James Weron, right, and Stan Beissel install a tornado shelter Friday in Ooltewah. The storm shelter is called The Protector and can hold numerous people in case of a tornado.
Staff File PhotoTornadoes can cause consumers to re-examine their priorities.
For instance, a single-story house house lined with large glass windows may seem like the perfect getaway from the daily grind - until the weatherman warns of an approaching tornado.
That's when homeowners suddenly wish they'd built a basement in which to seek shelter from the storm.
But since digging a basement under an existing house is cost-prohibitive, businesses are working to market more practical options to residents of the Southeast's new tornado alley.
Ed Cagle, a Chattanooga developer better known for building Family Dollar stores, bought the rights to sell The Protector brand of underground torando shelters after waves of tornadoes shattered the region in 2011.
He digs a hole in the yard, drops in the fiberglass shelter and covers it.
Add some grass seed and a few bushes and it looks like a garden mound.
But it's more than just an premade cellar. To meet Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines, Cagle's shelters must resist a 15-pound chunk of debris traveling at nearly 70 miles per hour, the agency's guideline's state.
"We've got about 35 calls in on them right now," Cagle said last week. "We'll start putting them in here real soon."
The sooner the better for many homeowners, who worry that the 2012 tornado season hasn't yet begun in earnest. Tornadoes typically peak in May, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
"Several of my customers from last year called me after the most recent tornadoes and said "thank you" for doing the shelters," Cagle said. "They got in 'em for about an hour when the tornado hit this time."
But Cagle isn't the only one offering the protective devices, which can seat between six and 15 people on a bench seat in relative comfort.
Prices range up to $9,800 for the largest model, including the cost of a backhoe and a crew to install the device. Some neighbors have banded together to share the cost - and the space - in case of future storms.
"Anybody who wants to get in there can get in there," said Ooltewah resident Estelle Harris, who bought one of Cagle's shelters.
Storm Shelters of Tennessee has a slightly different model that it markets as a safer alternative to yard installations, said Lee Watson, co-owner of the Jackson, Tenn. business.
The company installs in-ground shelters in a homeowner's garage, as well as saferooms that can be built into existing or new structures, he said. The company also enters the GPS location of the shelter into a national database accessible to rescue personnel.
The Ground Zero brand gives homeowners the option to "be able to get into your shelter without ever going out into the storm," Watson said.
The shelters, which cost about $5,000 to $6,000 each, including installation, are lab-tested to withstand the force of debris from an EF5 twister, he said.
Though Storm Shelters of Tennessee was founded in 2008 and has grown sales each year, it's still a business that is largely dependent on the weather, Watson added.
"Whenever a storm happens, obviously sales spike up immediately for a couple weeks afterward," Watson said. "People don't buy umbrellas when it's not raining,"