PREPPING OUR CELLAR FOR TORNADO SEASON (WARNING!) 😳 

You should be able to register with your local police or sheriff dept, they should check on you in the event of a tornado or other damage. Please make the calls!

I would put clothes in a vacuum sealed bag to keep bugs and spiders out

Shower curtain to block off the Restroom or shower for privacy. You never know who's going to be with you when you have to go underground. Also a highlift jack and blocks. When I was a kid we got trapped for the better part of a day when the neighbors tree landed on our door. God bless.

gatorade, deck of cards, books/magazines/game boy etc to keep you busy - if you stay longer than a few hours.....hard candy - throws/pillow - enclosed - an extra set of cloths or two - enclosed - socks/flip flops/water shoes, head lamps, gloves(waterproof and glass sharp metal resistant - baby wipes, some toiletries - in case you have to stay put, beacon flasher/light, dog food/treats/toys/beds, dog collars/leashes, important papers

I would get rid of all the old jars on the shelf & replace them with your homemade caning food. Stock the shelves with toilet paper sealed in trash bags. Tissue paper sealed in trash bags. Can goods & can opener. Plenty of trash bags. Plenty of water. Plenty of flashlights & plenty of batteries. Medications, over the counter. Large first aid kit. I would also put a queen size bed, blankets & pillows. I would want to be as comfortable as possible so a bed is your best bet. Don't forget all your Important documents. Keep everything in plastic tubs.

Kayla and Ross use that bucket as a compost toilet. Get another 5 gallon bucket and fill it with saw dust. Only put the solids in that bucket, and cover it with saw dust and you wont have a smell. Have another container with a lid for the liquids.

Jack & wood blocks to lift door up if something falls on it . Door seal to help keep critters out

Boots (stuffed with extra socks), work gloves for lifting debris, poncho, backup phone charger.

Ok I just has to add this.. Austin and Kayla y'all talking about having a basement.. I've been a paramedic for 20 years and I've had to dig many people out of basements do to the house caving in on top of them.. So I would rather have a in ground shelter rather then a basement. Before becoming a paramedic I would of thought a basement was safe. But after 20 years on this job I've seen to many people trapped in the basement under the house. Just a thought .. Hope all is having a great week. Keep up the great content ..

I would also paint the inside of the shelter a happy cheerful yellow which keeps people happy and calm. A battery generator to keep the shelter lit.

I have at least 3 ways to get different types of water. I have multiple tools that can cut off the gas, water electrical. Whistles to wear, multiple ways to make a shelter, a tent, dog supplies and a first aid kit for them. We don't have a shelter but if need be we can run away from it and survive in an outside enviornment in a tent.We have 3 unfriendly dogs and so we can't stay in a shelter because they wouldn't tolerate it and I'm not leaving my dogs behind, where we go, they go.

Austin should build a metal door for backup in case God forbid the first door gets ripped off

We use to put a high lift jack. Just Incase something falls on the door.

If you have a wall electrical outlet get a surge protector type power strip and a phone cord so you can charge. Also a small lunchbox cooler for diabetic supplies. You can buy cold packs in the first aid section of the store. they are the kind that you pop and create a chemical reaction, not the ones you store in the freezer.

It's called the portable-loo. Or.. lug-a-bul loo... 5 gallon bucket with a seat on it. I bought one and filled it with trash bag liners and TP.

Love this space!!! If I had a place like that, I would completely redo it!! Paint it, seal cement....I would also put a tent in there as if you had to sleep there, you could put up tent and be more secure from spiders, etc.. Nice as those cans are, I would not keep them in there or at least store them lower freeing up all the above shelves for gear, food, water, supplies. A nice pop up bathroom privacy tent would be nice too. You have a place anyone would love to have....think it would be worth money spent...to redo it so its a safe AND comfortable, and an extremely well stocked place to go in any emergency!!!

Im about an 8 on the scared level. Im on our volunteer fire department so when we have a bad storm we get paged out to go watch clouds. Looks like yall got pretty much everything you might need. My grandmother always said prepare for the worst, and the worst won't happen. I hope yall won't need to use it this year.

