Storm Shelters

If you’ve ever lived in northern Texas when a tornado was bearing down on your home, you’ve found yourself wishing that storm shelters were a little more common. I like Texas, but for a state with so many violent storms and tornados, you’d think God would have made sure the soil would be such that basements would be easily built.

I don’t have a home (yet, still living in an apartment), but from what I understand a few feet below the surface of the ground is a layer of hardened clay that is like concrete. I guess this stuff is so nasty, that the average homebuilder cannot afford to put a basement under his home.

Now I grew up in Michigan, and every house we lived in had a basement. Some were really more storm shelter or fruit cellar, while others were finished and provided extra living space.

If you have a home with a basement you can turn that into a handy shelter against coming hard times. That basement will also prove to be the ideal place to store your long-term storage foods, as the average temperature in a basement is usually 75° or below.

Storm shelters, tornado shelters or any underground shelter will be valuable when the SHTF. With a little ingenuity and MacGyvering one can turn an underused basement into a nice hidey-hole.