KY family goes viral for burying van as storm shelter. ‘Country boys can survive’
One family in Kentucky got creative when it came to staying safe in this week’s severe weather.
Kentucky saw a string of strong storms Wednesday night into Thursday morning, with at least two tornadoes and heavy rain that has resulted in flooding across the state.
As the weather approached Wednesday, with Western Kentucky predicted to get the worst conditions, Ryan Hagan and Buddy Rolley in Muhlenberg County decided to bury a minivan to use a storm shelter. Using a mini excavator they bought from Temu, Hagan said it took them about five and a half hours to get the van underground.
And it came in handy: They used it Wednesday night to take shelter as severe weather ripped through the state. Early reports show a tornado may have touched down in Madisonville, near where they live, but it has not yet been confirmed by the National Weather Service.
Hagan said the van still works, so they cut the exhaust and used the radio in the vehicle, which they initially purchased for parts, to listen to weather alerts Wednesday.
Ryan’s cousin, Erika Cobb, posted photos of the half-buried van to TikTok with the caption “Only in Kentucky. Uncle is tornado ready with his shelter.” Over the photos, she added an audio of tornado sirens.
As of Friday afternoon, the video has been viewed 1.6 million times, with nearly 167,000 likes.
“They think we’re about the biggest rednecks you can get, burying a van, but it is what it is, and we needed something to get out of the weather,” Hagan said. “That was the best we could do temporarily.”
Hagan said they plan to keep it as a storm shelter, joking that Muhlenburg County is “the new tornado alley” with all the severe weather impacting Western Kentucky in recent years.
“People underestimate what dirt actually weighs...it’s not likely the tornado is going to rip it out,” Hagan said. “The whole hood and everything is buried under three feet of dirt, so we feel safe in that.”
The comments on TikTok were generally supportive, with some people saying they wish they’d thought of a similar idea.
“I mean being a Kentuckian myself...I think he’s onto something,” another person wrote.
“Country boys can survive,” one commenter said.
Despite the jokes, Hagan said the van worked well as a storm shelter. They plan to add reinforcement near the van door to keep using it.
“We’re for hire,” Rolley added. “We’ll bury a van for anybody.”