Tornado Alley shifts to the Southeast, storm shelters become more popular

More tornadoes in the Southeast put more population centers in the bullseye of what some researchers are calling a new Tornado Alley.

A study posted on the American Meteorological Society’s website found that tornadic activity in the Great Plains decreased by 25% in the last 35 years compared to the 35 years prior. In the same timeframe, tornadic activity jumped 12% in the Southeast. 

Parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky were among the states that have experienced more tornadoes, according to the study.

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Mark Brasfield, Nashville Safe House Owner, said he’s sold thousands of storm shelters in his 33 years of selling them. He said he’d never seen intense demand in the Southeast until recently. Brasfield estimated his phone rings at least 20 times a day with people looking to buy storm shelters. 

“It’s like insurance. You don’t think you’re ever going to have to use it, but if you need it, you got it,” Brasfield said. 

Brasfield said his shelters are compliant with the standards set in place by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A quarter inch of steel, reinforced walls and a dozen six-inch bolts help make Brasfield’s shelters withstand the 200-mph winds of an EF-5 tornado. 

“You get someone that moves here from a state that’s never had tornadoes. They are scared to death,” Brasfield said. 

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Lawrence Behrs moved from California to Tennessee 10 years ago. He said he and his wife traded earthquakes and wildfires for tornadoes. 

“We looked at maps and said, ‘okay, well, where could we move? Where would we be completely safe?’ And I just don’t think that exists anywhere,” Behrs said. 

In December, Berhs finally decided to buy one of Brasfield’s family-sized storm shelters. He said it was installed in January, just in time for what he described as an already active tornado season in his area. 

“With the increase in the occurrence of tornadoes and seemingly moving, you know, eastward from Tornado Alley, we decided that it would be a good investment for peace of mind,” Berhs said. 

The National Weather Service in Nashville has already issued 14 tornado warnings this year in their jurisdiction. 

When his weather radio tells him that he and his wife are under a tornado warning, Berhs said they scramble to the storm shelter with a “go bag.” The shelter is bolted to his garage floor, steps away from his home. 

“Heaven forbid that there’s a really serious tornado, but I have had visions of, you know, being in here, coming out of, you know, out of the shelter after a storm, and it’s the only thing standing, but hopefully that’ll never be a reality,” Berhs said.

The United States gets an average of 1,425 tornadoes per year, according to numbers provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center. Nearly half of those tornadoes hit from April to June.