Pick and practice your shelter before a warning. A safe room or storm shelter is best; otherwise use a small interior windowless room or basement on the lowest level of a sturdy building.
What a safe room is
FEMA defines a safe room as a hardened structure designed to meet FEMA construction criteria and give near-absolute protection in extreme wind events, including tornadoes and hurricanes. Occupants of a safe room built to FEMA guidance have a very high probability of being protected from injury or death.
If you do not have one
Ready.gov says the next best protection is a small, interior, windowless room or basement on the lowest level of a sturdy building. Stay away from windows, doors and outside walls, and protect your head and neck with your arms.
In a car or truck
Ready.gov says there is no safe option in a car, only slightly less dangerous ones. If the tornado is visible, far away and traffic is light, you may be able to drive out of its path at right angles. If caught by extreme wind or debris, park out of the traffic lanes, keep your seat belt on and put your head down below the windows. Do not shelter under a bridge.
Types of tornado shelters
FEMA P-320 lists where a residential safe room can be: inside the home, in a basement or above ground in a closet, interior bathroom, small storage room or garage; attached to the house above ground; or a detached structure, which can be added to an existing porch or patio. A below-ground or in-ground shelter is usually a prefabricated unit. A residential safe room serves a dwelling and has a design capacity of 16 people or fewer, and any other safe room is a community safe room. An interior room or a garage only counts as a safe room if it is built to resist the same wind pressure and flying debris as a stand-alone one, so an ordinary garage is not a tornado shelter.
What FEMA designs for
FEMA's design criteria use a wind speed of 250 mph and a test where a 15-pound 2x4 board flies horizontally at 100 mph, and call the result near-absolute protection. A tornado-only safe room needs at least 3 square feet per person, and a hurricane safe room 7 square feet per person. Doors must be tested, listed and labeled to the criteria. The design standards are FEMA P-361 and ICC/NSSA 500, the Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters.
Where to put it and how to get in
FEMA says a safe room should be quick to reach from every part of the home and kept free of clutter, and stairs can block people who use wheelchairs or crutches. An outdoor room should be no more than about 150 feet from the home entrance. Safe rooms are not allowed in floodways, and a basement is not suitable where there is a flood hazard. Do not use a safe room during a mandatory evacuation, for example ahead of a hurricane.
Community safe rooms and public shelters
FEMA calls any safe room that serves more than 16 people a community safe room. Its door assembly has to be certified as compliant with ICC 500 and carry a permanent label, and a change to any component means the assembly has to be evaluated again. FEMA also says a community safe room belongs outside floodways and coastal high-velocity wave zones. A safe room built with FEMA grant money has to meet the FEMA funding criteria in P-361 on top of ICC 500. These fact sheets are written for designers, building officials and emergency managers, so if you are choosing a shelter for a building, ask the designer or local building official for the ICC 500 documentation.
What to keep in a tornado shelter
The National Weather Service lists a radio, a phone, a wallet or purse, a blanket or mattress to cover yourself, and a flashlight. Keep a NOAA Weather Radio with fresh batteries so you can hear when the warning ends. Our guide to a family emergency kit covers longer supplies.
The safest place during a tornado
The safest place is a safe room or storm shelter built to the FEMA or ICC 500 criteria. Next best is the interior of a basement or storm cellar. With no basement, use an inside room on the lowest floor, such as a center hallway, bathroom or closet, away from windows, skylights and glass doors. A mobile home offers no protection, so go to a nearby sturdy building.
Buying or building a safe room
FEMA does not endorse, approve or certify any contractor or product, and no one may claim to be "FEMA approved." It recommends a licensed design professional and checking building permit rules with your local building official.
Check your own location
See current official alerts and the impact for your ZIP code.
Common questions
What are the types of tornado shelters?
Inside the home (a basement, or a closet, bathroom, storage room or garage built to the criteria), attached above ground, detached above ground, or a below-ground unit. Community safe rooms serve more than 16 people.
What is the safest tornado shelter for a home?
A safe room or storm shelter built to FEMA P-361 or ICC 500 is the safest. Without one, the interior of a basement is next, then an inside room on the lowest floor away from windows.
Is a garage a tornado shelter?
An ordinary garage is not. FEMA says a garage can be a safe room only if it is built to resist the same wind pressure and flying debris as a stand-alone safe room, so check that it was built and labeled to the FEMA or ICC 500 criteria.
What should I keep in a tornado shelter?
A radio, a phone, a wallet or purse, a flashlight, and a blanket or mattress to cover yourself, plus a NOAA Weather Radio with fresh batteries.
What makes a community tornado shelter compliant?
FEMA says the door assemblies of a community safe room must be certified as compliant with ICC 500 and carry permanent labels showing the tested design pressure and impact test. Safe rooms paid for with FEMA grant funds must also meet the FEMA funding criteria in P-361. FEMA does not approve or certify products, so look for the ICC 500 label and ask the building owner or local building official for the design documents.
Where can a community safe room be built?
FEMA says a community safe room has to stay out of floodways and out of coastal high-velocity wave zones (Zone V and Coastal A Zones where mapped), with a narrow exception where the local Board of Appeals permits it. Where it must sit in a flood hazard area, its lowest floor has to be elevated to or above the highest of the levels FEMA lists, which include the 500-year flood elevation and two feet above the base flood elevation.
Can I use a safe room during a hurricane evacuation order?
No. FEMA says occupants must not use a safe room during a mandatory evacuation. Leave when your zone is ordered to evacuate.
Sources
- Ready.gov: Tornadoes
- FEMA: Safe Rooms
- FEMA P-320: Taking Shelter From the Storm
- FEMA: Community Tornado Safe Room Doors (fact sheet, 2021)
- FEMA: Flood Hazard Siting and Floor Elevation for Community Safe Rooms (fact sheet, 2021)
- NWS Springfield: Tornado safety tip sheet
Reviewed by the Storm Incoming editorial team on October 30, 2026. Follow local emergency officials if their instructions differ.