[Nibbidy]

How often do people actually use these? Ive seen on Zillow that alot of houses in Western OK come with them in the back yards. I dont know how i feel about that. Maybe its a good thing its there but maybe its a bad thing because that must mean tornadoes are more frequent there. How is home owners insurance?

Duncan and Altus look like somewhere I might like to live.

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by Nibbidy

How often do people actually use these? Ive seen on Zillow that alot of houses in Western OK come with them in the back yards. I dont know how i feel about that. Maybe its a good thing its there but maybe its a bad thing because that must mean tornadoes are more frequent there. How is home owners insurance?

Duncan and Altus look like somewhere I might like to live.

Many Oklahomans have been wanting and getting storm shelters since the 1999 and 2013 massive killer tornadoes that hit Moore. Home insurance has skyrocketed due to storms.

Why Duncan or Altus? Those towns haven't changed much in a long time. But they might be okay if you prefer towns not growing much. All Altus has going for it is the air force base and some cotton fields outside town. And a long drive to Oklahoma City or Dallas.

[SluggoF16]

A lot of newer homes (such as mine, not all that new, 2004 build) have interior safe rooms. Mine has 15" of reinforced concrete walls, a FEMA-rated door, is integral to the slab, and has 12" of steel and concrete for the ceiling/roof. it's a bedroom closet, but doubles as a safe/wine cellar. There are some famous pics of safe rooms being the only structure left after an EF-4 or EF-5 tornado.



An alternate: A storm safe shed. There are relatively small/inexpensive all-steel models that bolt into a garage slab. Another trend has been the interior below-grade underground shelter, usually in the garage. I'm leery of them because if the house collapses on top of the door, you're trapped. Additionally, there have been a couple of incidents where flooding has occurred and the people underground have drowned. It's a matter of risk assessment, it's not likely but could happen, as it has. They are easier to operate than the old-school shelter my in-laws have in Major County. But in all, they're way better than nothing, especially when the NOAA radio starts yelping.


Personally, I'd live just about anywhere but Altus. Or Frederick.

[Threestep2]

We have been through tornadoes and hurricanes in several states. Currently we have an underground shelter accessible through an unused bay in the garage. It was easier to use an above ground which was also in the garage. Outside would not work for me with three cat carriers. New and newer construction seems to come with a shelter.

[Oklazona Bound]

Originally Posted by Nibbidy

How often do people actually use these? Ive seen on Zillow that alot of houses in Western OK come with them in the back yards. I dont know how i feel about that. Maybe its a good thing its there but maybe its a bad thing because that must mean tornadoes are more frequent there. How is home owners insurance?

Duncan and Altus look like somewhere I might like to live.

I like Duncan. I am going to be there next week for their worlds largest garage sale. I like cities that have 10k-30K persons living in them. Big enough to have most of what you need but without traffic. Duncan seems like a safe place to me.



When I decided to buy property in Oklahoma everyone I know on the west coast brought up tornadoes as a good reason not to be here. People living in Oklahoma don't seem real concerned about them. I go to a lot of garage sales throughout the state and newer subdivisions all have the storm shelters in the garage. In older homes you see then in the yards. The town I am in has never had one in the 100 years or so that it has existed. Earthquakes are a bigger concern.



But the next big tornado could happen in any part of the state. Very unlikely to happen right where you live but it will happen somewhere. I am not sure that past locations of large tornadoes mean much of anything. Although some will claim otherwise. Earthquakes are a different story. Probably best to avoid areas that consistently get earthquakes.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by Oklazona Bound

I like Duncan. I am going to be there next week for their worlds largest garage sale. I like cities that have 10k-30K persons living in them. Big enough to have most of what you need but without traffic. Duncan seems like a safe place to me.



When I decided to buy property in Oklahoma everyone I know on the west coast brought up tornadoes as a good reason not to be here. People living in Oklahoma don't seem real concerned about them. I go to a lot of garage sales throughout the state and newer subdivisions all have the storm shelters in the garage. In older homes you see then in the yards. The town I am in has never had one in the 100 years or so that it has existed. Earthquakes are a bigger concern.



But the next big tornado could happen in any part of the state. Very unlikely to happen right where you live but it will happen somewhere. I am not sure that past locations of large tornadoes mean much of anything. Although some will claim otherwise. Earthquakes are a different story. Probably best to avoid areas that consistently get earthquakes.

I've lived here ten years. We've had a few quakes which were certainly wake ups, not nearly as strong as the ones in Riverside (highest number of quakes in socal, and a fault just waiting to let it go), but some were doozies. All of the quakes we've had here in OK have been small, and just leave you with the feeling of when is the BIG one coming, but usually not anything strong. But as fraking picked up, that changed.


The big one we had via fracking did a LOT of damage. It was in the evening, everying dark, and the power went out and I and dogs went outside, waiting. You could meet all your neighbors at once. But it had destroyed much of the old business district in Cushing, some three years later still sitting just as it had looked when the stock they could rescue was moved. No repairs. No movie theater. No wonderful book store. That part of town is a dead zone.


Fracking has been reduced, especially after said quake was directly tied to it, and no doubt legal suits might follow. But the damage is done and the town is leaking population in great porportion, many for Stillwater. Many people here did not have earthquake insurence, and couldn't rebuild. Or maybe with the mess left behind, they didn't want to.


So if you are moving here, check the US site where you'll find every quake listed, when and relative damage and you might not want to.


I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, mid Orange County sprawl, and less than a mile from the beach in socal. I wouldn't go back to them, even if it was affordable. I like the pace of life here, but its slowed sooo much since, and unless you can drive its getting isolated. Part of it works great, part I would move away in a heartbeat. But the economic part where the SS check does pay the bills is also vital.


We haven't had any large quakes since the one which destroyed old downtown and likely will stay that way. And sure wish I could still drive. Eye surgery left one eye unable to focus, which means the eye has no depth perception, so that's a bad idea.


What comes later than now, no idea yet, but if I was moving here now it would be to Stillwater.

[WyoNewk]

Storm shelters are probably a bit safer once you get to them, but getting to them takes a minute or so longer, and the route is OUTSIDE.

We had a couple tornadoes just outside of the town I live in a month ago. A handful of homes were damaged, a couple them beyond repair. Only one person was injured. An older person, she couldn't get to the basement in time. (Okay, as I understand it, she was caught in the bathroom with unfinished business.) The rest of the family ran to the basement and were all fine.

Several years ago my sister, who lives in Iowa, was watching a storm out her bedroom window. She's been in "close encounters" with several tornadoes so knows what to expect, but her timing was off just a little. From the time she decided she should go to the basement until she got to the stairway was probably 10 seconds (12 feet from window to hallway and 12 feet from there to stairway. In that time the windows she was looking out of blew in and she saw the ceiling/roof lift off of her kitchen. Would she have left sooner if she had to go to the back yard, lift the doors to a storm cellar and enter it? Probably not.

I'd take the basement for shelter, and maybe build some sort of safe area in it with no glass.