Traveling through East Texas today I saw something I have never seen before

There is a fairly small town building a community tornado shelter with FEMA funding.

I have to wonder with this extreme weather if we won't be seeing more of these. I sure hope so.

otherwise it might end up like the rest of the buildings in a bad tornado.

But it is nice to see that kind of thing in an area known for being so very anti-government/anti-Obama.

I did find this:
http://rainsleaderupdate.com/content/bids-awarded-fema

Someone wasn't thinking when they drew up that deed. Why on earth would TxDOT need a third of an acre outside of a building they no longer owned?

The nerve.

that. Especially when many of their homes don't have
basements......z

Somebody should point that out to those folks before they make a horrible mistake.

:rofl:

(It's actually an excellent idea and a sign that all is not lost in TX)

although, it's not ideal. Most storms only give 10-20 minutes warning or so. There would have to be plenty of scattered shelters that people could reach quickly on foot. There's usually not enough time to drive to a shelter, nor is there enough room on the road for everyone going in one direction (ask anyone in a small community when there's an event where the whole town shows up, how quickly it turns into a traffic jam). Nothing would be worse than people stuck in cars in a parking lot waiting to park and get into the shelter and have a tornado pass over.

I think it would make more sense for funding for people to retrofit their current homes to create their own shelters out of existing closets or interior rooms, and also change the building codes to require a safe room in every new building. When I was looking at home plans (no basements), there were plenty of plans that had a safe room built in - a pantry, bathroom or closet on the lowest floor that is built with reinforced concrete and steel door. This should be required in areas that get hit with tornadoes most often.