I would put some bedding in the shelter. In case there are multiple tornado, then water and food. I would paint the exterior shelter door a FLORESCENT ORANGE that can be easily seen by any search and rescue team with debris around

I would take all my important papers and pictures also

Great job.. just a suggestion, you might want to find a metal box to put your food in..we had an issue with our food where rodents ate through the tote and got the food..

U guys should get some candles for light and smell of the toilet bucket. Microwave maybe also for diabetes there is something u can eat as a emergency it's like pure sugar and paramedics use for diabetes emergency situations

Tension bar and curtain for toilet privacy. Toilet paper, pine shavings for toilet. Glow in the dark sticks and necklaces for people pets and to hang. Gravel, Tylenol, pillows, blankets, pet food (if u have pets) power pack for cellphones radio etc

A few thoughts. I had a complete roof blown off my house with straight line winds. My boss at the time told me that i would get nervous when the weather got bad and it did bother me a couple of years. Not so much any more. As for the shelter, The worst thing is probably setting it up and forgetting about it. When you need it things might no longer be any good. Try to have a reason to go down and check things out from time to time. Plan a practice nite in the shelter. If you think of something that would make the stay more comfortable it's a short trip outside for what you need. During a storm or the time spent waiting to get out is not the best time to add to the comfort list. Make sure your phones work with the lid closed on the shelter. Of coarse your nearest cell tower could loose service during a storm. Some way to charge the phones several times. We have a booster pack with an inverter built in for 120 volt that we use all the time. Perhaps you could keep one charging in the shelter and drop in and check things out when you need it outside. Maybe store some board games or some such to keep the boredom away? Looks like you have a well designed shelter that stays dry.

Beer,and a gun

keep a copy of all important documents in a lockbox. bills, copy or original of insurance, car info, work info, legal docs, taxes, etc get a 1-3 terabyte external hard drive to backup your computer (can get them at walmart) and keep that in the lock box as well, a copy of important pictures is a good idea as well.

Good job prepping your shelter for the upcoming tornado season guys!

No Open Flame lanterns kerosene oil candles or otherwise if you are hit with a tornado if you have propane or natural gas leak or a pipeline leak

If it’s possible I would put a love seat down there for comfort and get rid of the table but that’s just me. Maybe some blankets, pillows, sleeping bags down there on that shelving. Cooktop burner maybe 🤷🏼‍♀️

Basic tool set to shut off gas/water line ect. Good saw for limbs. Maybe wool blankets. Your med kit could be revamped. Geta med. Plastic tool box, add tourniquet, non aspirin pain killer, neosporin, extra gloves stuff for others in need kinda thing. Katio weather radio, upgrad with the 120 adaptation so you keep it charged. Its hand crank and solar. Put it on a good surge protector for lighting strikes. Amazon has them for about 35 or 40. Same as a standard home 120 volt style price wise. Lifestraw or something similar for the water you leave down there incase it might be questionable. Plan extra water incase now utilities work for a while. Looks like you guys are doing great 👍👍👍👍dont stop prepping!!!

Great jars! Yes you can reuse them you just need new lids and seals. I know every house in Tulsa had a storm shelter. Some were in the garage floor. I am from May, Tx and we have many here as well. Good shelter at most you will be there 30min a year I hope.

That is a awesome storm cellar! There is a canning supply shortage right now, so definitely save those & buy fresh lids for use. Items that you missed, candles, matches sealed in a ziplock, cots, can of air freshener, weather radio, basic tools, heavy work gloves, and a roll of toilet paper.

On a scale of 1-10, i'm a true Kansasan. Its a 1 for me. I'm on the front porch watching it. With that type of door on your shelter, I'd recommend putting a bottle Jack & a short 4X4 to help pry the door open if debree falls on it.

