NHMA

Tornado and Safe Room Resources

• Building Your Safe Room (Poster)
• Community Safe Room Fact Sheet
• CRS Report on Severe Thunderstorms and Tornadoes in the United States:  Highlighted version (Edward Thomas).  Click Here for more Information about this report and Ed’s comments.  The non-highlighted version can be found here.
• Residential Safe Room Fact Sheet
• FEMA L-233: Taking Shelter From the Storm Building a Safe Room for Your Home or Small Business (Brochure)
• FEMA 388: Safe Room and Community Shelter Resource CD:  displays, posters, handouts, multimedia, and other resources that provide information about mitigating for tornadoes
• FEMA P-787: Catalog of FEMA Wind, Flood, and Wildfire Publications, Training Courses, and Workshops
• National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST): Technical Investigation of May 22, 2011, Tornado in Joplin, MO
• NewsOK: Oklahoma tornadoes: Aboveground shelters stood up in face of EF5 Moore Tornado.
• NHMA Safe Schools in Tornadoes and High Winds Task Force: Do you live in a tornado or hurricane-prone area? Each year, people lose their lives during tornadoes or hurricanes.  Read about NHMA Safe Room Initiatives [pdf]
• Protect Your Property from High Winds (Fact Sheet)
• Safe Room Construction Videos
• Safe Rooms Save Lives: Dangers of Extreme Windstorms – Resources – Financing – Safe Room Resources (Flyer)
• Safe Room Testimonial Video – Tom Cook
• Safe Room Technical Guidance Video – Companion to FEMA 320

Tornado and Safe Room Technical Guidance

• ATC-45 Training Video: Procedures for Safety Evaluation of Buildings After Windstorms and Floods
• FEMA L-780: Building Science for Disaster-Resistant Communities: Wind Hazard Publications
• FEMA P-320: Taking Shelter From the Storm Building a Safe Room For Your Home or Small Business
• FEMA P-320: Taking Shelter From the Storm Building a Safe Room For Your Home or Small Business, Construction Drawings and Specifications
• FEMA P-361: Design and Construction Guidance for Community Safe Rooms
• FEMA P-424: Design Guide for School Safety in Earthquakes, Floods, and High Wind
• FEMA P-431: Tornado Protection Selecting Refuge Area in Buildings
• FEMA 543: Design Guide for Improving Critical Facility Safety from Flooding and High Winds
• FEMA 577: Design Guide for Improving Hospital Safety in Earthquakes, Floods, and High Winds: Providing Protection to People and Buildings
• FEMA P-798: Natural Hazards and Sustainability for Residential Buildings
• FEMA P-908: Mitigation Assessment Team Report – Spring 2011 Tornadoes: April 25-28 and May 22
• Recovery Advisories from the Tornado MATs for Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, and Missouri

Resources

• FLASH: Tornado Science and Safety Dispel Tornado Myths [pdf]
• FEMA Oklahoma Tornados: http://www.fema.gov/building-science/2013-tornadoes-building-science-activities-resources
• NHMA School Working Group and Tornado Task Force
• Patchwork Quilt: Planning and Building Livable, Safe & Sustainable Communities: The Patchwork Quilt Approach
• Tax Relief for Tornado Victims:  IRS Tax Relief for Victims of Severe Storms and Tornadoes in Oklahoma

Articles and Social Commentary

• Bad Tornado Advice Endangers Lives; Weatherman in Hot Water
• Climate change may boost violent thunderstorms, study finds: The risk of severe thunderstorms producing torrential rain, damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes is set to increase markedly if the study is correct.- September 24, 2013
•  FEMA Recovery Times: Beth Bartlett Del City, OK, 1999 
• More Tornado Shelters? Not Necessarily: Specialized storm shelters can be a costly, inefficient way to prepare for tornadoes, says David Cay Johnston. (The Daily Beast) Fortunately, there are other steps that make more policy sense.
• Oklahoma gets far more than its share of disasters: Seth Borenstein | Associated Press – May 24, 2013
• Oklahoma Safe Rooms Can Save Lives: The Maddow Blog (MSNBC)
• Oklahoma Schools Lacked Consistent Tornado Shelter Rules: “The two elementary schools leveled by the deadly tornado that swept through the Oklahoma City area Monday lacked designated safe rooms designed to protect children and teachers, despite state warnings that the absence of such facilities imperils lives.” (HuffPostGreen.com)
• Oklahoma Tornadoes: An Historical Perspective
• President Bill Clinton: Remarks Following a Walking Tour of Tornado Damage in Del City, OK, May 8, 1999
• Reforming Federal Support for Risky Development: The Hamilton Project: David R. Conrad – Water Resources Policy Consultant & Edward A. Thomas – Natural Hazard Mitigation Association
• Tulsa KOTV story on wind research
• Windstorm Damage Mitigation Efforts | House Committee Science and Technology (YouTube) June 5, 2013 – Experts on wind, structural safety, and civil and coastal engineering testified on efforts to mitigate damage from wind hazards.