LaReeca Rucker
The Madison County Herald
From the archives April 13, 2008
Madison residents Pat and Willie Hughes had a tornado safe room installed inside their Madison home three weeks ago.
They didn’t get a chance to use it April 4 because they weren’t at home when the storm struck, but Pat Hughes said it’s nice to know the safe room is there should another funnel cloud twist through the county.
“You are always interested in what you can do when the storm comes,” she said, “but this is a proactive gesture to be ready.”
David Tullos, owner of A+ Tornado Shelters of Jackson, said storms prompt shelter and safe room inquiries.
“Any time a tornado comes through, we start getting calls from that area,” he said, “but here in Jackson, our calls have probably tripled in the last four days. A lot of people are saying, ‘I’ve been putting this off for years,’ but since so many tornadoes are coming through, more people are getting them installed.”
But he said an increasing number of people are building indoor and underground shelters, with some indoor safe rooms featuring lots of bells and whistles.
“People heat and cool them, put cable, phones and electricity in them,” he said, adding that some also use them as safes for storing guns and valuables.
“Some use it like a closet in the bedroom, so they don’t have to go outside and get in it,” he said. “Another advantage is if you are in a wheelchair, you can’t roll it down into an underground unit.”
But many who don’t have room in their existing homes choose to build shelters underground. His underground shelters cost an average of $4,500, and indoor shelters are around $4,900.
Floyd Arnold, who distributes and installs TornadoSafeRoom shelters around the Southeast, said he went into the business in 1994 when FEMA began recommending tornado safe rooms.
“They are much more practical,” he said. “Ours are built and patented around the idea that you put them in your garage, and you don’t have to go out into harm’s way to get safe. That’s the reason more people have gone to them.”
Arnold said his business has grown from year to year.
“We have sold many more this year than we sold two years ago, and two years ago, we sold more than we did five years ago,” he said. “Most all of our installations are in newer homes, but I’m not putting them in simultaneous to the constructions. It’s generally after a home has been built.”
400 mph winds
Made of steel, Arnold’s indoor shelters have been tested to withstand winds up to 400 mph, he said, adding that before 1994, underground tornado shelters were more popular.
“But because of the change in the trend of sources of fuel, it became evident in 1993 that a whole lot of areas, especially suburban areas, had propane gas,” he said. “And when you have propane gas, and the tornado snatches the house away and leaves it spewing the gas in the yard, and you have an underground shelter, it becomes a hazard itself. The gas can leak down into your shelter, and you’d die of asphyxiation instead of the tornado.”
But Arnold said there’s a potentially negative side to giving out that information.
“If people already have underground shelters, you might be discouraging them from going into them underground, and they might lose their lives because they didn’t,” he said. “It’s kind of a catch-22 thing. There are hundreds of thousands of people who have underground shelters, and you don’t want to discourage them from going into their shelter.”
Duane Lacey, who owns the Rankin County-based Joe’s Concrete Storm Shelters, said he received 50 to 100 calls after the recent storm, but many were from customers on his waiting list inquiring when their underground shelter would be constructed.
Like Tullos, Lacey said many new homeowners are opting to have storm shelters and safe rooms installed. His shelters range from $3,500 to $4,500.
Funding assistance
Pat Hughes said she expects to be reimbursed by a FEMA grant that pays for around 75 percent of the cost for the construction of a storm shelter safe room. Tullos said funding varies from county to county, and those interested should contact a local FEMA or MEMA representative.
Scott Carpenter and his wife, Diana, weren’t at home when the storm hit their Tracewood Drive home. They both returned around 2 p.m., and Carpenter was relieved to find his mother-in-law safe inside.
After evaluating the damage, they discovered five holes in the roof. Carpenter said neighbors are discussing what can be done to make the neighborhood safer.
“The big talk now is whether or not we should cut down some of the surrounding trees,” he said.
Carpenter said he and his wife talked about installing a storm shelter after Katrina, but right now, they are focusing on thinning trees.