I’m a mum-of-4 with a ‘storm shelter’ in my garage… I keep snacks & dog food inside, we even store important documents
A MUM of four has shared how she prepares a shelter in her garage, where her family hide if there is a tornado.
Stephanie Norman lives in Oklahoma USA, which is in the heart of Tornado Alley, one of the most tornado-prone areas of the world.
The area averages around 50 tornadoes in a year, and they are most common during spring time, between March and May.
Because of the high risk of tornadoes, which could cause huge damage to people’s homes, families like Stephanie’s have to put a lot of preparations in place to keep themselves safe.
Stephanie, who has a five year old son and two year old triplet daughters shared an insight into her tornado preparation via a video posted to her TikTok channel @stephkaynorman.
In the video, the mum showed viewers her garage which has a large metal door in the floor.
Stephanie opened the door and stepped down a set of stairs, to reveal a small, bare room, with a thin bench on one side.
“It’s officially spring, and if you live in Oklahoma like me or anywhere else in Tornado Alley, then you know what time it is”, she said.
“This is your reminder that it is time to clean out them storm shelters”.
Stephanie started by vacuuming the inside of the shelter and then removing her supply box from last year’s tornado season.
She then refilled the supply box, with water, snacks, paper towels, nappies, toilet paper, wipes and dog food.
She also placed batteries, a torch, a radio and a blanket in the box.
Stephanie explained that she also keeps important documents in the storm shelter, so that the family will have a copy of them if their house gets damaged in a tornado.
She added that she also packs a separate bag on the day of a tornado warning, which includes spare clothes, medication and keys.
“I like to be prepared because getting four kids, a dog and myself into the storm shelter when there’s a tornado warning is stressful”, she said.
Stephanie’s video has likely left many open-mouthed, as it has gone viral, gaining 12.6 million views on the video sharing platform.
TikTok users raced to the video’s comments section to share their thoughts.
One person said: “Living in tornado alley with triplets deserves an extra badge of honour”.
Another person said: “We have whistles and lanyards in our shelter with important info for the kids, just incase we get separated or buried”.
A third person said: “That’s the coolest shelter I’ve ever seen.
“Ours was a dirt floor under our house.”
A fourth person remarked: “A storm shelter under the garage instead of in the garden is actually genius.”
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