Guides · Severe weather
A tornado plan you can actually carry out in ninety seconds
7 min read · Updated September 2026
The average person gets somewhere between five and fifteen minutes of usable warning before a tornado reaches them, and part of that is spent realizing the alert is real. A plan that takes ten minutes to execute is not a plan.
The goal here is a plan that fits in ninety seconds, works for the house you actually live in, and does not depend on power, internet, or anyone else being home.
The short version
- Lowest floor, most interior room, shoes and helmets on.
- Mobile homes: leave during the watch, not the warning.
- Overpasses are more dangerous than a ditch, not less.
Step one: pick the spot before the season starts
You want the lowest floor, the most interior room, and the most walls between you and the outside. A basement corner away from the side the storm is coming from is best. Without a basement, an interior bathroom, closet, or hallway on the ground floor is the standard answer. Bathrooms help because plumbing reinforces the walls and a tub gives you something to get into.
Clear that space now. If your safe closet is full of luggage, you do not have a safe closet, you have storage. Leave enough floor for everyone in the household to sit down, plus the dog.
Step two: the ninety-second kit
- Shoes, laced. Debris fields are broken glass, nails, and splintered wood. More injuries come from walking out than from the storm itself.
- Bike or batting helmets for everyone. Head injury is the leading cause of tornado death, and this is the single cheapest thing that changes outcomes.
- A charged phone plus a small battery pack.
- A whistle, so rescuers can find you if you are trapped and shouting stops working.
- Heavy blankets, a mattress, or couch cushions to pull over you.
If you live in a mobile or manufactured home
Leave. This is the one situation where sheltering in place is not the advice. Manufactured homes, even those with tie-downs, do not survive winds that a site-built house shrugs off, and a substantial share of tornado deaths occur in them.
Identify your destination in advance: a neighbor's basement, a community storm shelter, a sturdy public building that is open. Know the drive time. Leave during the watch, not the warning. Once a warning is issued and the storm is close, driving becomes the more dangerous option.
If you are in a vehicle
- If the tornado is distant and traffic is clear, drive at right angles to its path and get to a sturdy building.
- If it is close and you cannot escape, get out and lie flat in a low spot such as a ditch, covering your head. Do not stop under an overpass: they act as wind tunnels and trap people.
- Never try to outrun a tornado on a grid of country roads. Debris, rain-wrapped visibility, and other drivers make that a bad bet.
After it passes
Wait for the warning to expire before going outside. Second cells follow first ones, often along the same line.
Assume every downed wire is live. Do not use candles: gas lines break. Photograph damage before you move anything, and check on neighbors who live alone before you start cleanup.