![]() Fewer than one percent of newly-constructed homes in Moore and surrounding towns extend underground, largely due to the high water table and the red clay that most of the area's homes stand on, which absorbs moisture easily. Safe rooms and storm shelters are especially important in Tornado Alley because many homes lack basements, NPR reported. The advantages of the above-ground models include not having to brave the elements to get inside and avoiding groundwater problems that can occur in this some parts of the country. Since then, several companies, like Atlas, have entered the market. Prior to the Joplin tornado, Twister Safe was the only manufacturer of above-ground shelters for 100 miles. "Last week we probably had about 2,000 for the whole week." "I think our website has been hit about 19,000 times since Monday," said Jennifer McKeough, an independent distributor and consultant. Twister Safe, which opened near Joplin in 2004, also sells safe rooms in the area and has also seen an uptick in interest. "Our thought was, if you want a storm shelter, you want it now," Moss said.Ītlas currently manufactures only above-ground safe rooms, which enable people to secure themselves quickly when a storm arises.ĭuring its first year, Atlas sold 142 units, but since Monday's tornado demand has skyrocketed, with 40 to 50 new orders coming this week. Since the steel manufacturing company had capacity to make more additional product, Moss thought a new safe-room company could use the extra capacity to push out product faster than its smaller competitors. "There were some companies that had been doing it for a while, but they were more or less mom-and-pop shops, and they found themselves backlogged by hundreds of units," said Moss, chief executive at Atlas. One such company to join the fray is Joplin-based Atlas Safe Rooms, which opened its doors in April 2012.Īfter the tornado, Jim Moss and several other employees at a local steel manufacturing company saw an opportunity and left to launch Atlas. Afterward, Schaefer said there were "a lot more companies coming out of the woodwork." ( Read more: Six of the Worst Tornadoes in US History)įollowing the Joplin disaster in May of 2011, Ground Zero hired additional workers to keep up with demand, expanding to about 80 employees from about 50. The company's most popular model is an underground shelter that is considered safest for those who can manage steps. Last year, Ground Zero sold 5,500 shelters in 21 states, primarily Oklahoma. "We went from being able to keep us up with emails Sunday to now we have 3,000, and we can't even answer them as fast they come in," she said. Since Monday, traffic has flooded the company's website, causing it to shut down twice. Personal Loans for 670 Credit Score or Lower Personal Loans for 580 Credit Score or Lower And in the end, that’s what Weather-Ready Nation is all about – saving lives.Best Debt Consolidation Loans for Bad Credit Jack Hayes go into detail on how new technologies will help increase lead times and save more lives. ![]() Jane Lubchenco and National Weather Service Director Dr. In this month’s edition of Scientific American, NOAA Administrator Dr. The work of the entire weather and emergency management community – from the National Conversation to nationwide radar upgrades to pilot projects to new public alert methods – is driven by a desire to make sure the tragic impacts of the tornadoes in 2011 are never repeated. Tragedies like this fuel the resolve to build a Weather-Ready Nation. 2011 was the fourth deadliest tornado year in U.S. ![]() The Joplin tornado is the deadliest since modern record keeping began in 1950 and is ranked 7th among the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. This storm along with others generated additional tornadoes, wind damage and flash flooding across far southwest Missouri. On a hot and humid Sunday afternoon on May 22, 2011, a supercell thunderstorm tracked from extreme southeast Kansas into far southwest Missouri ( NWS Springfield, County Warning Area). This storm produced an EF-5 (greater than 200 mph) tornado over Joplin, Mo., resulting in 158 fatalities and over 1000 injured in the Joplin area. ![]()
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