Living in tornado alley (KS) we have them hit somewhere in the state every "season" several times. Living in the country, we don't get any tornado siren's going off and with satellite tv reception, we may not have warnings available, so people in our situation have weather alert radios that go off and let us know when it hit the shelters! In our house that's in the basement bathroom (center of basement) and we keep a "go to" plastic tub there--has a battery radio, couple of flashlights, battery lantern, extra batteries, a plastic envelope with insurance and other paperwork copies for making claims, safety deposit box key, thumb drive with house inventory (which we also have a copy with our insurance agent and one in safety deposit box), etc. Also some snacks, water, and a whistle--if our house falls in we want help to be able to find us! Basically we know that when there's one spotted and we are told to seek shelter, we put on shoes (debris can be a big problem afterward), grab the dogs and my DH diabetes meds and cell phones (keep a quick charge in the to-go box too) and go to basement--but once settled in, we may slip out the walk-out door to see what we can see! Have seen two over the last 19 yrs from our basement patio.
We had a mini-twister hit our detached garage/shop 2 years ago--about 30' from our house. Did minor damage to the house but took out the rafters and roof and 2 walls of the shop---found rafter beams about 350' away! Only knocked over potted plants on the front porch! Tornados are just really freaky and unpredictable. Because the local weather reporters had hyped the news anytime there was a watch (meaning conditions are good for one) those of us in Tornado Alley were getting pretty ho-hum about them and that was more dangerous--so now they have revised the system somewhat.