A Kentucky family survived the catastrophic December 10 storms and tornadoes by taking refuge in a prefabricated underground storm shelter, according to WHAS 11.
As the storms barrelled through western Kentucky, Gage Evans and his father Jordan were out of town. Gage’s mother and his other family members were in the storm’s path at their Bremen home.
“It was like a war zone,” Evans told WHAS 11. His son Gage remembers saying, “We need to get out there.”
Gage’s stepfather, Justin Pointer, directed the family out of the home, which did not have a basement, and into a nearby prefabricated underground storm shelter. Pointer led the group of eight family members and two dogs into the shelter that extends ten feet below ground and twelve feet in length.
“When we started getting everybody down was about the time that it was in Madisonville,” Pointer told WHAS 11.
Emergency response workers dig through the rubble of the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory in Mayfield, KY, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. Tornadoes and severe weather caused catastrophic damage across multiple states late Friday, killing several people overnight. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
As the storm made its way through Bremen, “It started shaking the lid real bad, we had to hold it down,” Pointer told WHAS 11. The family made it through the storm safely, thanks to the shelter his father installed ten years ago.
The family never used the shelter prior to December 10, but it proved extremely useful even after the storm when their home was in tatters, and the family needed shelter.
Pointer’s father could not remember how much it cost to put the shelter in over a decade ago, but he and his son agree that their family’s safety is priceless.
“He said he’d pay a hundred times more for it right now,” Pointer told WHAS 11.
A number of companies sell underground prefabricated storm shelters for less than $10,000, according to the outlet.
Survive-A-Storm offers several residential storm shelters for under $10,000.