# Tornadoes in West Ky



## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

I'm so glad we have the ability to prepare for just this happening...

Watch the news tonight. Damage in my community.

I'm in Lyon County Ky, bordered by Marshall Cty, GravesCty, Livingston, Christian Cty,

West Ky is not in tornado alley, Go figger, we get hit every year.

I don't even know how many have been on the ground today, too many to count.

We area OK just some limbs down.

W just spent 2 hrs in our safe shed, and may be going in again.

Lots of my friends have major damage, all the results aren't in yet, lots of injuries. 

It should be on the news.


I'm so glad I got the Safe Shed.


Jim


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

Do you keep books or other entertainment/distractions in your safe shed?


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Caribou,

Right now ....only a radio.
A few books.

I have a small LED TV that's going in there, just haven't got an antenna yet.

I just checked the humidity in the Shed , 58 %.
Outside its 87%.

Its quite comfortable.




Jim


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

Did you put wi-fi in your Safe Shed??????? Glad to know you're OK.


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Country Living said:


> Did you put wi-fi in your Safe Shed??????? Glad to know you're OK.


No I have not.

I might do that some day.
Wouldn't be difficult.

Are you planning to put it in ?

How are things going with yours?

Jim


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## DrPrepper (Apr 17, 2016)

phideaux said:


> I'm so glad we have the ability to prepare for just this happening...
> 
> Watch the news tonight. Damage in my community.
> 
> ...


Stay safe, Jim! I am terrified of tornadoes, so glad we do not have them here! Sending prayers for your community.........


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

phideaux said:


> No I have not.
> 
> I might do that some day.
> Wouldn't be difficult.
> ...


We'll probably have wi-fi in our Safe Shed. Our internet is via satellite so it's only as good as clear weather to the south of us. If we're hunkered down, then the weather might not be conducive to getting a signal. We ran electricity to it last week.

We were under a tornado watch last night. Had the watch included counties to the west and south of us, we would have been ready to go in it.


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

Stay safe... all the weather is passing north of me today. Supposed to get rough here Thursday, fingers crossed.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

Yesterday, the weather guys said that the day would be calm with no chance of storms. Boy was he wrong, About 3 PM a super cell decided to grow right above Lincoln and it just sat there a created 2 F3 tornados, baseball size hail and 7-10" of rain over a 3 hour period. Several homes were damaged and flooding and hail that damaged homes and cars over a 100 square mile area.

At my house, just 10 miles North of all this, I only had pea size hail and 2 inches of rain, All night long we had sever lightening and continuous rumbling of thunder to almost midnight.

What was strange about the storm was that it just sat in the same place and normally it would head North East and that would put it over my house in just a few mins, so I had to sit and wait. But it turned South and then East and then Northeast and just missed us by 5 miles.

I turned on the weather channel and they were reporting on a storm in Oklahoma and almost didn't mention what was going on in Nebraska. It was justifiable because it looked like they had bigger Tornados then us.

The weather people are saying that tomorrow will be worse then yesterday with an 80% chance of severe weather, we will see.


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## 21601mom (Jan 15, 2013)

Are your safe sheds similar to the storm shelters sold at Home Depot?


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

Not even close. http://www.safesheds.com/ These Safe Sheds have gone through all the FEMA certifications as well as the Texas Tech wind testing. We have the 8'X10' Safety Shed sitting on the ground (we took phideaux's suggestion and put a moisture barrier between the shed and the ground).

The anchors on all four corners are 4' in the ground with two bags of concrete in each hole. Our Safety Shed delivered and anchored was less than $6,600. We have the escape hatch as well as a peephole in the door. Don't let the low price fool you; a farmer owns this company and decided many years ago people deserved a safe place when tornados came screaming through an area. If you look at the map on their website, you'll see their product has wide distribution.

Anyone can build a storm shelter. The trick is to build one that can withstand a strong tornado. There's a picture on the SafeSheds website that shows one of their shelters after an F4 hit the property in 2014. The mangled piece of metal to the left in the picture is a full-sized pickup that slammed into the Safe Shed. It folded around the Shed and wound up on the other side of it. The shed has a dent in the door and a bit of concrete chipped of the faux overhang.

We would not have bought this one had it not fit all the specs we needed in a tornado shelter. We are very happy with it.

