How to Stock a Safe Room: Supply List, Layout, and Keeping Kids Calm

Most shelter advice stops at the door. Pick an interior room, reinforce it, done. But a shelter with nothing in it is a small room with the lights off. Knowing how to stock a safe room turns it into a place that works, especially with a 6 year old in there who has never heard a tornado.

This assumes the structure is handled. If not, start with picking the best room you already have and reinforcing the door and anchoring the walls. What follows is the inside.

How to stock a safe room for minutes, and how to stock it for hours

Stock 2 layers, because you are planning for 2 different events. The minutes layer is body protection for the hit. The hours layer gets a family through a long sit.

The split is not arbitrary. FEMA P-320, hosted by the State of Texas, notes tornadoes "are not typically long-lasting storms," while hurricanes "can last for 24 hours or more." That is why it sizes a tornado safe room at 3 square feet per person and a hurricane safe room at 7. A derecho or a civil hazard sits on the hours side.

The minutes layer. All of it lives in the room year round.

• 1 helmet per person, bike or batting, on hooks at the right height.

• Closed-toe lace-up shoes for everyone, the kids' pair a size up.

• A whistle on a cord each, from the American Red Cross kit list. It carries through debris longer than a voice.

• A flashlight or headlamp per person, plus spare batteries. Never candles.

• Heavy work gloves and an N95 or surgical mask per person.

• A folded wool blanket or sleeping bag per person.

The hours layer. This is the one that gets skipped, because nobody pictures a 3 a.m. sit with a 4 year old and no water.

• Water at 1 gallon per person per day, the Red Cross figure. Even 2 gallons in the room beats a case in the garage.

• A battery-powered or hand-crank NOAA Weather Radio.

• A charged power bank and the right cable.

• A 1 month supply of prescription medication, per Red Cross.

• A first aid kit, a multi-tool, snacks, toilet paper, and a lidded bucket with bags.

• Spare batteries or a charger for a CPAP machine, wheelchair, or hearing aid.

Why is a helmet the most overlooked safe room supply?

Because head trauma shows up again and again in the record, and a helmet is the cheapest thing in the room. Red Cross tells you to cover your head and neck with your arms once you reach shelter. With a helmet on, your arms are free to hold a child.

A CDC MMWR review of 338 tornado deaths from the April 25 to 28, 2011 outbreak found multisystem trauma in 324 of them (95.6 percent) and head injury noted in 74 (21.9 percent).

Now the honest limit, in CDC's own words: "Currently, no data are available regarding the effectiveness of helmet use to prevent head injuries during a tornado." Nobody has run that study. So the claim is not that a helmet saves your life. It is that head injury is common and helmets are cheap. CDC says keep them within fast reach, and that using one "should not be considered an alternative to seeking appropriate shelter."

Why does a safe room need a weather radio when the power is out?

Because NOAA Weather Radio is a separate broadcast system. It does not run on your electricity, internet, or cell carrier, so a 30 dollar receiver keeps working after all 3 are gone.

The National Weather Service runs more than 1,000 transmitters covering all 50 states and the territories, 24 hours a day, on 7 frequencies from 162.400 to 162.550 MHz. AMBER alerts and 911 outages ride the same channel.

Two limits. Reliable reception reaches about 40 miles over level ground, and the NWS office in New Orleans and Baton Rouge notes terrain cuts that down. A concrete-wrapped room is also where VHF struggles. So test the radio in the actual room on a clear day, and add a short external antenna if it will not hold a signal.

What is a SAME code, and how do you set one?

SAME stands for Specific Area Message Encoding. It is a 6-digit number that uniquely describes one county, and programming yours in means the alarm only sounds for alerts that cover you.

Per NWS guidance on using SAME, a 0 in the first digit means the whole county and a non-zero means part of one, digits 2 and 3 are the state, and the last 3 are the county. Orleans Parish, Louisiana is 022071. Find yours on the NWS list of SAME codes, by calling 1-888-NWR-SAME (1-888-697-7263), or by texting "Go" to that number.

One gotcha: do not tune the radio to a louder station that is not a designated SAME channel, or you stop getting alerts.

The part most guides leave out: add your upwind neighbors. Program the 1 or 2 counties your weather arrives from, not just your own. A warning 1 county west is 10 minutes of lead time, and with kids and shoes, 10 minutes is the whole ballgame.

How should you lay out a safe room so you can actually use it?

Clear floor, supplies on the walls, a seat for everyone (a bench or a stack of stools), nothing heavy above head height. Most rooms fail on the first one.

Start with space. FEMA P-320 sets a minimum of 3 square feet per person for a tornado safe room, 7 for a hurricane safe room, and at least 10 for a wheelchair user. The Nashville Office of Emergency Management uses a roomier 5 square feet per standing or seated person, 10 for a wheelchair user, 30 for someone bedridden. Plan to the larger number, and if your best space is still smaller, use it anyway.

1. Keep the floor clear. FEMA P-320 says keep a safe room free of clutter so people get in fast and are not hurt by falling objects. If you have to move a laundry basket, you have a closet.

2. Store supplies in the room, permanently. Not the garage. Lead time is minutes, and a plan with a detour does not survive one.

3. Nothing heavy above head height. CDC says secure heavy items and top-heavy furniture. Shelves above 5 feet hold blankets and empty totes. Cans go on the floor.

4. Mark a rectangle for a mobility device or a pet carrier. CDC's pet planning includes a carrier and leash, so it needs a footprint now, not at 2 a.m.

How do you reach someone from inside a safe room?

With a charged phone and a text message, not a call.

