(05-21-2013, 09:14 AM)Midwest Spy Wrote:

(05-21-2013, 09:09 AM)aussiefriend Wrote: I don't get it.

From what I understand, it's because the ground is comprised mainly of clay, and would simply allow water to seep into your basement. Thus, no basements.

Some of our older homes up here also have a seeping issue. We just install a sub pump and call it a day.
The friend that did have that storm shelter did have a water issue with it. He just used a litle giant portable sub pump and pumped the water once a month so it would dry. I think the seeping problem is a poor excuse ,when it comes to saftey during a event like this.

(05-21-2013, 09:20 AM)F.U. Dont ask again Wrote:

(05-21-2013, 09:14 AM)Midwest Spy Wrote:

(05-21-2013, 09:09 AM)aussiefriend Wrote: I don't get it.

From what I understand, it's because the ground is comprised mainly of clay, and would simply allow water to seep into your basement. Thus, no basements.

Some of our older homes up here also have a seeping issue. We just install a sub pump and call it a day.
The friend that did have that storm shelter did have a water issue with it. He just used a litle giant portable sub pump and pumped the water once a month so it would dry. I think the seeping problem is a poor excuse ,when it comes to saftey during a event like this.

I've got a sump as well, and it's actually been working overtime for the last 3-4 days. Nearly 4 inches have fallen here since Friday.

That being said, it's got to be more than just a 'little seepage' being the problem there. I think if it were feasible to have basements, they would.

In Kansas we had warnings all the time and you learn to pay close attention to likely tornado-producing systems. You can't hide from the world but you gotta respect it. Once when I was a teen we were in my grandmother's old people apartment on the seventh floor when the weather was tornado-friendly. The news broke in saying there were reports and sightings of touchdowns in our neighborhoods so I went to look out the window and right about then this little tiny twister formed and kinda rolled through the parking lot and was shoving cars around. Not picking any thing up, it was way too small but for a second it was the coolest thing I ever saw. Then I realized the window glass was warping like crazy from the air pressure and decided getting the fuck out ta the window would be wise.

Tornado weather is eerie as hell. Animals tend to sense it so it's dead quiet, the sky is usually this ugly bruise color as the warm and cold fronts meet, like yellow and purple, and the air tastes like you're sucking a copper penny. By far the creepiest feeling of any weather issue and I've seen my share of bad storms.

(05-21-2013, 09:22 AM)Midwest Spy Wrote:

(05-21-2013, 09:20 AM)F.U. Dont ask again Wrote:

(05-21-2013, 09:14 AM)Midwest Spy Wrote:

(05-21-2013, 09:09 AM)aussiefriend Wrote: I don't get it.

From what I understand, it's because the ground is comprised mainly of clay, and would simply allow water to seep into your basement. Thus, no basements.

Some of our older homes up here also have a seeping issue. We just install a sub pump and call it a day.
The friend that did have that storm shelter did have a water issue with it. He just used a litle giant portable sub pump and pumped the water once a month so it would dry. I think the seeping problem is a poor excuse ,when it comes to saftey during a event like this.

I've got a sump as well, and it's actually been working overtime for the last 3-4 days. Nearly 4 inches have fallen here since Friday.

That being said, it's got to be more than just a 'little seepage' being the problem there. I think if it were feasible to have basements, they would.

The friend I mentioned with the storm shelter pumped his once a month. At that point he would have a foot +- of water in there. I think the trade off would have ben a fair one.
I think the issue is more a case of fast paced building of homes. Most of the homes were built during the Oil boom and as a result of lack of housing they were just thrown up in a hurry. Concrete slabs are faster to pour than basements and foundations are to build. It would save the builder a ton of time to just pour the slab and slap up the home.

It occurred to me that schools in high risk areas ought to at least have some type of safe room. I dunno...an above ground concrete bunker or something?

:'( This is just heartbreaking. WAH

There is a standard procedure for tornadoes similar to hurricanes etc where students are moved downstairs and to interior rooms etc. However, in a tornado that massive there really wasn't much anyone could do. The fact that as few died as they have since reported is a testament to building codes. Same tornado a few miles south, the death toll would be thousands.

It had a massive amount of strength.

Wind, humidity and rainfall combined precisely to create the massive killer tornado in Moore, Okla. And when they did, the awesome amount of energy released over that city dwarfed the power of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.

On Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service gave it the top-of-the-scale rating of EF-5 for wind speed and breadth and severity of damage. Wind speeds were estimated at between 200 and 210 mph.

Several meteorologists contacted by The Associated Press used real time measurements to calculate the energy released during the storm's life span of almost an hour. Their estimates ranged from 8 times to more than 600 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb with more experts at the high end.

This is what powerful tornadoes can do. This is the one from Joplin, which coincidentally was the one that wiped out the hospital I was born in. I have this theory the cosmic spirits are slowly trying to wipe any evidence of me off the planet, and as long as I keep moving they won't catch me.

(05-21-2013, 07:30 PM)Donovan Wrote: This is what powerful tornadoes can do.

I was just reading that many of the injuries were from being impaled & I saw a photograph of one of the teachers with what appeared to be a chair leg impaled in her leg. I've dwelled on everyone's fear, the children's, the parents in their frantic effort to find their children, a horse & a pony I saw huddled together, etc.

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_/...ma-tornado

More than 100 horses are thought to have perished in the massive tornado that hit the Moore, Okla......The farm's stalls and barns took a direct hit from the tornado, .... three and a half of the facility's five barns were reported to be swept away.

That fuckin' Westboro Baptist Church is at it again. According to them, the tornado was God's wonderful wrath and it happened because some people in that state praised the gay basketball player for coming out.

I think if I lived there I would get a dumpster and bury it in the ground with a backhoe, shore it up with some concrete footings and waterproof the inside with rhino liner. Probably cost a total of 2-3000.00.

(05-22-2013, 09:13 AM)Duchess Wrote:

That fuckin' Westboro Baptist Church is at it again. According to them, the tornado was God's wonderful wrath and it happened because some people in that state praised the gay basketball player for coming out.

They really are the scum of the earth.

Gods wrath my arse.

Apparently many schools do have above ground safe rooms but not those two. It's up to the school district.

I'm not necessarily criticizing; just pointing out the facts.

If a school is located in tornado alley surely a safe place for the pupils and teachers to hide in the event of a tornado should be mandatory?

As I said, there are frequent drills and procedures for tornado safety but 1) this was one big motherfucker that no amount of hiding under the desk will protect you from, and 2) this is America where poor and non-caucasian people are more or less expendable. Hell, we convinced an entire generation that "duck and cover" would protect them from nuclear bombs, and now we are busy convincing them that GMO food is good but universal free health care is bad. We're pretty fucked up in our heads over here.

(05-22-2013, 10:55 AM)Cynical Ninja Wrote: If a school is located in tornado alley surely a safe place for the pupils and teachers to hide in the event of a tornado should be mandatory?

I just heard that the mayor is requiring all new housing developments to have some type of tornado safe structure so yeah, not unreasonable to mandate them at schools too.

If a school is located in tornado alley surely a safe place for the pupils and teachers to hide in the event of a tornado should be mandatory?

(05-22-2013, 11:35 AM)Cynical Ninja Wrote: If a school is located in tornado alley surely a safe place for the pupils and teachers to hide in the event of a tornado should be mandatory?

I heard you the first time!!!