So I have lived in Oklahoma for 36 years and only heard of a school getting hit twice with a tornado. The kids/adults did the proper thing, took the appropriate precautions and walked away from it. Why, because it works. Yes, unfortunately there were 7 children who did not make it out of the school, but it was from flooding. Unfortunately with mother nature things happen. I hear people complain about the tornado sirens going off in Norman when the tornado is in Moore/S. OKC, but yet we want to let out school because the "threat" of severe weather is there. We have survived long enough as a society dealing with these tragedies and will continue to do so.
How much would it cost to put together some large concrete pipe sections and berm it up with soil?
My company has a policy.
Tornado with in 10 miles of an ongoing operation, we shut down and go to a safe place. We also bury 2 storm shelters on each location.
I've lived on Oklahoma almost all of my life (up to now). I don't remember any schools taking a direct hit like this year.
It's hard to say, but, every life has a dollar value, as long as we are paying for the loss of life in dollars, they will.
Every school district can decide this on their own. I don't know how you go about it, but, I'm sure any citizen of the district can start a bond issue election. I would assume the starting point would be a signed petition.
Tornado with in 10 miles of an ongoing operation, we shut down and go to a safe place. We also bury 2 storm shelters on each location.
I've lived on Oklahoma almost all of my life (up to now). I don't remember any schools taking a direct hit like this year.
It's hard to say, but, every life has a dollar value, as long as we are paying for the loss of life in dollars, they will.
Every school district can decide this on their own. I don't know how you go about it, but, I'm sure any citizen of the district can start a bond issue election. I would assume the starting point would be a signed petition.
There is an option , buyers opt out, as well as .gov....it just costs too much....sound familar?
Clue:Is it Really For the Children?
Clue:Is it Really For the Children?
Did you see some of the pics of the above ground "safe rooms"....doors sucked in, tops/roofs missing.
This tornado... the Only safe place is underground, unfortunately the Children that didnt make it were too close to a water line that broke.
^ i call B.S (not towards you)...this is why a tighter look at funds/money handed out to build these (and other useless grants) needs to be watched better. a smaller town will have a smaller number # of students/ staff, etc.. so it will not need a $1.4million unit? mulhull/orlando area has fewer kids compared to many areas and you don't need a basketball gym and lounge built in them either...lol (a hammer does not cost a $1000.)
why not rid some of the dumba$$ grants used to study stupid stuff, you all know the ones i'm talking about.
also... i can understand an older school, but these things can be build outside as an add on. build it while the kids are out on summer or what not. we were not just given the name "tornado alley" 5 days ago. when the Moore school added theres after May 3rd why didn't others think hmmmm...wonder if we should look at other schools?
i can understand the odds of a school getting hit, but a life is life weather it be a child or a teacher who could be a mom/dad/brother or even staff, etc... they are someones love and will be missed.
i know you can't prevent it ALL, but you do have a better chance to survive when prepared...besides, how many of you sleep with a loaded gun by the bed? am i right?!!
i can understand the odds of a school getting hit, but a life is life weather it be a child or a teacher who could be a mom/dad/brother or even staff, etc... they are someones love and will be missed.
i know you can't prevent it ALL, but you do have a better chance to survive when prepared...besides, how many of you sleep with a loaded gun by the bed? am i right?!!
Perhaps the legislature should follow the lead of the mayor of Moore. He is trying to pass city ordinance that no new building permits will be approved by the city unless the plans include a storm shelter. The legislature could pass law requiring that any new schools to be built, or current schools to be remodeled must include a storm shelter in their plans. This would not completely solve the problem, but would put schools on the path to solving it. Citizens of local school districts would then have to decide if they wish to foot the tax bill to pass a bond issue to remodel their existing school by adding a storm shelter. Keep in mind that each district has a bonding capacity and many times districts remain near their capacity to bond, so not all districts could do this even if they wanted to.
Not necessarily. As a Structural Engineer, I've designed several FEMA 361 compliant safe rooms that would have structurally withstood the 200+ mph winds. FEMA 361 document requires that you design for 250 mph winds which are on the extreme high side of an EF-5 tornado.
The problem is that, I do not design the window and door closures and attachment to my structure. Therefore, if one of the windows or doors get sucked off the building that I designed is now experiencing loads and pressures that it was not designed for. However, if all components are designed to the FEMA 361 standards, it will stand through a tornado like this one.
I am a commercial general contractor and we have built many storm shelters in schools. Above-Ground shelters are now the norm and they do add considerable cost. It would be very difficult to construct one in an existing structure, so it would have to be a building addition. This could be done fairly easily if the school was needing to build a classroom addition. You could simply change the building type to meet the FEMA rating. The cost would be very high compared to a typical construction type and many schools don't have the room or budget to build one addition to each school large enough to hold 300-700 kids.
I think the answer is to build all new schools with safe rooms. Secondly, there needs to be a push for shelters at homes. I think making them mandatory in the permit phase is stretching it, but there should be a tax incentive for those that wish to have them installed. Last, the schools need to have a better plan before the day starts. If the forecast looks like it can produce a tornado, let the kids stay home. Work treats it like a snow day and someone stays home with the kids in case it happens.
I also understand the concern about schools like Moore that don't have shelters in every school. However, the cost to put one shelter at every campus would be a tremendous expense. One, that may or may not pass a bond issue. We can build one at every school, but it wouldn't have much use if the tornado hit anytime before or after school hours.
I think the answer is to build all new schools with safe rooms. Secondly, there needs to be a push for shelters at homes. I think making them mandatory in the permit phase is stretching it, but there should be a tax incentive for those that wish to have them installed. Last, the schools need to have a better plan before the day starts. If the forecast looks like it can produce a tornado, let the kids stay home. Work treats it like a snow day and someone stays home with the kids in case it happens.
I also understand the concern about schools like Moore that don't have shelters in every school. However, the cost to put one shelter at every campus would be a tremendous expense. One, that may or may not pass a bond issue. We can build one at every school, but it wouldn't have much use if the tornado hit anytime before or after school hours.
