When a hurricane drum your way of life , you have a decisiveness to make : Do I stick around or do I go ? If you survive in a low - lie area , or near a lake , river or the ocean , your selection is clear . If you ’re in an expanse that has any chance of implosion therapy , you want to empty as soon as potential [ source : Skinner ] .
However , if flooding pose no risk ( contain with your local emergency direction position to make certain ) , and if you have n’t been order to void , you may opt to stay home , hunker down down and ride out the tempest . If you do bide , you ’ll have a better chance of endurance if you ’re protected from wind - borne rubble and projectile like tree , branches , parts of family , and even cars . you could get that protection in astand - aloneshelteroutside your home or a bastioned space inside your house , have it away as asafe roomor in - abidance shelter .
Stand - alone hurricane shelter are typically made of steel panels weld together into a box seat - shaped structure with a steel door and bolted to a concrete pad . Unless you have metalworking skill and puppet , this is not a DIY projection . you’re able to expect to pay $ 5,000 and up for a shelter progress to standard set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) .
A digest - alone shelter unattackable enough to protect against a hurricane ’s fury could also be made of concrete fortify with reinforcing iron bar ( known as rebar ) , fortified masonry block , orinsulating concrete forms(foam mold into which concrete is pour , known as ICFs ) . To be build up properly , a storm tax shelter can be designed by an railroad engineer and build on - situation by a declarer , or you’re able to have a pre - fictional unit deliver to your choose site and gather there . company that sell storm shelters include Armor Vault of Oklahoma City , Okla. , and Steel Storm Shelters , based in Jackson , Tenn. These shelter are made for " extreme steer events " like tornado and hurricanes.
Now that we ’ve win over you to work up some sort of hurricane shelter , how gravid should it be ? It depends on the number of people in your household ; FEMA suggests that your place hurricane shelter edifice have at least 10 square foot ( .93 square meters ) of space per person , so a protection made to put up a family of five would need to be at least 50 straight foot ( 4.65 straight meter ) . You ’ll need even more space than that if you have sick or keep out - in relation , as each bedrid person needs 30 square groundwork ( 2.8 substantial meters ) . For an estimate of what you ’re up against , consider that a typical two - car service department measures 400 square feet ( 37.2 square cadence ) .
If you ’d rather build up a safe room inside your home , record on to the next page for some ideas .
Hurricane Safe Rooms
Asafe roomis a windowless boxful inside your house where you and your family can escape the peril of malarky - wear projectile during hurricanes or tornadoes . Safe rooms have several advantages over outside shelters . For example , secure suite are usually less expensive : A simple lean - to shelter in a cellar will cost around $ 2,000 , while a fortified safe room in a new theater will summate an extra $ 3,000 to $ 6,000 to your construction costs . If timing is vital , you also do n’t require to venture alfresco to get at the safe room , since you could hand it from inside the planetary house .
The secret to build up an effective dependable room is to fortify existing walls with plywood ( the most scotch choice ) , blade or concrete , and to check that the whole way is properly tighten together . fit in to the Texas Tech University Wind Science and Engineering Research Center , passable fastening are important to the tax shelter ’s morphological performance . The tax shelter ’s roof must be firmly anchored to its wall , the walls to each other , and the paries to the protection ’s founding . In plus , right ventilation is a must if you ’re using your secure room to protect you and yours from hurricane .
At its Baton Rouge campus , Louisiana State University has admit a good elbow room inside itsLouisiana House ( LaHouse ) , a display case home was construct to demonstrate storm - resistant building techniques and material . Although the LaHouse has been officially used as LSU ’s Home & Landscape Resource Center and offered educational outreach since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005 , the home plate itself has only been amply operative since July 2008 . The LaHouse ’s safe room is off the master bedroom and can be used as a walk - in closet . This safe way admit these upgrades :
A tax shelter or secure elbow room may be empty , or it may be stock with items like bottled water , non - perishable food , blankets, battery - operated lights , a radio and a first - aid kit . Unlike crack , which shoot a line through an area quickly , hurricanes can take 60 minutes to give-up the ghost through . You ’ll desire your family to be ardent and comfortable as the tempest passes .
For more data on hurricane tax shelter , please see the links on the follow page .
