Given the number of people who died during three days and the fact that May is typically the month with the most tornadoes, I thought I would share some of my experiences. I was fortunate to have a father who grew up in Kansas long before NOAA or weather broadcasts or even radar. Surviving there meant learning how to “read” the sky and what to do with the information it provided.
I have been traveling recently and I was heading home last Monday during the huge tornado outbreak across the southern states. Unfortunately, this gave me the opportunity to use many of the tornado survival skills I have honed while living most of my life in “Tornado Alley.” By Monday evening, I saw three tornadoes touch down, including one that turned out to me more than one-half-mile wide and literally pulled the pavement up from the ground along its path.
So what do you do when you are driving down the highway and tornadoes start dropping in your path?
Tornadoes are nature’s most violent storms. Spawned from powerful thunderstorms, tornadoes can cause fatalities and devastate a neighborhood in seconds. A tornado is a rotating, funnel-shaped cloud that extends from a thunderstorm to the ground with whirling winds that can reach 300 miles per hour. Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long. Although tornadoes usually occur east of the Rocky Mountains, tornadoes have occurred in every state and every state is at some risk.
General tornado safety rules are readily available from sources such as the Red Cross, FEMA, and NOAA. Every site posts some variant of the NOAA preparedness information, which is available in an informative brochure from the NOAA site.
Most of that information focuses on what to do if you are in a building and are warned that a tornado is imminent. It is good information to know, and I encourage you to check it out. But there is comparatively little information available on what to do if you are in a car – particularly if you are in a an unfamiliar area. And, sadly, the instructions that are usually given are either incomplete or ineffective. While my suggestions may not be any better, they are at least practical and I have found them effective. Your mileage may vary.
Last Monday evening, about 8:00 pm, I had the chance to practice what I am preaching. We were in Little Rock, just crossing the Arkansas River when the tornado sirens started sounding. I was driving and looked up to see a wall cloud dropping three tornadoes right in front of us. I took off at the next exit (Exit 143 Morgan/Maumelle), which had a little hotel right at the intersection. I just turned into the driveway when the torrential rain hit and got under the canopy in front of the office just as it started to hail. Then the emergency responder sirens started.
As it turns out, there were tornadoes at Morgan AND Maumelle and Mayflower (the next town). Between Exits 143 and 142 three vehicles were blown off of the Interstate. At Exit 142 (Vilonia) a tornado one-half-mile wide flattened the little town (about 2000 residents), even pulling up the pavement in the highway and parking lots. Interstate 40 was closed from Exit 121 to Exit 175 because it was under water; a number of motorists had to be rescued and four died. Fourteen people were killed in Jefferson county and about 40 were killed across the state. (There was another tornado at Vilonia the next day, giving it the distinction -- along with Oklahoma City -- of being slammed by an F5 or better tornado two days in a row.) Tuesday and Wednesday saw similar events across the south, with tornadoes causing tremendous devastation and death from Mississippi to North Carolina.
Knowledge + Awareness + Action = Safety
In a tornado your survival can depend on 1) having an action plan, 2) being aware of the weather conditions, and 3) moving swiftly to implement your plan. Your plan should
NEVER, EVER, EVER include trying to outrun a tornado. Tornados typically move forward at 40-50 mph and have rotational winds between 100 and 200 mph. However, you cannot bet on that. The tornadoes I encountered were moving forward at 70 - 80 mph with rotation at 300 mph. That is not survivable in a car.
Nor should you try the old myth: If you are driving and a tornado is sighted, you should turn and drive at right angles to the storm. Even if you could find a road going “at right angles to the storm,” tornadoes are notoriously unreliable and, unlike a car, don’t have to follow the road. They can skip and turn and bob and weave.
KNOWLEDGE
NOAA recommends that every family have a disaster plan. While the focus of their information is for tornadoes occurring while you are at home, it is equally important that you have a plan if you are traveling by car. Decide the criteria you will use to implement your plan and make the appropriate preparations. A plan is particularly critical if you have any health or mobility issues, like I do, that can negatively impact your ability to seek shelter or be rescued.
Typically, NOAA recommends that in a tornado emergency you should get out of your car and seek shelter in a structure. This is excellent advice and should be the centerpiece of your plan. However, there are things to think about: What kind of structure will be available? How will you gain access? How long will you need to remain? What if you cannot return to your vehicle?
When traveling by car over long distance, you will pass through a lot of sparsely inhabited areas and small towns. Do not depend on the kindness (or preparedness) of strangers. If you plan includes stopping at the first house you see, you need to rethink your plan. Be aware of the distances between town and adjust your travel accordingly.
