How to best prepare for a Tornado

This week Rowan County Weather is celebrating Severe Weather Preparedness Week. My goal this week is to provide you with tips and information on how to best prepare for any severe weather we could encounter this Spring and Summer. Today's focus will be on Tornadoes. 

Tornadoes

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air extending from the base of a thunderstorm down to the ground. Tornadoes are capable of completely destroying well-made structures, uprooting trees and hurling objects through the air like deadly missiles. Tornadoes can occur at any time of day or night and at any time of the year. Although tornadoes are most common in the Central Plains and southeastern United States, they have been reported in all 50 states. 

• Tornadoes can cause an average of 60-65 fatalities and over 1,500 injuries each year.
• Can produce wind speeds in excess of 200 mph
• Can be 1 mile wide and stay on the ground for 50 miles.

The Fujita Scale is used by National Weather Service personnel when assessing damage to determine the strength of a tornado that has impacted an area.

TORNADO FICTION AND FACT

Fiction: Lakes, rivers, and mountains protect areas from tornadoes.

Fact: No geographic location is safe from tornadoes. A tornado near Yellowstone National Park left a path of destruction up and down a 10,000 foot mountain.

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Fiction: A tornado causes buildings to “explode” as the tornado passes overhead.
Fact: Violent winds and debris slamming into buildings cause the most structural damage.

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Fiction:  Open windows before a tornado approaches to equalize pressure and minimize damage.

Fact: Virtually all buildings leak. Leave the windows closed. Take shelter immediately. An underground shelter, basement or safe room are the safest places. If none of those options are available, go to a windowless interior room or hallway.

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Fiction: Highway overpasses provide safe shelter from tornadoes

Fact: The area under a highway overpass is very dangerous. If you are in a vehicle, you should immediately seek shelter in a sturdy building.

As a last resort, you can either: (1) stay in the car with the seat belt on. Put your head down below the windows, covering with your hands and a blanket if possible, or (2) if you can safely get noticeably lower than the level of the roadway, exit your car and lie in that area, covering your head with your hands. Your choice should be driven by your specific circumstances.

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Fiction:   It is safe to take shelter in the bathroom, hallway, or closet of a mobile home.

Fact: Mobile homes are not safe during tornadoes! Abandon your mobile home to seek shelter in a sturdy building immediately. If you live in a mobile home, ensure you have a plan in place that identifies the closest sturdy buildings.

Develop a Family Disaster Plan.  Tornado-specific planning should include the following: 

• Learn about your tornado risk. While severe tornadoes are more frequent in the Plains States, tornadoes have happened in every state. Contact your local emergency management office, local National Weather Service office, or American Red Cross chapter for more information on tornadoes. 
• Pick a safe place in your home where family members could gather during a tornado. The safest place to be is underground, or as low to the ground as possible, and away from all windows. If you have a basement, make it your safe place. If you do not have a basement, consider an interior hallway or room on the lowest floor. Putting as many walls as you can between you and the outside will provide additional protection. Less than 2 percent of all tornadoes are powerful enough to completely destroy a sturdy building. Make sure there are no windows or glass doors in your safe place and keep this place uncluttered. 
• Consider having your tornado safe place reinforced. Additional reinforcement will add more protection from the damaging effects of tornado winds. Get more information from FEMA about building a tornado safe room. 
• If you are in a high-rise building, pick a place in a hallway in the center of the building. You may not have enough time to go to the lowest floor. Center hallways are often structurally the most reinforced part of a building. 
• If you live in a mobile home, choose a safe place in a nearby sturdy building. A sturdy building provides greater protection. If your mobile home park has a designated shelter, make it your safe place. Mobile homes are much more vulnerable to strong winds than site-built structures. Prior to 1994, most manufactured homes were not designed to withstand even moderate winds. Mobile homes are not safe in a tornado so have a sturdy building picked out ahead that you will go to if a tornado warning is issued.
• Discuss how you would be warned of an approaching tornado. Different communities have different ways of providing warnings. Many communities have sirens intended for outdoor warning purposes. Use a NOAA Weather Radio with a tone-alert feature to keep you aware of watches and warnings while you are indoors. Learn about your community's warning system. Make sure all family members know the name of the county or parish where you live or are traveling, because tornado watches and warnings are issued for a county or parish by name. 
• Learn about your community's warning system. Different communities have different ways of providing warnings. Many communities have sirens intended for outdoor warning purposes, many have no sirens at all. Use a NOAA Weather Radio with a tone-alert feature to keep you aware of watches and warnings while you are indoors. 
• Conduct periodic tornado drills, so everyone remembers what to do when a tornado is approaching. Practice having everyone in the family go to your designated area in response to a tornado threat. Practicing your plan makes the appropriate response more of a reaction, requiring less thinking time during an actual emergency situation. 
• Check with your work and your children's schools and day care centers to learn tornado emergency plans. Every building has different safe places. It is important to know where they are and how to get there in an emergency. 
• Discuss tornadoes with your family. Everyone should know what to do in case all family members are not together. Discussing disaster ahead of time helps reduce fear and lets everyone know how to respond during a tornado. 
• Keep your bike, motorcycle and rollerblade helmets in your safe area. This way when you have to take shelter the helmets are there waiting for everyone to put on.

