Recently moved to the Midwest from California. All over the area, I see a bunch of restrooms that double (or perhaps lead to…?) a storm shelter. What’s the rationale behind that? Are restrooms typically built stronger than other parts of a building for some reason? Is it the availability of plumbing (so people can drink out of sinks if they need to, or…?) Wouldn’t there be a greater chance of flooding and drowning the people inside if the water mains broke?
It’s just not really explained anywhere that I could see, but I guess I’m supposed to run into a public restroom the next time a tornado hits?
Windows is the answer. Restrooms in commercial buildings tend to be centrally located (meaning there are several walls between them and the outside) and have no windows.
The only place I have seen this was on Interstates in Texas. I think the rationale in that case was that the rest stops and restrooms were the only thing around.
These aren’t hurricane shelters. People will only be in them for more than 20 or 30 minutes if the damage is so severe that they’re physically trapped in place, in which case the shelter will probably be compromised in some way as well.
How about reversing the question? What other uses can you put a storm shelter to if you have to build one?
You have a sturdy room, few or no windows, possibly no exterior walls, and you need it to be spacious, so no filling it up with desks or using it for storage? What other double purpose can you find in many buildings?
Now I wonder why all storm shelters don’t also function as bathrooms.
In addition to the convenience of toilets and the smallness of the rooms (hence walls are nearby, solid structural support) and the lack of windows, all mentioned above, these are also facilities from which running water can be obtained (if the plumbing system continues to function) and having a source of water can become important pretty quickly.
No. Water mains are below the plumbing pipes in buildings. If the main broke, the plumbing pipes would just go dry. Like when the city turns off the water for non-payment of the bill.
Not in the plumbing pipes inside buildings. There is a pressure reduction fitting where the water enters the building to cut it to reasonable levels. And if a Main breaks, the hydrant will go dry also.
I lived in tornado country for years. When the siren sounds you go to your prepared space and sit there for 3 to 10 minutes until the all-clear sounds then you go back to life as normal. I can sure go stand in a closet full of supplies or sit on a desk for 10 minutes. Most urban/suburban folks at work or at home can do the same.
Now there definitely are people who live out in the country far from the siren network. The only warning they will get is “your county might get hit tonight”. After that they’re on their own until they see flying debris or hear the tornado.
Their alternative is to ignore the problem or to move their entire bedroom into the shelter & sleep there a couple dozen nights per year. Most folks choose the former. Hoping that they’ll somehow hear/see it early enough to run to their saferoom. Very few who encounter a tornado that way make it. But the vast majority of rural dwellers will never have a tornado go over them.
It probably can have stuff in it, if there’s only going to be one or two people ever possibly using it, but I think we’re mainly talking about shelters in places where the public have access, or workplaces where there could be a group of people that need to fit in. Having to empty the room before you can fit everyone in is a pretty bad plan.
Agreed. Although we think of warehouses as “full of stuff”. But a heck of a lot of people can stand around inside a typical loaded warehouse. Fewer than could stand around if the warehouse was empty and had no shelving, but still a bunch.
The essential point about storm shelters is neither private homes nor public space (businesses, schools, etc) are going to build very much dedicated 100% empty shelter space. Instead the vast majority of sheltering space will be found where it can in space that’s already being used for some other purpose.
Whether that’s bathrooms, interior hallways, storage rooms, meat coolers* doesn’t much matter. Some few people & places will have truly dedicated sheltering space sized for the maximum credible occupancy and equipped with nothing but appropriate survival gear. But that’s sure not the norm.
There was a recent tornado (or was it Joplin?) where a grocery store manager realized the tornado was coming and herded all the customers into the meat locker in the back. The store was demolished while the meat locker stood fast. He was credited with saving substantially all the people as stores nearby had nearly 100% kill rates.
