Safe Luxury

How safe is a basement under a conventional slab for use as a shelter against tornados?

I live in South Mississippi and have a house on a slab with a basement underneath it, therefore the ceiling of the basement is concrete and it is a very safe structure. I am contemplating moving to Arkansas and am looking at a house with a conventional crawl space type foundation. It also has a basement under it but, I am concerned how safe this type of basement would be in a tornado. Does anyone have any experience or research information that could help ease my fears or would it be best to try and find another house.

Public Comments

1. I would think that either one will give you plenty of protection.. if a tornado his either house, it will destroy the house but what is in the basement will be safe.. regardles of whether you have a cement roof or another kind.. if a tornado blows the house down.. and will be gone.. if you are below ground.. you will still be in one piece..the house will go, but you will stay..
2. You should be fine in a basement. But there are more and more houses in the midwest that have tornado shelters built under ground, sometimes accessible thru the garage. The shelters are also available as an add on for any house if you have room and $. You might look for something like that. A house on a slab with a basement under that seems pretty unusual in these parts.