MONTGOMERY, Ala. —When deadly twisters chewed through the South and Midwest in 2011, thousands of people in the killers’ paths had nowhere to hide. Now, many of those families are taking an unusual step to be ready next time: adding tornado shelters to their homes.
A year after the storms, sales of small residential shelters known as safe rooms are surging across much of the nation, especially in hard-hit communities such as Montgomery and Tuscaloosa in Alabama and in Joplin, Mo., where twisters laid waste to entire neighborhoods.
Manufacturers can barely keep up with demand. Some states are offering grants and other financial incentives to help pay for the added protection and peace of mind.
Tom Cook didn’t need persuading. When a 2008 tornado barreled toward his home in rural southwest Missouri, Cook, his wife and their teenage daughter sought refuge in a bathroom. It wasn’t enough. His wife was killed.
Cook moved to nearby Joplin to rebuild, never imagining he would confront another monster twister. He had a safe room installed in the garage just in case.
On May 22, Cook and his daughter huddled inside the small steel enclosure while an EF-5 tornado roared outside. They emerged unharmed, although the new house was gone.
“It was blown away completely — again,” he said. “The only thing standing was that storm room.”
Generations ago, homes across the nation’s Tornado Alley often came equipped with storm cellars, usually a small concrete bunker buried in the backyard. Although some of those remain, they are largely relics of a bygone era. And basements are less common than they used to be, leaving many people with no refuge except maybe a bathtub or a room deep inside the house.
The renewed interest in shelters was stirred by last year’s staggering death toll — 358 killed in the South and 161 dead in Joplin. So far this year, more than 60 people have died in U.S. twisters.
Safe rooms feature thick steel walls and doors that can withstand winds up to 250 mph. They are typically windowless, with no light fixtures and no electricity — just a small, reinforced place to ride out the storm. Costs generally range from $3,500 to $6,000.
Sizes vary, but most hold only a few people. They can be bolted to the floor of a garage or custom-fitted to squeeze into a small space, even a closet. Some are so small that occupants have to crawl inside. A few are buried in the yard like the old storm shelters of the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Before the twister devastated Joplin, a Neosho, Mo., safe-room manufacturer called Twister Safe had four employees. Now it has 20.
“Business has probably quadrupled, at least,” said owner Enos Davis. “We’re selling 400 to 500 a year now, compared to maybe 100 before.”
Since 2005, 31 community shelters have been built in Missouri using FEMA funds, and nine others are under construction, said Mike O’Connell of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency.
That number is about to grow. Joplin voters earlier this month approved a $62 million bond issue that will be combined with insurance money and federal aid to build storm shelters at every school. The shelters will double as gyms, classrooms or kitchens.
After more than five dozen tornadoes struck Alabama on April 27, 2011, FEMA gave the state $17 million for safe rooms. More than 4,300 people filed applications for grants. Of those, nearly half have been approved. The others are being reviewed.
“They absolutely save lives,” said Art Faulkner, director of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.
