Our first time in the shelter

My babies were a little worried but handled it much better then I had originally anticipated.

Today was our first time using our tornado shelter and man am I glad we have it. A tornado touched down in our town around 4 pm today. It was only a few miles away from us and my husband was able to view the funnel cloud from our house. The tornado went down parts of Main street and did some damage. I don’t believe it was devastating damage but in a time like this damage is damage. The storms are predicted to get worse tomorrow for Oklahoma so good thoughts, positive vibes, prayers, anything, the people out here can use them, as well as the people of Kansas since it will be heading there tomorrow night.

Being a Cali born and raised girl the thought of tornadoes scare the crap out of me. I have never wanted to experience once but I knew once moving here it wouldn’t be something we could avoid. That’s why when we went on the hunt for a home having a storm shelter was number one on our priority list. We didn’t have too many must have’s because we were realistic in our home purchase, but having a shelter was not something we wanted to budge on. Would you believe that out of all the homes we looked at there was only ONE with a shelter. None of them even had a basement. Guess which house we bought? Yup the one with the shelter.

Now I don’t know if we were just being paranoid seeing as were Cali folk and all but this is my/our thinking. If all hell breaks loose and we ended up being in the path of a tornado we wanted the absolute safest option for our family. One were the possibility of us coming out completely unscathed was at it’s highest and for that to be accomplished you either need to have a basement or some type of shelter. So if you can get one why the heck wouldn’t you try to?

Since spring and summer are the season for storms I am thankful we made the decision not to budge on our priority list. While the shelter makes me claustrophobic and it’s hotter then a mofo with five people shoved in there I wouldn’t be able to take comfort in the fact that we have a place to take cover.

If you live in Oklahoma please check out Red Dirt Ready for information on preparedness, volunteerism, youth education and neighborhood security for Oklahoma weather.

Also if you are interested in getting a shelter but worried about the cost Oklahoma now offers a Storm Shelter Rebate up to $2000 for most cities and some cover up to $2500.