Getty Ben and Erin Napier
HGTV’s “Home Town” hosts Erin and Ben Napier moved into their dream home in the Mississippi countryside earlier this year, and while “Home Town” production took a break over the Christmas holiday, the design and renovation couple just couldn’t sit still.
“No renovating on #HGTVHomeTown this week for Christmas break, so what to do on the coldest day ever in our heated basement at the farm? Get started trying to make it something nice and not so scary so when the tornadoes come, the girls won’t be scared to hunker down in here. Day one of this little update and I feel like we made good progress!” Erin wrote on Instagram, in a new post featuring Ben and their daughters, Helen and Mae, playing in their basement.
See what changes the Napiers made to make their basement more comfortable for all four family members below.
Erin & Ben Napier Installed Swings in Their Basement
Erin’s post, which has over 65,000 likes on Instagram, features two pictures of their basement. The first shows daughters Helen and Mae playing on swings in the family’s basement, which the couple has installed directly into the ceiling. Below the girls sits a green carpet, which gives the illusion of grass. Toys are scattered about, and Ben is off to the side with a hammer in hand. The second photo shows the other side of the basement, where two leather couches sit next to some framed portraits, and string lights are hung from the ceiling.
Fans loved seeing the Napiers make their basement more of a comfortable space for their daughters in the event that the family needs to bunker down during a tornado, and took the to comments to share stories of their own.
“Yes- we finally have a basement with a room and that’s what my 12 year old says, that she won’t be as frightened bc it’s a regular room! I truly have terrifying memories of running in the weather to the storm pit to ride out the tornadoes!” one fan wrote.
“Smart thinking. Are you the only ones with a basement ? I live in NJ, I got the impression that [southern] homes don’t have basements,” another fan asked, to which Erin replied that “there are very few around here. has to do with the water table and soil”.
Tornado Season Peaks in the Spring and Fall in Mississippi
While the Napiers are lucky to have a basement to escape to in the event of a tornado, they are only likely to need it during certain times of the year.
According to the Clarion Ledger, tornado season in Mississippi peaks in April on average, with a second peak that normally takes place in November, and the reason for peaks in these months is due to the La Niña weather pattern, which can cause changes in water temperatures that lead to a higher likelihood of storms. On the whole, Mississippi usually sees between 30 and 100 tornadoes in a given year, however the last few years have seen increases, with 147 in 2019 (the most on record since 1950), 115 in 2020, and 127 in 2022 (through December 28).
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