But a substantial number of people have no place better than a bathtub to call their shelter from a storm. To my knowledge, I've got the only storm cellar in the whole division. Disregard for Mother Nature's whims can be deadly. Contrary to myth, the major danger from a tornado is not being sucked into the maw of the storm. Even basements can be death traps during a strong tornado, because when the house collapses, the force pulls in the basement walls, says Ernst Kiesling of the Texas Tech research center.
Storm cellars, which are dug outside the home, are very safe.
But proponents of in-home shelters, also known as safe rooms, say that refuges in the house offer definite advantages over cellars. An in-home shelter also can serve more than one purpose, acting as a bathroom, closet or storage room. The walls, too, should be separate from the main structure of the house. Beth Bartlett's house was nearly destroyed, but inside the closet, the clothes were undamaged and there wasn't even any dust. Some engineers who work with Bartlett at W.W. Steel Co. laughed at her when she had her shelter built.