ETA. Changed "doubtful" to "not even close". I don't see how the Cube I looked at on the Home Depot website passed FEMA 320 standards and Texas Tech wind tunnel testing. Those specific tests would have been clearly stated on the product information had the sheds gone through the testing. Plus, the onus is on the purchaser to install the HD sheds and you darn well hope you did it right.


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

I got a feeling that we are going to be spending more time in ours tonight and tomorrow, 
We may be up a lot tonight.

Weather guys are saying that the next wave could be stronger than today.

Do you know how great it feels to know, I latch the door, and we are safe. 

Good feeling.

Jim


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

phideaux, I was impressed with the way the bar secures the door handle once you're inside the unit - simple and effective. They really thought through a lot of things like that. The 8'X10' unit comes with two photo-cell motion detector lights... I think you had those in your shed also. I had a peephole put in my door - they just started offering that option. 

Be safe. I think this is the start of a very active and very dangerous tornado season.


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

ur lucky, that peep hole wasn't available when I ordered mine.

A friend of mine worked for the railroad forty years, he gave me a padlock to use for keeping mine locked, that they used for locking the rail switches, it indestructible.
It is HUGE, and can not be cut with bolt cutters, plus I have the added dead bolt,

Yes they did put a lot of thought into it. 
They even included a tool for removing the rear window bolts.

What do you think of that main center roof beam ? 
Aint no tree gonna hurt that thing.

You might want to put better filter material in the air vents.


Jim


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

The center beam is impressive. If we lived close to the Safe Shed plant, I think I'd take a trip over there and watch them put in the rebar and do a single pour of concrete to make one. 

We're going to put window screen under the outside of each vent to keep out the little critters because hornets are a big problem in this area. I don't know anything that would keep out the dust and still allow for air flow. 

I put a small pry bar in the same door channel with the tool to remove the escape hatch bolts just in case the seal is difficult to break. I need to air out the sleeping bags and remove any little friends that took up residence in them. The sleeping bags and cots will go in the Safe Shed. Chairs and a small table are already in it. 

When the tornado watch went off a few nights ago, I brought the little red wagon I got from Harbor Freight in the house, loaded our medication bags, the carry-folder that has all of our important papers, along with other bags, added a few bungee cords, and had it ready to go to the shed in case a tornado warning went off. It's a whole lot easier to put everything on the wagon and pull it to the shed with just one trip. It doesn't even need to be unloaded unless the wagon is needed for something else. Will probably get a second wagon for the guns. We'll keep leaf bags in the wagon just in case it's raining. They'll go on top of the bags to keep them dry and the bungee cord will hold them in place.


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

I wonder how many residents in tornado prone areas have a underground shelter ,for the price of a used pickup truck you can install a 1000 gallon tank ,big enough for a few people my shelter in Oklahoma was very small but big enough to hold about 6-8 people for the few seconds it would take for the event to pass ,this cheap shelters really save lives and I have notice many are neglecting it, I really hope that more read this forum ,is a life saver.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

We have an underground concrete shelter we got ten years ago. Only one person at a time can go down the steps so you're only as fast as the slowest person. If someone is handicapped or has a bad knee or hip, forget about getting them into the bunker. Staging the underground storm shelter, with the things I listed above, took ten times longer. Plus, there's no escape hatch so you're dependent on someone finding you and getting you out in case the door is blocked. 

We paid $3,400 for our 6'X8' underground bunker in 2006; but, only about half is usable due to the steps and the slope of the top. We paid less than $6,600 for our Safe Shed, delivered and installed. It's 8'X10' minus 4" on each side for interior space - all the floor space is usable. 

The problem with concrete tanks is twofold: (1) the FEMA construction guidelines are there for a reason and these tanks are not within guidelines and (2) the door is always the weakest point. You want a door that's passed the wind tunnel testing at Texas Tech. 

These Safe Sheds are very affordable.


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

Phideaux, the news just said there were 15 confirmed tornado sightings in Kentucky yesterday. Aren't you glad you're NOT in a tornado area???? (tongue in cheek).


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Like I said ...we get hammered every year, in my area.


Well we had a peaceful night, 
No alerts, or warnings, just some heavy rain off and on.

