Tornado shelters are seeing an uptick in business, according to Texas providers

HOUSTON – Tornadoes in Texas.

There have been a few in the Houston area in recent weeks.

One in Katy earlier this month. Then another Sunday evening in Trinity County.

“Tornado damage is increasing in every single state right now,” said Rene Sigman, a Houston-based storm attorney with experience not only in hurricanes like Sandy and Harvey, but also tornadoes.

The focus is on the economy, particularly protecting families from tornadoes and severe storms.

“We've seen an exponential increase year over year,” said Chris Hooser of Lone Star Safe Rooms in reference to the number of homeowners wanting to make their homes safer.

It's days like today, less than 24 hours after a massive storm made headlines, when Sportsman Steel's Jeff Kiser notices an uptick in customer contact.

“The worse the weather gets, the more they seem to call. The weather seems to be getting worse every day, so we are seeing a lot, especially on days like today,” Steel said.

Just minutes after KPRC 2 Investigates showed up at their Montgomery County business, Kiser had put us up in one of his tornado shelters, which doubles as a safe: “This will protect you from severe wind events.” These are designed to protect you if the house collapses , and everything here is designed to keep you and your family safe,” Kiser said.

Hooser made it clear in an interview that he expects tornado shelters in private homes to become much more common in the future: “I just think that like everything else and common sense, it's a good idea and there was a day , where there were no dishwashers.” Houses and now every house has one. “There will come a day when a product like this will be found in more and more homes,” Hooser said.

Typical Midwestern storm shelters are routinely built into the ground. However, Sigman says going underground is not an option in Southeast Texas, “there will be flooding.” The cost of emergency shelter varies but starts in the thousands, with the main goal of the investment being to protect the lives of friends and families.