Safe Room Construction Saves Lives 

Release Date: May 24, 2002
Release Number: 1412-17

» More Information on Missouri Severe Storms and Tornadoes

Poplar Bluff, MO -- Safe Rooms will help protect you and your family from injury or death due to the dangerous forces of high winds and tornadoes. Emergency response personnel and others cleaning up after severe storms and tornadoes often have found an interior room of a severely damaged home still standing when most of the house has been destroyed.

Based on that knowledge, the Wind Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech University and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have developed specifications for a Safe Room designed to withstand high winds and tornadoes. This Safe Room will withstand sustained winds up to 250 miles per hour and resist penetration by a 15-pound 2x4 stud traveling 100 miles per hour, according to Federal Coordinating Officer Carlos Mitchell.

Missouri is in a region that is especially susceptible to severe winds and tornadoes. The Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) encourages people to consider building Safe Rooms, State Coordinating Officer Buck Katt reports. Texas Tech and FEMA have published Taking Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House. This booklet provides a homeowner risk assessment sheet, guidance for selecting a shelter design, detailed construction plans and cost estimates for building an in-home Safe Room.

Homeowners who receive a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to repair or rebuild a home damaged or destroyed by the severe storms and tornadoes that swept through southeast Missouri beginning April 24 may use that loan money to construct a safe room. If the added cost of the safe room causes the repair or reconstruction to exceed the amount of the loan, the SBA may increase the amount of the loan up to 20 percent to cover the added cost.

Taking Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House is available free from FEMA. To obtain a copy, call FEMA publications at 1-888-565-3896.

Last Modified: Tuesday, 26-Aug-2003 14:24:58