A Kansas Family's Safe Room Story 

Release Date: May 20, 2003
Release Number: FNF-03-02

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A man stands in the doorway of a tornado safe room. FEMA photo by Adam DuBrowa
The Carrender family's tornado safe room was located below the garage floor. FEMA photo by Adam DuBrowa
The Carrender family's home was destroyed by a tornado. FEMA photo by Adam DuBrowa
The Carrender family's home was destroyed by a tornado. The family remained protected in their tornado safe room. They will add a safe room again when they rebuild. FEMA photo by Adam DuBrowa

Vanessa and Robert Carrender feel remarkably blessed to be alive.

Their Kansas City home was completely destroyed by an F4 tornado on May 4, 2003. The Carrender's were in their house when the tornado hit.

"We have lived in the house for almost four years," said Carrender, talking from his cell phone and directing clean-up efforts on his property.

The Carrenders and their 5-year-old grandson, David Balora, made it to a safe room under the garage of their home with only moments to spare.

"We had no advance warning," Carrender said. "If a friend had not called me and said the tornado was less than two miles from our house, I would never have known it was coming."

The 42-year-old house had been lived in by the Parker family for 35 years prior to the time the Carrenders purchased it. Mr. Parker added on the safe room. The floor of the garage was the roof of the safe room, Carrender explained. The family has used the room on several occasions in the past when tornado warnings have been issued.

"The door to the room was an interior, hollow-core door. I had to pull hard on it to keep it closed," Carrender noted. Robert, Vanessa and young David spent exactly two minutes in that room on May 4. Those two minutes saved their lives.

Already thinking about rebuilding, the Carrenders are not yet certain what their new home will look like. But one thing is definite. "The one thing that will remain the same is that safe room," he said.

The new safe room will be stocked with food supplies and an emergency preparedness kit. "Now that it's proven its worth, I'm going the full nine-yards."

Carrender plans to have a solid metal door installed on the new safe room. The safe room that saved their lives will be razed to make room for their new house and new safe room.

"It's worth every dollar it costs when you can trust your life to it."

For information about building a safe room in your home, FEMA together with the Wind Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech University have published Taking Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House. To obtain a free copy, call FEMA publications at 1-888-565-3896. It is also available electronically at www.fema.gov/fima.

Last Modified: Wednesday, 28-May-2003 11:22:20