Finding Shelter from the Storm.

• Position: Tornado and hurricane preparations - Brief Article

State legislators worked to protect residents from the ill winds of spring this tornado season, and are now preparing for hurricane season this fall.

A major part of the effort is finding incentives for people to create safe rooms--concrete and steel reinforced rooms (approximately 8 feet by 6.5 feet with 6-inch walls and a steel door) that provide protection from storms and tornadoes. Safe rooms can be built in the basement, beneath a garage floor or in a walk-in closet, utility room or bathroom on the first floor. When constructed according to plans, safe rooms can withstand winds and flying debris traveling at up to 250 miles per hour.

Senator Jonathan Chun of Hawaii, who rode out Hurricane Iniki in a community shelter, wants to offer a statewide financial incentive--either through a rebate, a state income tax credit or a grant from the state's hurricane relief fund--to encourage homeowners to build safe rooms.

The Legislature established the relief fund when insurance companies refused to write hurricane insurance policies after Hurricane Iniki; the state became the insurer and collected policy premiums. Several years after Iniki, insurance companies again are writing policies, and the Legislature must decide how to use the state relief fund. Senator Chun wants the money to be used for a partial rebate program to...