Didn't see your post, gnu.

We're on (relatively) high ground, so I'm not worried about flooding. The rains we get are torrential, so a lot of water does tend to accumulate on the ground, and drainage is not good because of the clay soil.

I don't think I would use a hole in the ground for the hurricane itself. I have been told that there is a church just a little way down the road that has been designated as a shelter for hurricanes. But if a tornado were to come up, I might not have time to get to the shelter, and it might not be open. Tornadoes are too unpredictable to plan for.

The instructions I have been reading for dealing with a tornado heading my way is to either:

A. Go to the basement and hide under a workbench or something like that...

(don't have a basement)

B. Go to a room inside the house with no windows, or a closet, and put a lot of blankets around me.

(don't have a room like that)

C. Find a ditch, lie down flat in it, and cover my head with my hands.

I can't find any ditches close enough to where I am to be of much help if a tornado shows up suddenly and I need to find cover.

I don't know if I'll be able to dig anything that would fit the two of us in this hard-packed clay soil. If I did, I would cover the opening to protect it from rain until such a time as we would need it. Once inside, we wouldn't be in there long enough for it to fill up with water.

I'm thinking about suggesting to JtS that we stay in a hotel nearby during the storm. We'll see.