The following is an excerpt taken from FEMA's document on FEMA 361 Design and Construction Guidance for Community Shelters:
1.2.1 Tornadoes and Hurricanes
Tornadoes and hurricanes are among the most destructive forces of nature. On average, more than 1,200 tornadoes have been reported nationwide each year since 1995. Since 1950, tornadoes have caused an average of 89 deaths and 1,521 injuries annually, as well as devastating personal and property losses. A tornado is defined as a violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground. The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of 250 mph near ground level. Damage paths over 50 miles long and over 1 mile wide have been reported. Sixty-seven tornadoes struck Oklahoma and Kansas on May 3, 1999, including numerous F4 and F5 tornadoes. (F4 and F5 are classifications based on the Fujita Tornado Scale-see Table 3.1 in Chapter 3.) This tornado outbreak resulted in 49 deaths and leveled entire neighborhoods. (Additional information about the Oklahoma and Kansas tornadoes is available in the FEMA Building Performance Assessment Team report
Midwest Tornadoes of May 3, 1999, FEMA 342.)A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone (the general term for all weather systems that circulate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere over tropical waters) originating in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, or Gulf of Mexico. Around its core, winds can grow with great velocity, generating violent seas. As the storm moves ashore, it can push ocean waters inland while spawning tornadoes and producing torrential rains and floods. On average, 10 tropical storms (6 of which become hurricanes) develop each year in the Atlantic Ocean. Approximately five hurricanes strike the United States mainland every 3 years; two of those storms will be major hurricanes (Category 3 or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale-see Table 3.2 in Chapter 3). The loss of life and property from hurricane-generated winds and floodwaters can be staggering. Tornadoes of weak to moderate intensity occasionally accompany tropical storms and hurricanes that move over land. These tornadoes are usually to the right and ahead of the path of the storm center as it comes onshore.
You and your family are sitting in the living room relaxing and watching some evening television. Suddenly
your football game is interrupted! The news announcer says that there is a tornado watch for ... and you identify that
he just stated the county where you live. The announcer continues, "All residents are advised to go to your tornado
shelter ...." You ask your wife, "Is the garage closed?" She answers, "Yes." The family quickly hurries to close
the storm shudders... and then you all go back to watching the football game.
Does all this sound incredible? It would not if you were living in a Dome Home from MDI! (See Monolithic Dome Home Survives May 4th Missouri Tornado.)
How often I grieve when I hear of the suffering of Americans before and after a hurricane and tornado. I grieve because all of the suffering did not have to happen. A church sign once said, "Plan ahead. Noah built his ark long before the people knew what rain was!" We have the advantage, we know what is coming! If only more people would plan ahead!
We watch year after year as millions of people are forced to leave their homes due to an impending hurricane. And then they return to find what is left of their homes. Do we learn from our experiences? No, I am afraid that all too many of us, to borrow a line from a song, "go back jack and do it again! Wheels turning round and round!" We return to reconstruct our conventional homes.
But the exciting thing is that the home of the future is here today, if you have the wisdom to take advantage of it. The Monolithic Dome provides all the protection your family needs for 98% of anything mother nature can throw at America. I can only hope that more people take advantage of this basic protection so that they are able to provide for their family today!
Now imagine yourself in that same situation above. This time the news person announces that there is a hurricane coming and everyone in your county will have to evacuate. Will you and your family be able to get out in time? Along with millions of others? What possessions will you take? Do you have a full tank of gas? Or will the gas stations be open? What if the announcer tells you to take your family to your town's school gymnasium or other community shelter? Will you go?
I can't tell you how much I would hate to go to one of those community shelters. You simply don't know what you are going to find there! Without a doubt, you will have to keep a close eye on your wallet ... and your daughters innocence! (I am not trying to be rude here, I am just stating the facts of life!)
The better solution for when your local news announcer tells you to go to the local shelter, you head straight for home. The dome home provides a better, more secure shelter from any natural disaster than anything else that is out there (short of perhaps an old missile silo). A Monolithic Dome Home even surpasses in strength and durability the building that FEMA recommends for every community across America! (See MDI's comparison chart. A more technical explanation can be found in the article entitled Building Survivability: The Strength of the Monolithic Dome.)
Zell Miller at the 2004 Republican Convention stated in reference to terrorism issues, "... my family is more important than my party." I wish all of us could have the same priority when it comes to disasters, both natural and man made! All too many of us -- even if on a subconscious level -- place our associations (what will the neighbors say?) a higher priority than our family's safety.
There is simply no reason why the photograph on the left might be you. As Monolithic reminds us, "The future is here today."
And why stop by providing for your own family's needs? You can recommend that your community build a Monolithic Dome Shelter ... and disguise it as a gymnasium.
Endnotes:
