Does anyone live in Tornado Alley? How do you cope with the weather? do you sit up at night when storms come?

Question

I recently moved to the southern part of tornado alley, I had no idea it was like this untill about two months ago. I woke up at three in the morning to really bad winds got up with my three month old son and stood infront of our glass doors. All of a sudden this huge tree comes crashing down in front of my eyes straigh at me. I ran to the bathroom and hid for the rest of the storm. Two weeks later, another storm hits the winds and hail, and thunder was so bad!!! I found myself again in the middle bathroom. Our house is old and it's on the River so its up on stilts. If a tornado came I'm sure I would be dead! Everytime it even rains now I get anxiet attacks which I've never had before in my life. I even lied to my husband the last two storms, I told him my son was sick the first time and I took him to the ER, I felt safer in a sturdy building with lots of people. Last week I told him my son needed Tylenol and I went to walmart and sat in the bathroom! How do I deal?

Answer 1

I live on the edge of tornado alley. We get many threats of severe weather and it does stress the h**l out of me because so far we have been safe from tornadoes one of these days we wont be.

if you dont have a basement one of the safer places is the bathroom and get in the bathtub with a blanket. Also you can get  grab a mattress to cover yourself and your son with when you are in the bathroom

Answer 2

We concluded we cannot rely on the city's siren system to provide us warning of a coming tornado.  The city would rather not inconvenience the 12-15 complainers than to warn the 111,000 other people here who are in danger.

So, we got a NOAA weather radio.  I would recommend this to anyone who lives where there is severe weather.  Get one of the newer models that offers the S.A.M.E. feature.  This will allow you to program the radio for only your specific area.  If there is a tornado or a severe thunderstorm, the National Weather Service issues a signal, the radio turns itself on, beeps very loudly (kinda like a smoke detector) and then plays a recorded announcement about the weather warning.  It really works for us!

I bought ours from Amazon.com and it was about $30 or so.

So, when storms come at night we sleep through them without worry, but if they're a dangerous storm, we're alerted and can decide what action to take, if necessary.  This eliminates a lot of anxiety since we no longer have to wonder "is this a bad storm or not?"

The next thing you can do is to make an assessment of your living situation.  You should determine which rooms of your house are safest (usually like interior rooms with no windows, such as bathrooms or closets), if there is an underground tornado shelter nearby (at your house, at a neighbor's house, a community shelter, etc).  Avoid windows and glass doors (as you now know)!  Create an emergency plan for your family, and have a backup plan as well.  Make an emergency kit, with a battery-operated radio, first-aid kit, bottled water, cans of food (and a manual can opener), change of clothes, etc.  Since you say your house is on stilts, it may not be sturdy enough for tornadoes, and so perhaps it may have been a good idea to go to a sturdy building.  However, you should weigh the risks of driving in a car during a severe storm, as this is generally not a safe thing to do at all.  A very significant number of deaths caused by tornadoes are from people in cars that are blown around and smashed to smithereens.  If you have 10-15 minutes advance warning that a storm is coming, then I'd say go to a nearby sturdy building, but if the storm has already arrived, it may be better to stay put.  Only you can assess the situation at the time, however.

The #1 thing you can do for yourself is to prepare by taking advance action and educating yourself.

PS:  It's generally not a good idea to lie to your spouse, or anyone.  If he knows the truth about how you feel, he can help you find solutions.

Answer 3

Generally yes,I do sit up at night because I'm a very light sleeper.Try watching your local weather channel when you feel that a storm is coming.THey will probably tell you if you should take over or not.

Answer 4

hi  i live in tornado alley its very scarey when storms come cause im terified of tornadoes. you allways have to have a plan for bad weather. oh and yes i do sit up at night when stormes come.