U.S. Offers Plans for Twister ‘Safe Rooms’

With more than 1,000 tornadoes already recorded this year, government officials announced an effort to get people to build “safe rooms,” modern versions of the storm cellar. In 1997, 120 people have died in tornadoes. James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, announced at the National Tornado Forum in Washington, D.C., the development of plans for safe rooms in homes in tornado-prone areas. The plans are aimed at homes under construction, but existing houses can also add them. They include designs for basements, crawl spaces and in above-ground locations.