kansas anymore
Proponents have focused efforts on Tornado Alley, but they note residents of coastal states whose homes are out of flood and storm-surge reach also could benefit. Hurricane winds can reach up to 200 mph, according to FEMA's U.S. wind-zone map, and the storms can spawn tornadoes. Safe rooms designed for the 12 hours or so it takes a typical hurricane to pass over could help cut the number of storm-related evacuees clogging area roadways during emergencies, Kiesling notes.
For homeowners who have purchased safe rooms, though, it's relief from worry, not fear of traffic jams, that makes them satisfied customers. Dorothy Andrake, section chief of risk communication outreach for FEMA's Mitigation Division, says she has seen this relief on the faces of those now living in homes with safe rooms.
"It really doesn't matter if there's another tornado," she says these homeowners have told her. "I know there's a safe room for me and my children."
Chuck Ross is a Chicago-based freelance writer, editor and Web consultant.
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