Preparing cats for bad weather?

Today my town was in a Tornado Watch and it really made me think about what I would do with my cats if we actually had a Tornado. Nebraska is known for their Tornado activity, but fortunately we've been pretty lucky and have not had one here in 15 years. Last year we had a close call and lugging my 2 cats (at the time) down into the basement. They of course thought it was playtime and ran all over the basement. I just sat there worried as can be and cried my eyes out. I worried that we'd have a tornado and my cats would be hurt or even killed.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what to do if this would actually happen? I only have one cat carrier, but have 3 cats. I worried that if I put them in a carrier and we had a tornado, they would be stuck in there helpless until (or if) someone finds them.
It just worries me about what would happen to them. Anyone else ever have a tornado? What did you do?
Thank you in advance for the suggestions!

Sometime after 9/11 we decided that we needed an emergency plan for ourselves and the cats. We have a very complete first aid kit assembled, and bought extra cat carriers. We now have 6 carriers (and 12 cats, yikes!). We make sure that we have a minimum of 4 liters of spring water in the house, for us and the cats. Also extra cat food.

The other thing we've done is decided in case of emergency, who grabs what cats, so that there is a little less confusion. 6 cats each is a lot, but better than us both trying to catch 12.

Usually when we've had to go to the basement it my Mom, my brother and myself. Marc always takes Bud (since he's so heavy), I always took Echo and Mom always took Mandy (the dog). Now, we've got Tiki..so I'll probably grab her too. The cats don't really care for being held too much, so they usually fight us a bit. I think I might buy an extra large carrier or even a small dog kennel. That way I can put at least 2 cats in there and one in the small carrier. The dog loves to be cuddled and Mom usually holds her while we're down there.

This may sound really stupid, but I never thought about having extra food and water down there. Marc has food, water and a litter box for Bud (Bud usually sleeps down there with Marc). I'll be getting some bottled water and another bag of food for the basement. It's better to be safe than sorry.
Thanks for the reply! You eased my mind!

Don't forget the scoop for the litter, trash bags for the "scooped litter", extra dishes, pet beds/blankets, toys, ect. Best of luck!

Thank you!

For the most part, we are prepared for a tornado. Our basement has the washer/dryer and one finished room (Marc's bedroom). There are other rooms, but they are not finished and are rather creepy IMO. We've even got an other Coal Shoot in there!

So, we've got lots of blankets and clothes (eventhough they'd be the dirty ones! ) down there, along with a radio, flashlights, trash bags, some cat food and a bag of litter. We've even got a chest freezer with some food in it so if we did get stuck down there for a few days, we'd have some kind of food to eat. I do need to get a new firstaid kit and some bottled water. The cats have some toys down there and even a cat bed (but they don't ever use it!).
I think we're pretty prepared for the most part. I'm more worried about actually having a tornado and making sure my cats are safe. I've been known to crawl underneath the bed, just so I could be with the cats during a bad storm. I figure it's a fairly safe place and I wanted to be near my cats so they weren't scared.