I (29) am from Tennessee, but now live in southwest Ohio with my boyfriend (32) and our 6 year old daughter. I’ve seen the devastation that tornados can create. Yesterday, I had been watching the line of strong storm systems sweep across the country and monitoring activity and checking for developments via the local news and meteorologists online. Everyone said that we had a very high chance of being hit with severe thunderstorms, 60-80 mph winds, hail, and possibly a few tornados and that we would need to think about where our safe place would be in the event that we need to seek shelter. We live in an apartment on the top floor, and there I told him that I wanted to take our daughter and go to my mother’s two story house because she has a ground floor, just as a precaution. I definitely wasn’t panicking - I didn’t go to the store and buy up milk and bread, nor did even I gather advised necessities like flashlights, candles, first aid kits etc. He told me it was a stupid idea to take my daughter to my mothers house because “nothing will ever happen here”. I reminded him of the 2019 EF4 tornado that destroyed neighborhoods and businesses in my old neighborhood in North Dayton and he said “yeah that happened one time, and you weren’t even at home when it happened so stop acting like it affected you.” It didn’t directly affect me. I was visiting family in Tennessee with our newborn when it hit, and it didn’t do any damage to my house except rip a few shingles off. Neighbors a few blocks away weren’t so lucky though and many of them lost everything. So I said, “yes it absolutely can happen here, because it already has, and you don’t know everything.” Life is unpredictable and you never know what will happen. The best thing to do is to not panic, but be aware of what’s happening and try to take precautions. I was trying to follow the advice of meteorologists and use my best judgement to place our daughter somewhere just a little safer than where we were.

After our fight, I gave in and figured maybe I was just being dramatic and had planned to stay in our apartment, (also because I was worried about continuing to argue). After the storms left Indianapolis I saw that they had had multiple tornados. It was headed toward us, so I decided to go ahead and leave our apartment 30 minutes before it got to our area - around 11:30pm. He blocked the hallway to her bedroom and wouldn’t allow me to wake her up to leave. He said she had school in the morning and he wouldn’t allow me to disturb her sleep for nothing just because I was paranoid and acting crazy. He said I was acting like the apocalypse was coming, but he gave in and told me if I took her that our relationship would be over. I said “I don’t care if you think I’m crazy or overreacting. I’m not leaving her here when my parental instincts are kicking in and telling me that, just in case, I would like for her to be in a safer location.” I wasn’t screaming, crying, or acting like a nutcase prior to this, but I did start raising my voice when he blocked me from her room. I made a decision and was trying to use my best judgement. So her and I left. After we arrived at my mothers house, the area our apartment was in came under a tornado warning with rotation noted above, and the sirens started going off. I felt like I made the right choice for her and I, but I was a little worried for him.

After it was over (maybe 2 hours) we left and came home. My apologies for this being so long, but I guess I wanted to make the entire situation clear because I need to know if I’m the asshole here. I don’t regret my choice, but I want opinions. I completely feel like when it comes to severe weather warnings he is irresponsible and does not care nor believe anything bad could ever happen. I don’t understand this logic, as I think being prepared is better than regretting a negligent approach in the case that things swing badly. Tell me if I’m wrong?