Avoid oil lamps for the noxious fumes, CO, and fire potential. A couple of LED lanterns, with Alkaline "D" cells, should more than suffice. Keep spare "D" cells. Also, toss those batteries out that come with those flashlights and replace with alkalines (plus spare). Keep an am/fm radio that uses the same size batteries as well as the lights.

Full disaster prepardness kit, a solar mini kit like biolite, solar inflatable lanterns, sun oven, home biogas digester, long term food, (double the storm shelter as your root cellar), have bunk beds, somewhere to sit. Tools to clear debris and rebuild with. If you have animals have a medical kit for them and livestock first aid pamphlet.... it could mean the difference between saving their lives or having to put them down. Have a book, deck of cards, note pads and pens. Have a copy of your insurance company details and documents. Have everything valued and a digital copy saved somewhere. Have a checklist of things to do, during to keep you calm and busy and after.... so you dont forget anything important especially after when you are in shock. Things like clear the road, driveway, take pictures of damage, find livestock and pets, call family to let them know, build a temporary storage area for personal belongings you find in debris, clear up debris (use wood pieces as firewood to keep warm).

We rode out the Altus, OK tornado of 1983(?) in our neighbor's shelter. Six of us in there for 2 hours listening to the radio. Reporter at the front gate of Altus AFB gave play by play description of the tornado plowing through the base. After that, we got out and headed to the base to help dig people out and clear the roads. At that point in time, a chain saw was worth it's weight in gold. I'm not afraid of tornadoes but I am so glad to be out of that area where the stress of watching the sky and reading the mouse print running across the bottom of the TV screen never lets you forget it. Took a vacation to Lake Powell a week before and after Memorial Day and as we drove into Altus, you could (again) feel the gloom of the weather on your back.

I fully understand the feeling about the weather this time of year. I'm in Kansas. Not very far from you guys. I love storm season, but I have only seen one tornado in my life. And that was in Oklahoma, just south of Waynoka. It was incredible. Out in the open, doing no damage.

Every year buy a few more things..they have Led lanterns with hangers in the camping supplies…ditch the very flammable kerosene.

STUFF FOR THE PUPS. THE DOGS NEED BLANKETS AND TOYS AND FOOD!!! 🤗

I absolutely love tornado season! I will say though that the May 20th tornado in Moore scared the heck out of me! Hit my neighborhood that we used to live in (moved the heck out of Moore). I would suggest some books or games to play while down there for that long. May help the time go by faster. Also, I heard basements here can have problems with the concrete cracking.

C crane wind up weather radios are excellent

Get a a second bucket or 2 and a small garden trowel or plastic cup, and fill them with sawdust. After using the toilet put a scoop of sawdust on top of it. It will stop the smell. Start gardening or buying at a farmers market and learn to do Canning and store it down there, you will always have stuff to eat plus you can save money.

I have no fear. I have been prepping and training for decades. I don't know if you check your older messages, but I could give you a few pointers.

Thank you so much for doing this video it was very good to see. I noticed it was 3 years old. In the time of the three years have y'all had to use your shelter these past three years for any tornadoes as of late? I think out of all the tornado shelter videos I've been watching on people who have shelters and what they stock in them.... this has to be I think my top favorite tornado shelter. it's a really good size and you could do a lot with it.

Always keep lots of packs of water, baby wipes, pet food, batteries and snacks, radio and power bank for cell phone. Also a hatchet so you can chop any trees or wood that falls close by

You can use a fogger to help with the bugs. Next time you go down there you can just release it and let it spray.

Oh, ...and when you are shopping for a weather radio (WalMart, etc.)... look for a Kaito or C Crane branded radio... others have decent radios, too...Midland, Motorola, Cobra, etc...just look for the FEATURES I mentioned...multiple power sources, etc. If you HAVE a twister, you'll need that radio for many DAYS after it's gone...to get vital info, etc.

