We Could Have Much Better, Stronger Homes. We'll Need Them.
How to fortify your abode.
Unofficially, tornado season starts in February now.
When I was eight, a tornado hit my home. I remember getting dragged out of bed in the middle of the night. It downed big trees everywhere, including our yard. It stripped off part of our roof. It bent my neighbor’s basketball pole upside down. We spent weeks cleaning up the damage.
That was a fairly weak twister.
Decades later, a tornado hit my family again, an F3. Then my in-laws got flooded in Asheville during Helene. Clearly, those of us touched by disasters have a very, very good reason for wanting a safer, sturdier home.
I’ve always wondered why Americans don’t demand better, stronger houses that can stand up to the increasingly violent, chaotic forces of nature that fossil fuel companies have unleashed upon us. Countless articles and videos offer up various, individualized solutions for storm-proofing homes. You can pay thousands of dollars to install a safe room. But even if you survive a climate disaster, you’ll spend years fighting with insurance companies to rebuild your life.
Other cultures have been building homes for centuries that do far better during these kinds of disasters. They don’t indulge survivalist fantasies about living in underground missile silos. They just build tougher structures. So if you live in the U.S., and you’re fortunate enough to own a home, what can you do to make sure it doesn’t get blown to pieces in a storm?
A few things…