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Taking Shelter


 

Yesterday late afternoon found me in the tiny hallway of our home between the furnace closet and the powder room, along with my husband and daughter. That thing where you move from tornado watch to tornado warning actually happened. We were directed to take shelter. That’s our shelter. 

Technically the safest place in our quadroplex is inside that powder room but I have yet to convince my husband that the severity of the weather merits our all piling in there at once. It would be possible in a life or death situation: one person sits in the sink, one on the toilet, one stands in the middle.

We don’t have a basement. 

How many Columbia homes were built on a slab, like ours? I’m sure there are some in greater HoCo, as well. Many’s the time I’ve wished for a basement for extra storage or a decently laid out laundry room. But never is that wish so fervent as when that ghastly alarm goes off on my phone and we need to take shelter.

The early Columbia homes went up quickly and inexpensively and I wonder if that is why many of them don’t have basements. Too much labor, too much cost. Or were basements out of vogue at the time of their construction? Does it have anything to do with the particular kind of earth our homes are sitting on? I do not know. 

I do know plenty of friends who have dealt with perpetually flooding basements who may not wish they had them. But at least they have that solid place where they can retreat in a storm. It’s a trade-off, I guess.

What do you think? Are you a have or have-not? How do you feel about it? Has your home ever been damaged by a tornado or heavy storm? How did yesterday’s storm treat you? Comments are welcome here.




Post Script:

Speaking of local storms, there appears to be some kind of pissing match going on between two male bloggers attempting to assert dominance. If I were you I’d walk on by on the other side of the street to avoid getting wet. Taking shelter probably won’t be necessary. - - jam

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