Taking Shelter From The Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House

Every year, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme windstorms injure and kill people, and damage millions of dollars worth of property in the United States. Even so, more and more people build houses in tornado- and hurricane-prone areas each year, possibly putting themselves into the path of such storms. Having a shelter, or a safe room, built into your house can help you protect yourself and your family from injury or death caused by the dangerous forces of extreme winds. It can also relieve some of the anxiety created by the threat of an oncoming tornado or hurricane. Should you consider building a shelter in your house to protect yourself and your family during a tornado or hurricane?

The answer depends on your answers to many questions, including: • Do you live in a high-risk area? • How quickly can you reach safe shelter during extreme winds? • What level of safety do you want to provide? • What is the cost of a shelter? This booklet will help you answer these and other questions so you can decide how best to protect yourself and your family. It includes the results of research that has been underway for more than 20 years, by Texas Tech University’s Wind Engineering Research Center (WERC) and other wind engineering research facilities, on the effects of extreme winds on buildings.