I live in what’s fondly known as Tornado Alley. I hate the spring storm season. And in fact, I’ve recently realized none of my books take place during the spring. I equate spring with storms, not with lovely flowers, soft breezes, and birds singing.
It used to be that our area of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas were the primary places for an outbreak of tornadoes. Thus, the name. However, that has changed in recent years and more and more locations have experienced these dreadfully scary storms.
We were wakened at 2 am on Wednesday morning with the alarms going off on our phones. Not just a severe thunderstorm warning, but a Tornado Warning. (A warning means a tornado is likely. A watch means there’s a possibility of storms or tornadoes.) The sirens went off almost immediately. That sound means take shelter. Now.
I took time to hastily shut down the computer, which I’d meant to do before going to bed because Pete Delkus on Channel 8 News told us what to expect. I forgot.
Bob and I began gathering stuff to go in the closet.
Here’s the deal. We prepared to go into different closets!
Originally, when we considered buying this lakehouse, one of the first things we looked for was what we could use for the tornado shelter. In our old house, it was the pantry built in under the staircase in the center of the house.
Perfect. Enough space for us and the two pups we had at the time.
At the lakehouse, we decided the closet near the utility room would be best. It didn’t have an outside wall and was really the only space in our small lake cottage that didn’t have an outside wall. This outside wall thing is a big deal in seeking protection from tornadoes or any storm with high winds. Also, being near plumbing. Apparently, the structure is stronger there.
Closet is on the right. Tight fit.
You remember I broke my ankle late last May right after we moved in, and I spent June and July in a wheel chair and later a walker. Storms during that time mostly happened in the daytime while Bob was at work. I couldn’t get into the closet we’d originally selected to be the storm space. I could roll into our bathroom/master closet area, which has two outside walls, but was sufficiently large for me to get in with my wheel chair, Charley, and later the walker.
Right and left side of large tornado closet, which we’ve filled up.
Time passed, I got up on my own two feet. We didn’t have storms for several months. The next time we did, Charley and I went to the master closet. Why? Because that’s what we had a history of doing.
Wednesday morning’s storm was the first one Bob had been home for and thus the confusion. I got ready to go to the master bedroom closet, and he started moving things out of the closet near the washer and dryer. He looked at me like I’d lost my mind. It was a bit tense to say the least. Only funny in retrospect. LOL
We went into our master closet, and fortunately the storm wasn’t as severe as it might have been. We didn’t even lose power, which we almost always do. Other parts of our town weren’t so fortunate.
While we were sitting in the master closet, listening to updates on our phones, Pete Delkus said oh so specifically, “Take cover now in a room with no exterior walls on the ground floor of your house.”
So when we got up Wednesday morning, I told Bob he was right about which closet. I was wrong. (So not fun.) LOL Now my job over the next couple of days—at least before the next storm roars through—is to rearrange the stuff in the “real” tornado closet so we can easily get in and have enough space for Charley, Bob, me, my laptop, make-up, medicines, flashlights, my tax papers (not quite complete), the WIP folder, flashlights (My mother would be proud. After experiencing a tornado in Wichita Falls in the late 60s, she always gave family members flashlights.) and water. Those are my essentials for an emergency.
What are your essentials? Do you have a tornado closet or safe room? Where is it? Do you keep it stocked for an emergency? If you’re nearby, how did you fare in the Wednesday morning storm? Love to hear from you.
If you missed my radio interview last week, here’s the link for the recording.
https://soundcloud.com/deartexasradio/dear-texas-read-radio-show-127-with-marsha-r-west
Marsha R. West, Author 
So glad you came through safely, Marsha. We were watching the storms on the news last night, devastating 😦
I didn’t know about the alarms coming through on the cell phones, great idea!
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Hey, Jacquie. Maybe you don’t have sever weather they way we do in Texas. But if you do, I’m sure your local TV station must have that option. It’s a free app.We pull up the radar that’s local for our area, too. It’s very comforting to keep an eye on the storms this way. Thanks for stopping by and for sharing. 🙂
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Great post, Marsha. I’ve always wanted to see a tornado in person. Just once. I’ve even had dreams snout them. still, I would rather not see one coming in New York City.
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Hey Ken. Did you ever see the movie Twister? That’s as close as you ever want to get. LOL You defintely don’t want one to hit NYC. Open plains is best. They are incredibly destructive. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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Hi Marsha, that sounds very scary. I’m so glad the worst of the storm passed you by. We don’t have storms like that in the UK. My daughter lives in New Zealand, though, and they have a similar warning system for earthquakes. She has experienced two so far, and both were scary. It’s very frightening to be at the mercy of something outside your control.
Your description of finding the safest place reminds me of stories my parents and aunt tell me of finding shelter in the Blitz. My mum and aunt had a reinforced steel cage in their house and they were all supposed to sit inside it. My aunt refused because she thought there were cockroaches inside. When the bombs came, she lay on top of the cage, because she was more scared of the roaches than the bombs 🙂
I hope the storms continues to pass you by and you all stay safe.
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Hey, Helena. We were fortunate this time. I’ve thought about getting a steel tornado shelter set up inside, but they’re pricey. I think earthquakes are way scarier than tornadoes. Technology has gotten so we can track them and have a good idea if one is likely to hit. I’m not aware of anything like that for earthquakes. Loved your story about your mum and aunt. I so get that. Don’t care too much for getting in a really small place and the roaches would’ve been my undoing, too. The devastation from a tornado or even straight line winds often looks like a bomb has exploded. Sadly, we seem to have more and more extremes in our weather.Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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Oh I’ve been through some doozies. The safest is under the stairs but is where I store Christmas and is packed. The next best place is the downstairs bath which has no exterior walls. We cram our dogs into one crate and even tossed in the old cat a few years back. We watch on our phones, on the TV and go outside to watch the sky. That funky gray green color is very scary.
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Hey, Vicki. Sounds like you’ve got a couple of good safe places. I always had to move out the trash, recycle and brooms to get in under the stairs at our old house, but that didn’t take long. The advent on info on our phones is so much superior to weather radios from the old days. “Funky green color.” Great description. I’m not sure I’d want to be in the bathroom with the two dogs and cat in a crate! We harness our pup and have the leash ready to put on him. We’ll pray we’ll all be safe this year. We can only get one car in our garage. (Supposed to be torn down and rebuilt. Fighting with the city. LOL) So if we get hail, my car is out of luck. Thaks for stopping by. 🙂
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