Tornados, severe thunderstorms and high winds are common enough here in North Carolina to pay attention, but not so common as to warrant the expense of a storm cellar. Basements are uncommon, at least in my neck of the woods, and in this part of the state are never completely underground. Towns do not tend to have civil defence sirens, and I don't think one would wake me in the middle of the night anyway. We do have automatic telephone alerts in many counties and municipalities.

It is foolish to not have a weather radio with a loud alert.

I am acutely aware the house where I now live does not offer anything remotely adequate in terms of shelter in the event of a tornado. I don't know if I would be better off in the deep ditch along the front of the lot, in the long and narrow interior hallway that runs most of the length of the house, or in the one interior closet - in the bathroom, but the back wall is a 1/4" plywood panel to allow access to the shower/tub plumbing, and the opposite, exterior side of that wall is a thin, acrylic tub enclosure panel.

I think I would head for the interior hall, and grap cushions from the couches to lie under. If time permitted and my son were here to help, I'd drag the futon off the guest bed to place over us to protect from falling trees and roof trusses.

I don't spend time worrying about these things, but I do wish I could figure out the best plan in the event it was necessary.

In the event of a hurricane warning (rare, but they do occasionally occur this far inland,) I would probably evacuate to either a shelter or a friend's house. There is lots of time to react with a hurricane warning. Not so tornados.

Is an at-ground-level crawl space safer than a hallway or closet?