Friday, March 2, 2012

It's Tornado Time

And fortunately I am far away from all of the tornadoes this year (last year I was hiding in the basement of a friend's house a number of times during tornado season--namely, each time he came around to say "a tornado is fixin' to come this way, y'all better hightail it to the basement"...sorry but each time I remember his warnings they came with a heavy Southern accent!).  Fortunately we would suffer the outer bands of wind and rain from tornadoes but never a direct hit, however we did go out after one particularly bad tornado in north Georgia and it literally looked like someone took a giant weed whacker to the town.  Scary stuff.
Anyway, if you do live in a tornado-prone area--or even in an area that possibly could see a tornado--it is time (way past time for some)--to break out the emergency supplies, including:
  • A weather radio (I wouldn't live in tornado country without a weather radio)
  • Your BOB (it should always be at the ready)
  • A basement (if you don't have a basement, than go to someone else's basement...hiding in a closet of your mobile home isn't even a close second IMHO)
  • Extra of everything you may need, stored in your basement, in the event that a tornado does wipe out your town (water, food, emergency supplies, etc)
  • Cash (ATMs are one of the first things to go down when the power goes out)
  • A list of community resources and disaster resources (where are the community disaster shelters, how do you contact FEMA after a disaster, what is your community's tornado plan, etc)
  • A list of personal resources (what happens if your computer/cell phone is toast after a tornado? You will need names and phone numbers of friends and relatives, contact info and policy numbers for your insurance, etc)
  • A way to communicate after a tornado (a wind-up radio at the minimum so you can receive official news and information, a back up cell phone--that may or may not work, a HAM radio, and a way to power these devices)
  • A way to evacuate after a tornado if necessary (if your town is flattened you will have to decide whether to go or stay; if you decide to go you need to know ahead of time where you will go and how you will get there)
And to all of my friends in the midwest and south--stay safe out there!

2 comments:

  1. Good info, however sometimes none of it really matters... When the F4 hit Chelsea Indiana friday afternoon, My son and I watched it bounce right over our heads, as a Police Officer I jumped in the truck and went up on the hill to see insane devestation. Brick farm houses were GONE, not damaged, but GONE... 2nd house we came too, a family of 4 were in the basement like we're told to do, we bagged the grandparents and a 4 year old little boy, while the mother was walking around in shock.. Gave me an entire new respect for what Nature is capable of..

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  2. This is very true. The tl;dr of all preparedness efforts should be: you can prepare for every possibility, you can reinforce your home, you can have a plan a, b, and c, but the bottom line is that in a disaster--tornado, hurricane, earthquake, et al, luck--something you can't prearrange, plays a huge role in the outcome. Our prayers go out to all of the folks in the midwest affected by the recent tornadoes.

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