Puppy pads would be a thought

I used to rent a space without electricity to do small projects in and I used my Marine(deep cycle) battery with a 750watt power inverter to run lights and a box fan. It would run quite a few evenings of working before needing to be charged. Cost me about $150 all together

Don’t forget dog food. I have multiple hundreds of of gallons of water for my family and anyone who might need it. Baby wipes are great to have to stay clean quickly.

i would live in a cement igloo with 3 foot thick walls if i lived in tornado alley like you guys. a back door is a good idea too just in case the front get blocked with a car or a tree. dont get trapped underground

Love the videos

I’d love to paint the walls to cheer the place up, I’ve heard that Tornadoes are quite loud so ear plugs or headphones 🎧 might help. I saw another shelter owner had an awesome generator with power points to charge various things. A blood sugar monitor would also come in handy if Austin needs it.

Awsome video, tornado 10 no thanks I live in upstate NY we do not get to many thank god !!!

Put a bucket of saw dust down there for the bucket towel. You cover after you use it.

Get a hand crank but also get a usb charging radio device. It is easy to grab a usb battery bank for a few charging times and quite cheap. I have solar lanterns in my windows charging everyday.... . i can easily grab them during a blackout or other disaster and they light up a 15 ft square room easily. Best yet they are free to charge and they can last days. Last power cut i put one on each floor by the stairs.. really powerful my family were surprised just how powerful. Train pets to go to the shelter at the sound of an alarm. It can help when you need them to listen to you.

All we have in are storm shelter is a LED light, and we grab all our stuff that are valuable and we run to the shelter.

Ma'am, quality glow sticks maybe ? A 12 hour glow / signal with a 3 year shelf life

How about ear protection? Allergy medicine. Camping stove, propane, 1 skillet and small pan with hot pads, matches, cooking utensils.small bottle of dish soap, scrubby pads. Shower curtain to hide potty behind. Figure out a way to hang shower curtain. Folding dry rack.

Put screens over your air holes so no bugs get in

Being from LA (lower Alabama) im pretty use to tornadoes and hurricanes and all around bad weather so on a scale of 1 to 10 im at about a 2 or 3 dont really get to awful nervous with bad weather i kinda enjoy it

MRE = "Meal(s) Ready to Eat" ... with some prep, or package immersed in boiling water, etc....made for military types to eat 'in the field'. Weather radio...check Walmart (store and online)... you need multiple power inputs....AC (household electricity), battery power, and crank (wind-up power generator)...you want that radio to work, from ANY power source. Try to rig an entrance/exir door that opens IN ... not just OUT like your celler doors...in case something big or heavy lands on your exit, and you can't get OUT, after the storm. Your (prepackaged) store-bought first-aid kit is woefully inadequate (they ALL are). Stop by and chat with your area fire dept. Paramedics and EMT/SKILLS....ask them to help you put a REAL kit together....and don't forget large squares of muslin (bedsheets) COTTON material...some splint material (wood/or large format paperback books), antiseptic, rubbing alcohol, water and sterilized soap, gauze rolls, 4x4s (4-in square bandaging pre-cut), etc. The medics will explain...and they'll add to this list... your video is about a year old now I think. I'm just getting to it now. anyway I know these things and I know what the paramedics will do for you, because I am one I spent more than 40 years in service and I'm a paramedic, fireman, first responder, air-sea search and rescue, and fire and smoke jumper. I've been in a lot of tornadoes I stormed-chased and storm spotted for the national weather service and NOAA. I'm also a licensed amateur radio operator. I was born and raised in Texas (West Texas) and lived all over the Midwest and South and I'm retired in Florida. That medkit that you put together has applications for things other than just for a tornado --- you can use it anytime of the year for any kind of medical emergency around the house. everybody should put one together. I hope all this helps.

Legacy freeze dried foods are good. You can bye a bunch of different meal sizes

I wish there was a sure fire way to keep the black widow spiders out of the storm cellar.

Me personally, I would just get rid of all those jars. It's just a waste of space. Replace with canned goods and other non perishables and blankets, tarps, kitty litter... things like that.

If you are taking pets down there I would definitely put some pee pads sold at a pet store. They are like baby diapers and easy to roll up and put in a trash bag.

