Five Tips for Tornado Safety:
- If you are in a house without a basement: Go to the center of the house to a small room or space. Closets. Stairwells. Bathtubs. These are the places you should go if you need to take shelter. After a tornado, you will see slabs of cement nearly wiped clean, with closets still standing. Be as close to the center of the house as you can. Of course, if you have a basement, go there, but many in the south do not have basements.
- If you are outside: lie down in the lowest area you can find. Keep as far from vehicles or trees as possible. Protect your head with your hands.
- If you are in a mobile home or a vehicle: GET OUT!! THEY ARE DEATH TRAPS. According to Tornado Hunter, you will almost certainly be safer if you get out, even if there is no shelter to run to. The only exception is if you are in a vehicle and the tornado is clearly far away and not coming toward you. If it does not seem to be moving right or left, it is coming toward you. Never try to outrun a tornado. Do not park under an overpass.
- If you are in a huge building like a church or mall: STAY CALM. Move to the center of the building away from windows. If you can’t find a small room, get under a bench or other sturdy object.
- Stay away from windows and DO NOT OPEN THEM TO EQUALIZE THE PRESSURE. You will waste time, it probably won’t help, and you could be hurt by shattering glass.
And here is my favorite little freebie that I picked up from hearing many stories. Don’t go to a shelter barefoot! Always have shoes or sandals or slippers. If a tornado hits, there will likely be broken glass everywhere.
And take your cell phone AND charger. Communication is a nightmare after tornadoes.
Okay! I hope I am not scaring anyone on this spring day. I just saw a rainbow outside my window!
The winner of yesterday’s contest is Dorcas, who posted on the blog post at 10:51 am. No last name was entered, but I did send an email to the email address attached to the entry. If your name is Dorcas and you did not get an email, it isn’t you!
And here, once again are the links to the books I mentioned. If you are considering purchasing Shatterproof or one of the other books I mentioned in yesterday’s post, here’s your chance! Click the book to see more, or look at yesterday’s post where I describe them. These links are good for 24 hours.
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4 thoughts on “Tuesday Tips: Tornado Safety Plus Contest Winner”
Interesting article, especially since we live in tornado alley and have them frequently, one just a couple weeks ago.
Living with tornadoes, having no basements in which one can seek shelter does put one at a serious disadvantage in finding a secure place out of the storms wrath. Since this is the case, one becomes totally dependent upon the Lord for protection. Totally. Do I run? If so, where to? Or, if it is dark, then what? No one perfect solution except, except asking the Lord for direction.
That’s very true! God bless you with safety and peace.
I was surprised you said to go underneath objects like park benches. While cleaning up after a tornado hit a school, rescue workers found that each desk had been collapsed, killing the children taking shelter under them but beside each desk was a pocket of safety that might have saved them if they were lying there instead of under the desk. From that news article (which hit the newspapers in my youth), I supposed I would crowd against sturdy objects instead of going beneath them, trusting that if the legs of that object collapsed, the body of it would hold the weight of whatever caused its demise, creating a little pocket of safety for me. But I looked online and what I read supported your advice. Truth is, destruction doesn’t follow rules, so what worked in one situation might not in the next. I just hope I never need to make the choice.
Amen on hoping we don’t need to choose. Sadly, there is no magic formula that always works with tornadoes, since they seem to break the rules. And there’s a big difference between the most common tornadoes and the most deadly ones!