IOWA, USA — Without a doubt, the best place to go in your house when a tornado warning is issued is the basement. Particularly, in whichever corner the storm is coming from. More often than not, that's the southwest corner.
That was the correct corner for the Winterset EF-4. The storm was traveling from southwest to northeast between 40 and 50 mph.
That didn't give many residents a lot of time, even though the warnings were out with around 15-20 minutes of lead time.
But for those that did not have a basement, where is the best place to hunker down?
The answer isn't that simple. Yes, a bathroom or closet is the best type of room on a ground floor, but only if it's away from windows and doors.
The goal is to get to the most interior room of your home as far away as possible from the outside elements.
"A bathroom is good. But even with an EF-4 tornado, we had people that went to a basement and their whole house was destroyed. They were exposed from the outside because it leveled the house. So they were saved. But some houses don't have basements, so you want to get to into an interior room, get away from the windows and stay ducked down," Madison County Emergency Manager Diogenes Ayala told Local 5.
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