I don't even want to go to some of the areas hit hard around us, but may have to go help some friends.

I know national news is not showing what happened , but local news is trying.

They still have us in severe threat area later today.

We be watching and hunkering down.


I also have an underground bunker , Buuuutttt, the humidity underground is horrible, everything stays wet, that's my main reason for the Safe Shed.


Jim


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

I have to run a dehumidifier in our underground bunker or the walls get black mold on them from the humidity. The black widow spiders just seem to love that bunker so I keep a can of spray in it and I use it every time I go down there to empty the dehumidifier.


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## gabbyj310 (Oct 22, 2012)

Glad my Ky friends are safe. I'm visiting my Daughter and family in Tn for a few days but kept in touch with son and family in Morgantown Ky(my house) and that's in Butler Co Ky. I SOOOO want a safe shed and hope to get something ASAP as we both live in "trailers".....It seems like every time I turn around there is "ANOTHER" money emergency and that leaves things like the safe shed SOL. Sick kids,parents etc comes first,but cheeze I want them safe too.Keep all of us that aren't in "Tornado Alley"(pun) and everywhere in your prayers until this bad weather passes!!!!


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Late yesterday , they had Twisters on the ground at Crofton and heading in the direction of Morgantown,

Glad you guys didn't get hit.

Watch out later this afternoon, with temps near 90 deg, conditions are right.


Jim


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## 21601mom (Jan 15, 2013)

Thank you for the details on the Safe Sheds. It's very helpful in making our decision.


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## gabbyj310 (Oct 22, 2012)

I've looked at Safe Sheds before.They looks great and just what we could sure use.... I just hope I can afford one in the very near future!! Everyone keep safe,it's still coming at us!


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

This helped me making my decision....






Jim


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

The Safe Sheds people are very reasonable. They want 10% down at the time you place your order (I faxed my order instead of mailing it - they need a signature) which I put on my credit card. The balance is due when the unit is delivered. That also went on my credit card, which I intend to pay off as quickly as possible. Everyone with whom I spoke at the company is incredibly professional, knowledgeable, and nice. They place great importance on having an outstanding product and helping their customers. Other companies could learn about customer service from them.


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## 21601mom (Jan 15, 2013)

We have been discussing and researching different types of shelters for three years, but each type had a draw back. I'm definitely sold on this one. Now I have to figure out how to get HOA approval. Thanks again!


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## Cotton (Oct 12, 2013)

Country Living said:


> Not even close. http://www.safesheds.com/ These Safe Sheds have gone through all the FEMA certifications as well as the Texas Tech wind testing.


Country Living, Funny you should mention&#8230; The day I posted this&#8230;
http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f26/whats-everybody-doing-today-25036/index305.html#post416448

Apr 29th...

The power went off before supper. I drove over to the county line, beer joint/liquor store/ barbeque joint to get a burger.

When I pull up there were three white vans in the big parking area by the diesel pump, young folk's running back and forth talking to each other&#8230; The front was fast moving, didn't drop tornados, it had just went past&#8230;

Anyway, I'm watching them while my burger and fries cook up. 5 of these young folks rolled 2 large tarps out of the biggest van. They released weather balloons and had electronic gear. They started tracking them.

On the side of each van I saw the following stencil painted in black as I drove out of the parking lot.

Texas Tech
National Wind Institute


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Here is an updated photo...
With more of a woman's touch...

























Ok the deck is 10ft , driveway is 20ft, another 8ft to back door.
If we are home its unlocked. Prepped....:thumbraise:

Jim


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## jimLE (Feb 25, 2015)

tornadoes is a scary situation.and for those that dont know it.we had one pass through 2 fridays ago.in which it passed through i guess 3/4 of a mile from us.in which that hit home with me big time.and i've stepped the importance of fixing up our hall closet to be our safe room for torndoes.i knew to begin with,that their distructive.now i've seen first hand to how distructive they are.

good luck with the safe room jim


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## Country Living (Dec 15, 2009)

phideaux, what do you have coming out of the front vent? Did you finally get wi-fi???


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## phideaux (Nov 7, 2015)

Sorry, the pics weren't clear,
Nope, not yet on the wifi.

Here ya go, 
Just a small motion/solar light for the entrance. Works great.









Jim


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