The joint FCC and FEMA guidance, published by West Virginia's health department, is to use text, email, or social media instead of voice calls for non-emergency contact. Those ride data services, less prone to congestion than voice, so a message often gets through when a call will not. Voice is for 911. Otherwise, type.

Two more from that guidance: keep charged batteries and a car charger as backup power, and put at least 1 out-of-town contact on your family sheet, because a relative 500 miles away can often reach your people when the local network is jammed. Keep that list printed in the room.

How do you keep kids calm in a safe room?

By making the room familiar long before anything happens, and keeping your voice low and even when it does. Kids calibrate off the adults.

CDC's guidance on helping children cope with a disaster puts it plainly: "Talk to your children about what is happening. Keep it simple and talk to them in a way that they can understand," and "Stay calm and reassure your children." Children handle disruption better when they know it is temporary. Here is that as 5 moves.

1. Run it as a drill, not a lecture. Put a timer on it. The goal is everyone in the room with shoes and helmets on, and a 7 year old will try to beat last week's time. CDC suggests framing drills as empowering, not scary.

2. Let each child keep 1 comfort item in the room, permanently. One stuffed animal or blanket, and it lives there. That removes a 90 second hunt at the wrong moment, and the room already feels like theirs.

3. Add a small activity bag that never leaves. CDC recommends games and special toys to keep children calm. A notebook, crayons, cards, a paperback. No screens, because the phone is for warnings. Our guide to what to pack in a kid's emergency kit covers the rest.

4. Give every kid a job. Carry the flashlight. Count heads. Hold the dog's leash. CDC frames this as helping children feel a sense of control, and a job is somewhere for their attention to go.

5. Explain the noise in advance. The radio sounds a loud alert tone before it talks (NWS specifies 1050 Hz), wind can sound like a freight train, the lights may go out. A warned-about sound is nothing like one that ambushes them.

Then the part that outweighs all 5: how you talk in there. Short sentences, normal volume. "We are in the right place. We will sit here until it passes." If your voice stays boring, the room stays calm. One boundary to settle now: CDC and Red Cross both say children should not join disaster cleanup.

What documents and medicine belong in a safe room?

Copies, not originals. Red Cross recommends a 1 month supply of prescription medication plus copies of personal, financial, and medical records, and CDC's tornado safety guidance puts birth certificates, passports, and insurance policies in a fireproof, waterproof safe.

So split it 3 ways: originals in that safe, a photographed set in cloud storage, and 1 printed page in the room with names, dates of birth, medications and doses, allergies, policy numbers, and 3 phone numbers including the out-of-area contact. One page, zip bag, taped inside a shelf. It is the page a paramedic asks for.

What should you never stock in a safe room?

Anything that burns, anything heavy overhead, anything you plan to carry in later.

• Candles. Texas A and M AgriLife Extension says use flashlights or battery-operated lights instead. A sealed room near a damaged gas line is the last place for an open flame.

• Fuel, propane, or a generator. CDC says keep generators and fuel-burning devices out of the home, basement, and garage, because carbon monoxide is odorless, colorless, and builds up indoors.

• Chemicals, pesticides, and paint. Treat it like a bedroom, not a utility closet.

• A kit that lives somewhere else. The most common failure of all. If the plan involves a trip to the garage, it does not survive a 9 minute warning.

What does belong, and gets skipped, is what you need to get back out. CDC's debris guidance calls for heavy work gloves, goggles, an N95 or better, and boots.

Frequently asked questions

How much water should I keep in a safe room?

Plan on 1 gallon per person per day, the American Red Cross figure, and keep at least 1 day's worth in the room itself. For a tornado you are in there under an hour, so that water really covers the wait afterward.

Do bike helmets actually help in a tornado?

Head injuries are common in tornado deaths: CDC's review of 338 deaths from April 2011 noted head injury in 74, or 21.9 percent. But CDC also states that no data currently exist on how effective helmets are, and that a helmet is never a substitute for shelter. Wear one, but get to the room first.

Can I use my phone instead of a NOAA Weather Radio?

Use both. Phone alerts work right up until the network is congested, the tower loses power, or your battery dies. NOAA Weather Radio is a separate system with more than 1,000 of its own transmitters, and a hand-crank receiver needs nothing from your utility.

How big does a safe room need to be for my family?

FEMA P-320 sets a minimum of 3 square feet per person for a tornado safe room, 7 for a hurricane safe room, and at least 10 for a wheelchair user. Nashville's emergency management office uses a roomier 5 square feet per person, 10 for a wheelchair user, 30 for someone bedridden.

How often should we practice using the safe room?

Twice a year, spring and fall, plus whenever a child outgrows their shoes or helmet. Time it and keep it short. Red Cross recommends practicing with the whole household.

The numbers, in one place

Start with what you have. A cleared floor, helmets on hooks, and a weather radio with your county code beats a perfect plan you get to next spring.

You never know, but you can always be ready.

Sources: CDC MMWR, Tornado-Related Fatalities, Five States, Southeastern United States, April 25 to 28, 2011; CDC, Tornado Safety; CDC, Helping Children Cope with Emergencies; CDC, Guidelines for Cleaning Safely After a Disaster; NOAA National Weather Service, NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards; NOAA National Weather Service, Using SAME; NOAA National Weather Service, New Orleans and Baton Rouge; NOAA National Weather Service, Tornado Safety; American Red Cross, Survival Kit Supplies; American Red Cross, Tornado Safety; FEMA P-320, Taking Shelter from the Storm, hosted by the State of Texas; Nashville Office of Emergency Management, Safe Refuge Areas; Oklahoma State University Extension, Building a Residential Safe Room; Texas A and M AgriLife Extension, After a Disaster Recovery Safety Tips; FCC and FEMA, Tips for Communicating in an Emergency, hosted by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.