Death To Zombies

The American Veterniary Medical Association put together this useful video.  Normally I avoid these, but it’s a short video and she makes points that are more useful than some of the generic tips you’ll frequently get.  Larger crates will be needed than expected as pets would have to stay in them at shelters.  Also great tips on ways to mark your animals.

I kept looking into digging my own tornado shelter and found a short post over at treehugger.com that mentioned a book by the Bubels.  I ran out and took a look at it in the local bookstore and was so enthused I did buy it.  I used to buy a ton of books but sort of knocked it off when I ran out of time to read all of them and had a backlog of a few hundred books.  So buying a book was a big change of pace for me.  In it there are tons of different ways to build a root cellar and how to prepare your produce so that it won’t rot during the winter.  Also, some of the plans appear to be strong enough to be worthy of FEMA standards, although I’m not an engineer so you might have to check that out for yourselves.

So I called up my favorite rental place and found out that a large mini-excavator w/ trailer would only run me $250 a day.  I think I’ll be digging a shelter pretty darn soon.  I’ll post pictures as things progress.

Diggity Dog

So, I was reading over the PDF, that ToddMW was kind enough to link to, that explains how to prepare for tornadoes and hurricanes.  I primarily want to work on building a shelter from storms but on page 10 I did stumble upon a checklist of items that should be in each home during emergencies.  These are items that should be stored INSIDE your shelter because there’s a fair chance that storm debris may trap you inside your shelter.

An adequate supply of water for each person in your home or small business  (1 gallon per person per day)
Non-perishable foods that do not have to be prepared or cooked (if these include canned goods, remember to bring a manual can opener)
Disposable eating utensils, plates, cups, paper towels, etc.
A first-aid kit, including necessary prescription medicines, bandages, and antibiotic ointment
Tools and supplies:
flashlight (one per person; do not bring candles or anything that lights with a flame)
battery-operated radio or television and NOAA weather radio
cellular phone or Citizen’s Band (CB) radio
extra batteries for the above tool
wrench (to turn off gas and water)
insect repellent and sunscreen
personal hygiene items such as hand wipes and toilet paper
Extra change of clothing per person (store in plastic trash bags to keep clean and dry)
Appropriate outer wear (e.g., sunglasses, ponchos, jackets, gloves, headwear, boots, etc.)
Bedding materials such as pillows and blankets or sleeping bags
Special items for:
babies – formula, diapers, bottles, powdered milk
children – entertainment items such as books, games, or toys
adults – contact lenses and supplies, extra glasses, and a sufficient supply of  prescription medications
pets – appropriate supplies such as water (1/2 gallon per day), food, leash, ID tag, carrying container, etc.
Additional items:
important documents such as insurance documents, a list of all your important contacts (e.g., family, doctors, insurance agents), banking information, leases/mortgage, proof of
occupancy (such as a utility bill), and a waterproof container in which to keep these documents
ABC2  rated fire extinguisher
roofing tarps or plastic sheeting
roll of large heavy-duty trash bags and duct tape
money (cash)

So, I pass this list in most categories but I don’t have some of this documentation in a watertight case and my fire extinguisher is not an ABC grade extinguisher.  Finally, I also don’t keep much cash at home.  These are all relatively easy things to fix, so I’ll ad them to my shopping list and get them fixed this week.

The most serious question still remains, “What do I do about a tornado shelter?”  I spoke with my grandpa about it and we have an idea but it’s probably not going to be fit for FEMA.  Still it’s better than nothing for this year at least.

When I moved into my house almost two years ago I realized it had a crawlspace instead of  a basement.  That really didn’t concern me very much until the next time we had tornadoes hit the region.  I came up with a pretty basic idea on how I would build an extremely cheap shelter but honestly by the time I had the money and time the season had already passed.  Not to mention my furnace was busted so I had to work to get a wood burning stove installed and get ready for winter.

Now, winter is coming to a close and the tornados in Oklahoma today are a great reminder that I am still unprotected.  So I downloaded some free graph paper from incompetech.com, printed it out and got to sketching.  First I measured the house again and found that it was 26×27, or at least the properly constructed part of the house is.  Someone converted a garage a while back and I need to fix the foundation there, so I’m just going to work with the known good area of the foundation.

Also, last season I found out that basically cinder block foundations gain their strength from soil that is at a 45 degree angle from the edge of the cinder blocks.  So with a little drawing I was able to determine if I had enough space to build a tornado shelter under the house.  Indeed, it appears that I could make a 6′ tall by 3′ wide tornado shelter that would have 2′ of the shelter exposed above the soil.  I’m not sure how long it could be as I’m uncertain where some of the plumbing would get in the way of this design.  I suspect I would be able to make one 19′ long but for one thing I don’t plan on having the whole neighborhood in my shelter and for another that’s a bit cost prohibitive to construct.

Now, there are a ton of other considerations I need to make for this.

• How would I get the materials to construct a concrete pour into the crawlspace?
• Does it make more sense to just install an add-on with a full basement on it?
• Code issues…
• Time until the tornado season is in full swing.

I’m going to leave those thoughts for another day.  For now I just wanted to get my first post up on the website.  I have however scanned in my sketch as a PDF.  All of my content is CC-licensed for attributions so please don’t erase my URL if you re-use it.

I hope everyone in Oklahoma is safe!

Diggity Dog

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