[gop4lyf]

Not exactly. Here in Dallas, the bedrock can be 30 feet down. Texas soil is notorious for expanding and contracting. As the saying goes, it’s not will you have foundation damage, but how much? Imagine what that does to a basement or cellar.

[freeandfreezing]

I understand the difficulty of dealing with soils that expand and contract, rocks, etc. But given the loss of human life that occurs when a strong tornado strikes a building without any underground shelter, or a suitably strong surface shelter, it makes sense to develop technology suitable for construction of underground shelters in places where tornadoes are frequent - like Oklahoma.

For example, the effects of hydrophilic soils could be mitigated by digging an extra large foundation hole and backfilling around the actual concrete basement with materials that can absorb the expansion and contraction of the soil.

I'd rather have an underground shelter with cracked walls and a sump pump than have to deal with an F5 tornado above ground level.