Bear in mind that most tornadoes occur between 4:00 and 8:00 pm, but the period between 5:00 and 8:00 am is almost as dangerous. At these times, many public buildings, such as courthouses, schools, or office buildings, will not be open. However, in many small towns throughout the South, at least, the courthouse (which is usually a big stone building with a basement on or near the town square) will be opened during hazardous weather events so residents without other recourse can take shelter there. I have used this alternative on several occasions and found the people there to be very welcoming and helpful.
NOAA also recommends going to a school for shelter, but this is highly problematic. Time, again, is a factor and they may not be open. But even if they are, most schools don’t allow strangers to walk in and make themselves comfortable. Their focus will be on keeping the children safe – from the storms or dangerous adults. My opinion may be tempered by the inordinate number of times I have known of tornadoes hitting schools, but I never really consider them a good alternative, with the possible exception of a community college.
My personal first alternative is a motel, preferably one with inside corridors. My second preference is a restaurant without big plate glass windows. If your only alternatives are stores or restaurants with big front windows, go there, but get as far away from the windows as possible. This is not the time to stand and watch the storm.
Tornadoes usually arise from thunderstorms, so NOAA advises:
if thunderstorms are imminent. This is your best way to avoid being caught in a dangerous situation. Move to a sturdy building or car. Do not take shelter in small sheds, under isolated trees, or in convertible automobiles. Stay away from tall objects such as towers, fences, telephone poles, and power lines.
What ever your choice, make it before you start out driving and plan accordingly. Be sure you have easy access to essential items and can “grab and go” if the time comes.
For example, last Monday morning before we left Mobile I checked the weather reports and packed a small bag of “essentials” for my husband and me. It included medicines, a change of clothes for each of us (including shoes), toiletries, portable food, and a couple of bottles of water. When the time came, all we had to do was grab that bag and sprint for the entrance to the hotel. And since, as is common with tornadoes, we had torrential rain and large hail, it was important to not have to go back out to the car again later for something we needed.
AWARENESS
Before setting out on the road, check the weather condition and forecasts for your route. Listen to radio and television weather information. If possible, check the National Weather Service Home Page for weather advisories. And hazardous weather information.
Watch for signs of approaching storms. If the sky starts to become dark or often greenish, and especially if there is large hail, the danger of tornadoes increases dramatically. Some states (not that many) post signs with the radio frequency you can tune to for emergency information. If you see such a sign, jot down the frequency. It could give you important information if the weather becomes threatening.
If you travel frequently or know you will be driving during “tornado season” (usually March through May in the south and April through June in the north), you might consider investing in a NOAA weather radio. The National Weather Service continuously broadcasts warnings and forecasts that can be received by NOAA Weather Radios, which are sold in many stores. The average range is 40 miles, depending on topography. Purchase a radio that has a battery back-up and a Specific Area Message Encoder feature, which automatically alerts you when a watch or warning is issued for your county or parish.
If you have an iphone, pda, or smartphone, the Weather Channel has an app that will give you access to location-enabled conditions. Severe weather alerts for your neighborhood and across the nation. Other mobile weather widgets for cell phones are available from AccuWeather and MyCast, among others.
ACTION
Have a “trigger point” and stick to it. The best plan in the world won’t help if you don’t use it. If you are a person who usually wants to do “just a little more,” this is not the time. If you hear tornado sirens (a common feature in many southern town) or see a wall cloud or the sky turns dark and greenish and it begins to hail, do not delay. Don’t wait to see the tornado, get off the road and out of your car and into a solidly constructed building, preferably one with a basement.
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From Dragon5616:
"Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen," Hedwig presents "The Fastest Youtube Video finder in the West!" And the winner is Its the Supreme Court Stupid who responds to the wingnut who demanded the "right to carry a gub" in kos' Saturday hate mail-a-palooza.
From
bronte17:
claude notes that human ingenuity... and our future... is in the greedy grasp of those who see crisis as opportunity for individual profit in this outstanding diary by Patric Juillet.
From
smileycreek:
This comment by kat68 in Some Random Thoughts on Navy SEALs and Other things... by Bonsai66 stuck in my head all day, and I had to come back and submit it.
From
me:
Since I never watch "reality" television shows, I hadn't realized until InquisitiveRaven pointed it out in Bruin Kid's diary on the Bill Mahar show that the announcement of the killing of Osama bin Laden had also killed the last half of Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice." It's even funnier when you emember that they kept delaying the announcement for about 15 minutes -- or until after the show was over. Someone in the White House has a wicked sense of humor.
As a southerner, I am often as irked by the "everything is the South's fault" attitude sometimes seen here as I am by the ignorant redneck Republicans whose behavior usually prompts those comments. However, I think pgm 01 makes a very thoughtful and persuasive argument about the pseudo-libertarian neo-feudalist system promoted by southern politicians like Mitch McConnell and Haley Barbour and its negative effects on our country in Christian Dem in NC's diary Two imams yanked off Memphis to Charlotte flight by pilot.
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