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How many of you MH dwellers have a storm shelter of sorts? I'm nervous!

2K views 32 replies 16 participants last post by  sidepasser 
#1 ·
If we find the perfect property, and it has the bonus of a MH on it to live in temporarily until we can build, I am terrified of living in one with all the bad storms/tornado threats in our area (looking to stay local, 20 or so miles north, closer to our grown children)! We currently live in a brick home in the suburbs, and I take tornado warnings very seriously! DH shrugs them off (stupidly!), saying "if your number's up, nothing will change it". I say, BS!..that's like standing on a railroad track with a train coming, and not moving out of the way! He just smiles and shakes his head when he sees me get into survival mode (there goes Dee, "pinging") and gather my cats, house bunny, bird and gerbils into their travel cages (can't help my fish), set them in bathroom/tub with the other emergency supplies needed, with me ready to lay across them from flying away (I know!) at the very first siren going off or TV warning.

I LOVE exciting changes in weather and storm watching, but I'm not stupid when it comes to serious stuff. If we ever need to live in a MH on a new property, I wonder if I wouldn't drive myself insane if the weather became seriously threatening..esp. if I had the chickens and goats I'd want (for eggs and as pets) and to be worrying about them, too. How do you all deal with it?! Do you have home made shelters on your homestead for those times you might not be able to immediately evacuate? Even with some warning, tornadoes are so unpredictable. I get nervous enuff in a brick home, let alone the thoughts of a MH!! Maybe I'm not as tough as I thought I was in wanting a place in the country, no matter what it takes! I'd love to hear your thoughts and how you deal with threatening weather and/or shelter ideas.
Thanks:)

Dee
 
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#27 ·
#29 ·
Our next home will be a monolithic dome. I thought they were very expensive but it turns out they are priced the same as conventional homes. With a monolithic dome one wouldn't need a shelter. Our current home is a prefabricated one - a type of modular home that was brought to the site in two pieces and finished here. The garage and porch were site built. Because the house is trucked in rather than driven in on its own axles, the construction materials are a little heavier/ stronger than a mh. But it dosn't matter in a hurricane or tornado if the wind rating is 110 or 125- not much difference. Facing the prospect of leaving when a powerful hurricane comes along, I've decided that no place less than a monolithic dome can house us again. They're not the prettiest home, but I think they are the safest.
 
#30 ·
Husband, knowing how much of a whimp I am in windstorms (result of staying home for Andrew in South Louisiana)...by hand dug a hole large and deep enough to put a 450 gallon tank in. It was a lot less expensive then the storm shelters currently available some of which are made from the same material. The tank cost about $500 -- the shelters start at about $2500. And he did it in the Ozark mountains -- pick and shovel - one wheel barrow at a time. Don't tell a homesteader he can't do something or can't afford top of the line right?

There is the added advantage that the opening isn't very large and it helps me keep my weight down. Husband has to lift his arms over his head to get his shoulders in. The worse part is when it's thundering and lightening and you have to make a mad run out there! Yipes! -- I have no complaints -- last year I only had to do that twice and this year not at all.

I had a great chuckle over the bulb hole digger....if you've even been in the Ozarks you'll understand why.

Marlene
 
#31 ·
I've been looking at land and farm houses with land on-line in hte ozarks and kept seeing storm shelters as a plus - now I know why. Haven't figured where we hope to move (my winter project).

We live on the east coast of massachusetts. We get hurricanes, nor'easters and blizzards. We have been lucky so far this fall. The last really bad nor-easter we got was the no-name storm of 1991. The ocean sucked huge houses into the ocean and threw huge boulders onto shore. It was the storm they pictured in the movie the perfect storm. Last winter we got quite the blizzard in december - 3 feet of snow at once (the only snow we got all year). It shut down our city for almost 5 days (no school or anything.

I think the threat of tornadoes is something else altogether - I give you all credit - it must come as quite the scare the first time you move to an area with them. Our storms atleast you can "hunker" down. I was in the huntsville area once when brother was in the army - I remember being in a mountain cabin and having a 16 hour rain/thunderstorm and having the roads washed out. Nana didn't move out of her chair all day - thunderstorms terrified her!

Hubby thinks I'm crazy - I'm so preprared - my can shelf and groceries (he calls it the bomb shelf). I shop every 6 weeks so I don't have to go out all the time. The can good shelf if filled for the winter. I did actually buy cat carriers and extra litter etc. in case we ever need them (he rolled his eyes there), duck tape and plastic had him outright laughing.

I figure he might think i'm crazy, but if we are ever in a situation where we need them, he'll be mighty pleased that someone was planning. So do whatever you need to even if the hubby thinks your nuts because someone has to prepare!

Hang in there all of you, especially with Ivan coming.

brural
 
#32 ·
I lived in a 1976 mobile home in Central Fla for nearly 20 years. I always headed for a motel or a friend's house if there was a hurricane, but got no warning of the tornadoes a few years back that killed 42 people. My mobile home was untouched but a new subdivision of traditional homes next to me had roofs off and our little shopping center looked like a bomb hit it.

My new house is 2 story cement block but I've heard that my safe place would be the Steel Master 20 x 30 garage. It is supposedly one of the brands of metal buildings that survived Hurricane Andrew and it did just fine through Charley and Frances recently. If you live in a MH, evacuate to a sturdier building (I stayed overnight once during a hurricane at the hospital where I worked). Most of the time you'll be just fine in your MH, just don't tempt Mother Nature!
 
#33 ·
Hi,

Here in GA. we call mobile homes "tornado snacks" as it seems that MH parks get it the worst, but then again, I lost my house and a 40 x 80 concrete block stable to a tornado, so don't think it makes too much difference - if it's gonna hit, it's gonna hit. Just be prepared.

This hurricane season has got me nervous, and I am simply terrified of high winds, but will hunker down in the interior closet with lots of blankets and pillows if it gets really bad on Thursday - winds are supposed to be 40 mph with gusts of 50, but it's the rain that will loosen the ground so the trees may come down...and I am surrounded by hundred year old oak trees.

I do hope that someday I can move north a little further away from tornado and hurricane alley...it would be nice to have cooler summers too. If you can, hire an independent backhoe operator and get yourself a celler dug, it shouldn't cost over $500 (at least here it wouldn't). be worth your piece of mind!

Sidepasser
 
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