Puppy pads would be good too.

Cedar shavings work good for toilet. Put a scoop or so in after using

Not many tornadoes in upstate New York, scary, you can keep them in the south and god bless.

Also you can download on your cell phone the tornado warning app by the AMERICAN RED CROSS once it is downloaded you can put in several cities or by zip code. I live in CA and I have friends in Dallas TX, sure enough it sounded on my cellphone even though I'm in Northern California I texted my friend and advised SHELTER- SHELTER- SHELTER- A half hour later a tornado pass by.

Maybe get some helmets, pillows, blankets , personal papers,,medications With all that said am petrified of tornadoes I get really sick with diarrhea I hope that helped a little bit STAY SAFE!!!

Old mayo jars fill with shorting and taper candle ,will burn for days

You might add some cash and copies of important documents. Maybe puppy pads for the dogs if you are down there a long time.

Keep the jars

I enjoyed your video. We Oklahomans know all to well abt tornados. It did scare me abt your idea of lighting oils. I'm not sure but I wonder abt carbon monoxide being created. Worth checking out. I use battery lights and I'd course spider control and a toilet. Goodluck!!!!!!Personally May 3 tornado survivor

I’m from California(they can happen here but not super common) tornados fascinate me

Have a source of glucose for your husb in case his glucose bottoms out…your doc can advise you…

few years later, but it looks like you got what you need. 72 hours perfect in my opinion. Lots of water, those mre's are great, and some snacks to help with morale. Some instant coffee is always a good choice. a jetboil or similar to heat water for the food and coffee. blankets, a few extra clothes to stay warm - good idea with the backpack. first aid - I believe first aid should include some trauma kit (compression bandages and tourniquets are a good start). probably a CLOSED bucket or even a compost toilet for relieving yourself. and some lighting. lamps and flashlights are good, I also like headlamps so if you come out and its dark out and you need to move stuff and work you can see without tying up your hands with a. flashlight. and that there is a very good start.

A fluorescent safety vest

Lighters for the lamps, label all of the perishables / batteries with date, first aid with date, kit blankets, deck of cards, maybe a hammer and hand saw, some screw drivers.... if you have pets.... food for the ets

My wife and me where at McDonalds yesterday in the drive through the guy that waited on us looked just like you Austen

You could add a fire extinguisher just incase something happened

Michelob, Marijuana,Jack Links and Dogfood. .... washcloths, towels.

And UGH on a 5 gallon bucket! Go buy a toilet from a medical supply company. Probably $50-ish. Much more comfortable.

Im from mcalester Oklahoma, and I aint scared of no nator

Learn about sawdust/composting toilets. Very little odor if any.

We got hit in 2016 and we live in a mobile home single wide. Wish we had a Frady hole.

I would check if you haven't already how good of a phone signal you have down there with the door shut

Wise is a good brand

You can get actual mre's from sopsacko made in S.Carolina off of Amazon they are much better in my opinion than wise food

Kitty litter, plastic bags, vacuum seal bag for blankets clothes shoes. Books card weather radio

Have led bulbs that give a lot of light andare battery

Not sure it’s a good idea for any lighting needing fuel. That’s a flame in and envied area. What would happen if it tipped over. Also it’ll suck up some minor air. But Its the flame issue!!!. Batteries are best!

Chain saw and fuel.for after SHTF. Hope you never have to use any of this stuff. Stay safe.

I live in a small town on the oklahoma and Arkansas line

I don’t know what I would do never been through one but I lived in Arkansas and saw some awesome storms but I’m not sure if I could do it with out a hole to hide in

Wouldn't catch me anywhere near tornadoes I'll stay in Montana. I have seen dehydrated dog food might be a good option.

Don't forget to bring down the nintendo switch. Hey doesn't a basement just act as good!! As long as you have a way to escape from the side door etc...?

What are the circles in the walls for?

I’m not sure if anyone has commented but how will you heat your water for your MRE’s?

Air mattress