I grew up in Oklahoma - of course, this was 50 years ago. Everyone had storm shelters. I can remember riding with my Dad as he drove between churches (he preached at one in the morning and another in the afternoon because he had 7 churches) and spotting a funnel cloud. Dad, who loved storms, decided to give chase, which was fun for awhile. Then the funnel turned and we pulled into a farm just in time to join the family in the storm cellar. The thing sucked on the storm door so hard that both the farmer and Dad had to hold it. Oddly enough it missed the barn where the vehicles were parked, but took off one side of the farmhouse. We headed back to the main church because it was home to the Disaster Relief Van and we knew we would need to get it on the road.
I remember a safe room in our school. It was especially built as a storm shelter and would hold the school population. We drilled going there and the teachers would calmly teach right up until the sirens sounded and we’d march off. I understand leaky basements, I just don’t understand the lack of safe rooms.
My grandmother had an old cellar like that and it had windows and a vertical door. A tornado like this would have obliterated it, sending debris down into the cellar. Residential neighborhoods like these don’t have room for these types of storm shelters anymore.
Actually, there has been an exponential increase in the number of in ground shelters (in the garage) and safe rooms since the 1999 tornado. The state has even given tax breaks for installing the in ground shelters over the last several years. We are already hearing about hundreds of survivors that rode out the storm in one of these shelters and I bet there will be thousands more installed after this. Unfortunately, they aren’t practical for schools.