The people racing to build shelters outside tornado alley (2024)

Tornado alley has expanded – and this means swathes of the US are not prepared.

When a large tornado approached Ohio's Logan County on 14 March, residents were issued a warning only 10 minutes before impact. Though the notice fell within the average range, most people didn't have anywhere to shelter beyond interior closets and basem*nts.

Since an early start to tornado season, in April, close to 1,000 twisters have been reported across 38 states, according to the forecaster AccuWeather. "The second week of May was one of the most active weeks for severe weather probably in the last five years, in terms of the area that was covered," says Jonathan Porter, AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist. In late May, in addition to storms killing at least 19 people in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, part of the mid-Atlantic, from northern Maryland to eastern North Carolina, was under a tornado watch.

Up until mid-May, O​hio had seen the most events this year, exceeding those in many of the states that have traditionally comprised Tornado Alley, a region in the central US that spans from Texas to South Dakota. This expansion of tornado-prone areas has occurred "farther east in recent years, especially during the colder months," says Bill Bunting, the deputy director of the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center.

The growing threat of tornadoes in eastern states has prompted calls for better preparedness, and in particular the need for more storm shelters. While forecast speed and accuracy have improved considerably in the past decade, the next problem is where people can go once a warning is issued. And this is exposing the complex challenges of creating enough shelters in areas that historically have not had to worry about them – namely, the cost of building certified structures and the need to have them in close proximity.

States east of the central Great Plains are more densely populated and have more tree cover, leading to greater rates of debris impact from tornadoes. Homes in south-eastern states, and especially those along coastal areas, are less likely to have basem*nts, because of flood risk from hurricanes and ground composed of wet clay and limestone that makes it difficult to build into the earth. South-eastern states also have above-average densities of mobile homes, which a 2020 study published by the American Meteorological Society found have a 450% greater risk. Nearly 50% of tornado-related deaths in the US occur in these residences.

With more serious tornadoes moving eastwards, it's becoming harder for residents to follow shelter-in-place guidelines put forth by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), which specify that mobile-home residents evacuate and shelter in a basem*nt when possible. Efforts to update building codes and construct shelters in newly vulnerable areas have gained momentum, as have incentives for residents and counties to invest in private or community shelters. But these efforts pale in comparison to the need.

There aren't nearly enough known tornado shelters east of the Great Plains, says meteorologist Craig Ceecee, who on his own initiative, has been maintaining a map of public shelters since 2021. "Even the central part of the US has few known shelters. Louisiana, for example, doesn't have any, from my research," he says.

The lack of certified community shelters is coupled with few state or county-level resources for shelter-in-place sites, which are often public or commercial buildings that may provide more protection than a typical home. "Information provided by emergency-management agencies is rarely kept up to date," says Ceecee. "I have to investigate frequently to make sure that shelters are not decommissioned and people don't go to one that no longer exists."

Fema provides Hazard Mitigation Funding, which awards grants to states and local communities interested in projects that could reduce loss in the event of a future disaster, providing up to 75% of approved projects.

In Mississippi, 95 shelters have been built through a Fema grant programme since 2019, according to Jana Henderson at the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. Because of the cost-share requirement, though, there hasn't been a large increase in applications in recent years, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency. The western county of Sharkey, which was hit by an EF4 tornado last year, for example, is one of the country's poorest. The community, where 20% of residences are mobile homes, doesn't have a single public shelter. "Most underserved communities are smaller and can't afford the match," says Henderson.

With few public shelters, individuals are often left to prepare for themselves. Under the Fema programme, residents in a number of states can apply for a tax credit of up to $3,000 (£2,350) for 50% of the cost of a shelter that meets its construction guidelines. The national agency doesn't approve these units; instead, builders can choose to get their designs tested and accredited by independent third parties to meet guidelines. To test their ability to stand against windborne debris involves launching 15lb (6.8kg) wooden missiles at the unit from pressurised cannons.

Survive-a-Storm manufactures hundreds of shelters at its facilities in Thomasville, Georgia, and Wichita, Kansas, every year. Sheets of raw steel are welded together, reinforced with rebar, and powder coated for chemical and water resistance, before going through pressure testing. Like many providers, Survive-a-Storm sells underground and above-ground shelters, including a panelised option that can be added to interior rooms. Prices range according to capacity, from $4,000 (£3,135) for a four-person, above-ground pod to $9,800 (£7,680) for a 16-person underground shelter.

Among the 15 states the company services, Kansas and Oklahoma, at the heart of Tornado Alley, have seen the largest growth in sales, but these were trailed closely by places that aren't traditionally tornado-prone: Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, which saw 29-158% increases in units sold since 2019, according to the company. In the past two years, in response to demand, Survive-a-Storm added Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana to its service areas. The company has also started noticing an even wider expansion in its online traffic: New Yorkers were among the largest group visiting its website.

Thanks to popular depictions of tornadoes, most potential customers have preconceptions of how and where they'll have to shelter. "There's a pretty huge historical misconception about having to be underground to survive one of these things," says Survive-a-Storm's brand manager Mike Kastens. According to experts, both options are safe if set up correctly. Installation for above-ground units requires anchoring to a concrete slab that's at least four inches (10cm) thick, with anchors that have a tension strength of 5,900lb (2,676kg).

While most states don't track residential storm shelters, some allow residents to register their units with state emergency management offices so that responders know where to search in the aftermath of a storm. In Ohio, for example, the state saw 163 registrations for private shelters last year; this year has already had 129.

After three tornadoes devastated the city of Moore, Oklahoma, researchers at Texas Tech University conducted one of the more comprehensive investigations into storm-shelter performance. All four above-ground shelters they documented had escaped with only minor damage, while 15 of the 19 underground shelters did. Those that had been damaged by tornadoes often had water leakage, broken vents, or deficient door locks.

People who don't have the space or funds to install a professional shelter often turn to reinforcing spaces that emergency protocol suggests for sheltering in place: low-level, windowless, interior rooms, which are often bathrooms or closets.

Shortly before Adam Long moved to Huntsville, Alabama, in 2013, the state saw a historic 62 tornadoes make landfall in a single day, resulting in 240 fatalities. Long knew he'd have to be ready. "I'd call myself a non-crazy prepper," he says. At first, he stocked his 1960s ranch-style house with a generator, gas canisters, and supplies to last a week. But when it came to shelter, he didn't have the means to install a professional unit, so he did the next best thing.

He looked up Fema plans and DIY videos online, and reinforced a ground-level hallway closet that he and his wife shelter in during storm warnings. After removing sheetrock covering the walls, Long doubled up all the two-by-four timber studs and then installed hurricane-grade brackets and mechanical fasteners to create a continuous load-bearing path from the ceiling to the floor. He then attached two layers of thick plywood.

Long knows that in the event of an EF5 his structure won't hold, but that it'll likely fare fine in the event of a more common scenario: nearby tornadoes causing flying debris. "I like the saying, 'Start small, start now,'" says Long. "You don't have to wait until you can afford a $5,000 (£3,918) storm shelter. You just do what you can with what you have."

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