What to Tell Children

• Find safe places in your home and classroom. Make sure these places are away from windows and tall furniture that could tip over. In your safe place, get under something sturdy, or use a large, hard-cover book to help protect your head and neck from flying or falling objects. Locate safe places outside in case you are not able to go inside. Frequently, children in schools are told to move to the inner hallways away from windows. Children need to know that a tornado safe place is not the same as a fire meeting place. 
• Wherever you are, if you hear or see a tornado coming, take cover right away.Tornadoes can move quickly, blowing objects at very high speeds, even if they are a distance away. Protect yourself from flying debris by taking cover immediately. 
• If you're in a house or apartment building and a tornado threatens, go to the lowest level - a basement or storm cellar if possible. Once on the lowest level, go to the middle of the building away from windows, into a bathroom or closet if possible. The safest place to be is under the ground, or as low to the ground as possible, and away from all windows. If you have a basement, make it your safe place. If you do not have a basement, consider an interior hallway or room on the lowest floor. Putting as many walls as you can between you and the outside will provide additional protection. Make sure there are no windows or glass doors in your safe place and keep this place uncluttered. 
• Get under something sturdy, such as a heavy table, hold on and stay there until the danger has passed. Being under something heavy will help protect you from falling objects. If tornado wind enters the room and the object moves, holding on with one hand will help you move with it, keeping you protected. 
• Use your other arm and hand to protect your head and neck from falling or flying objects. Your head and neck are more easily injured than other parts of your body. Protect them as much as you can. If you have a bike, motorcycle or rollerblading helmets put them on your children.
• If you're outside in a car or in a mobile home, go immediately to the basement of a nearby sturdy building. Sturdy buildings are the safest place to be. Tornado winds can blow large objects, including cars, hundreds of feet away. Tornadoes can change direction quickly and can lift up a car or truck and toss it through the air. Never try to out-drive a tornado. Mobile homes are particularly vulnerable. A mobile home can overturn very easily even if precautions have been taken to tie down the unit. 
• If there is no building nearby, lie flat in a low spot. Use your arms and hands to protect your head. Tornadoes cause a lot of debris to be blown at very high speeds, and you can be hurt by this debris if it hits you. Dangerous flying debris can be blown under highway overpasses and bridges, or weaker overpasses and bridges could be destroyed. You will be safer lying flat in a low-lying area where wind and debris will blow above you. Tornadoes come from severe thunder- storms, which can produce a lot of rain. If you see quickly rising water or flood water coming towards you, move to another spot. 

How to Protect Your Property

• Make a list of items to bring inside in the event of a storm. Having a list will help you remember things that may be broken or blown away in strong winds. 
• Keep trees and shrubbery trimmed. Make trees more wind resistant by removing diseased or damaged limbs, then strategically remove branches so that wind can blow through. Strong winds frequently break weak limbs and hurl them at great speed, causing damage or injury when they hit. Debris collection services may not be operating just before a storm, so it is best to do this well in advance of approaching storms. 
• Remove any debris or loose items in your yard. Branches and firewood may become missiles in strong winds. 
• Consider installing permanent shutters to cover windows. Shutters can be closed quickly and provide the safest protection for windows. 
• Strengthen garage doors. Garage doors are often damaged or destroyed by flying debris, allowing strong winds to enter. As winds apply pressure to the walls, the roof can be lifted off, and the rest of the house can easily follow. 

Assemble a Disaster Supplies Kit

Disaster Supplies Kit Basics 
The following items might be needed at home or for an evacuation. Keeping them in an easy-to-carry backpack or duffel bag near your door would be best in case you need to evacuate quickly, such as in a tsunami, flash flood, or major chemical emergency. Store your kit in a convenient place known to all family members. Kit basics are: 

• A portable, battery-powered radio or television and extra batteries.
• Flashlight and extra batteries.
• First aid kit and first aid manual.
• Supply of prescription medications.
• Credit card and cash.
• Personal identification.
• An extra set of car keys.
• Matches in a waterproof container.
• Signal flare.
• Map of the area and phone numbers of places you could go. 
• Special needs, for example, diapers or formula, prescription medicines and copies of prescriptions, hearing aid batteries, spare wheelchair battery, spare eyeglasses, or other physical needs. 

Here's a great video showing how to get weather ready befire a tornado.

I know this is a lot of information to take in but just know you can always refer back to this post when the need arises for a refresher. 

Stay safe this Spring and Summer everyone! As always thank you for following Rowan County Weather!