When Midwest residents suffered through nearly 100 tornadoes in early May, lives were lost in many cases because homes weren't adequately designed to withstand the fierce winds or to protect against flying debris.

In tornado-risk areas, homes are built only to codes that consider minimum, code-approved "design winds" much less severe than those of tornadoes or hurricanes. Various building techniques have attempted to address the problem, but the federal government hasn't sanctioned any design -- until now.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) "Taking Shelter from the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House" is a 28-page on-line guide to construction plans, materials, designs and cost estimates for several types of tornado "safe rooms" you can build inside your existing or new home.

While you can't actually tornado-proof your home, the safe rooms are designed to remain standing to protect you and your family from injury caused by severe winds and life-threatening flying debris even if the rest of the home is severely damaged.

When constructed according to the plans, the safe rooms provide protection against winds of up to 250 miles per hour and against 100 mile-per-hour projectiles, according to FEMA Director James Witt. Such wind speeds are rarely exceeded in the United States so the rooms protect their inhabitants against virtually any injury.

With recommendations for both new and existing homes with various types of foundations, the plans call for small (maximum 64 square feet) reinforced wood-frame, concrete or masonry rooms that cost only $3,000 to $6,000 in a new home and 20 percent more to retrofit an existing home.

The guide book includes a worksheet to help you determine your risk based on your home's location and design. It goes on to recommend the best location in your home for a safe room and the best safe room floor plan for your home. The guide also helps you and your contractor plan the shelter.

The FEMA guide draws on 25 years of research by the Lubbock, TX-based Wind Engineering Research Center at Texas Tech University. A devastating tornado that struck Lubbock on May 11, 1970 created an instant laboratory for studying the effects of tornadic wind on structures. Since that time, center scientists have made on-site investigations of more than 70 extreme wind events in 14 states plus Mexico, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Australia.

If you don't have Web access to the FEMA Tornado Safe Room page, call FEMA toll-free at (888) 565-3896.

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Published: July 16, 1999

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