Article Wolf's Extensive Tornado Safety Tips

This isn't any sort of official staff post, I'm just doing this because I personally think it's important.

Tornado season has started in America, so make sure you're prepared! I'm sure that most of you here who live in tornado-prone areas probably know what to do in the event of a tornado, but apparently not everyone does. Considering there was just an actual tornado that nearly hit me and my neighbor on the first floor of my building didn't think to go to the basement, I thought it would be a good idea to post this just in case. Even if you do have an idea of what to do, you might learn something new, so here are a few tornado safety tips that everyone should know because I like you all and want you to stay safe. Feel free to post any tips of your own that I didn't include; these are just the ones I've been taught or have learned for myself over the years.

Tips are in a loose order of importance, starting with the most important, in my opinion. Green tips are things that should be prepared ahead of time, red are things that should be done as quickly as possible in the moment.

Some basic tips in no particular order to start off:

• In the tips below, I'll mention "emergency numbers" a lot. In general, I'm referring to 911 for any American readers, but other countries might use different numbers. If you ever find yourself in an emergency situation, not specifically just tornadoes, in another country and you don't know that country's emergency number, try the number you know from your own country. Often times, it will still work. Your best bet is to try to learn the number of a country before visiting though.
• If you see a tornado, report it, especially if it looks like it's touched the ground (after getting somewhere safe, of course). Either call a weather channel or an emergency number. If you have a smart phone with internet access, you can also try connecting to weather channels through their own websites. Many use social media as well.
• If you see a tornado and it doesn't seem to be moving, that means it's moving TOWARDS you. It might also be moving away, but it's best just to be cautious and assume it's moving towards you.
• If you're out in public and have a choice of buildings to hide in, DON'T go to a gas station. Go to a gas station if you have no other option, but in general it's a bad idea. There's a risk that a gas line could get damaged, which could cause an explosion, and the roof over the gas pumps can get blown off very easily. A gas station down the street from me actually had its roof blown off in the tornado that touched down a few hours ago.
• Churches are great. Regardless of how you feel about religion or what your religion might be, if you have nowhere to go after a tornado, try to find a church. They'll often allow people to stay in the church as well as provide food and will also give you a chance to help out fellow stranded tornado victims. In the event that you get separated from family members, they also make good meet up places. I'd recommend looking for interfaith churches if you can (churches open to multiple religions that often focus more on the community rather than religious practices), but that's something you should plan ahead of time, not go looking for in the middle of an emergency.

If you hear a siren, get somewhere safe immediately!

The first and most important rule. If you don't have time and have to pick and choose which of these tips you follow, then at the very least make sure this one is your priority. Generally the basement is safest. If you don't have a basement, go to the center of the lowest floor of your house (hallways are good, small rooms away from exterior walls are best) and make sure you're as far away from windows and doors as you can be. The same applies if you're in an apartment with no basement. In case a tornado hits while you're at work/school/church/living in a school dorm etc, make sure you know ahead of time where the safe areas are. In a public place like a mall, stay calm and try to follow any maps you might see leading to a shelter area or ask someone who works there where you should go. If you have trouble doing those things, get to the lowest floor and follow the crowd or try to find a bathroom to hide in (again, away from any exterior walls). ALWAYS USE STAIRS, NEVER ESCALATORS OR ELEVATORS.

• If you're outside, try to get to the nearest building as quickly as you can. If there aren't any around, get away from any trees, go to low ground if possible, lay down on your stomach and cover the back of your head with your arms.
• If you're in a car, again try to get to a building if possible. If you're on open road and you can see the tornado, move in the opposite direction if possible. If it's moving towards you and you can't drive to somewhere safe quickly enough, pull over off of the road so that you won't be blocking traffic (mainly in order to allow emergency vehicles to get through), turn off the car and put it in park, engage the emergency break, climb into the floor of the back seat so that you're laying beneath the level of the windows, and cover yourself with any blankets, coats or anything else you might have in your car. If you don't have anything like that, (and really even if you do) cover the back of your head with your arms.
• If you're in a trailer/RV and can't get to any bigger building safely, grab your mattress, and lay in your bathtub with your mattress covering you. Again, lay on your stomach with your arms covering the back of your head.

If you're cooking when the sirens start, turn off the oven/stove

As mentioned with the gas station tip above, if a tornado hits your house there's a chance that the gas line will be damaged. It's less likely (though still possible) to trigger an explosion in a house, but can still cause a fire if there's an open flame. Any food being cooked might also catch fire if left to burn. Be sure to blow out any candles too, for that matter. Do this as quickly as possible before going to a safe area. After the tornado passes, if there was damage to your house, make sure to check that the gas lines weren't damaged before lighting any flames. Especially if you smell gas, don't take the risk.


Make sure everyone in your house knows where to go/what to do beforehand

This includes adults, children, and even pets. Do tornado drills with family members, especially if there are small children in the house so they know exactly what to do. Repetition is important, so do it regularly. Be sure to decide on meeting places in the event that you get separated from family members. As mentioned above, churches are a good option, but homes of relatives or friends who live nearby, as well as schools, police stations, or fire stations are also very good options. It's a good idea to have multiple meeting places and knowing which to try to go to first, second, third etc just in case one or more of your meeting places has been damaged in the tornado.

Make sure your dogs are trained to get on their leashes quickly, cats are crate trained, and that birds are hand-trained so that you can put them back in their cages quickly if need be. Even if you've trained a bird to be free flying, its best to put it in a cage for its own safety. (Travel cages for birds are especially good if you have one of those, but don't waste time trying to move a bird from one cage to another.) Be sure to always bring pets (and kids too) inside as soon as the weather gets bad, even if it's not during a tornado watch or warning, that way they'll be safe and you'll know where they are. It's also good to know any fears your pets might have. So for instance, make sure if you crate train a cat that you make their crate something they have positive associations with so you won't have to struggle and waste time getting them into their crates. If you only ever use their crates for unpleasant situations, such as when taking them to the vet, they probably won't go in as quickly. If you have a dog that's afraid of storms, make sure to practice getting them on their leash and taking them to a safe area during a less severe storm so they'll be accustomed to it. Keep pets on leashes/in cages while in your safe area to assure they won't wander towards any doors or windows.

As bad as it might sound, be sure to prioritize your own safety. If you need to, leave any pets behind. There are some useful signs that you can buy to put on your house that show what kind of pets and how many live there. If you have signs like those, it will be easier for any rescue workers to find your pets afterwards. If you're really short on time, you might even need to leave family members behind and hope that they know what to do. In this case, let any rescue personnel know who all lives in the house before trying to find them in any of your meeting places. Keeping up-to-date pictures of family members and pets can be useful if you need to ask for help finding them. Try your best to take any small children, especially ones too young to walk on their own, with you. More than anything, this is situation-specific so it's up to you to determine what is safest for you and your family in a specific situation. Try to stay calm, think logically, and not make rash decisions.


Smart phones are your friend, don't disable alerts

Smart phones have a lot of good uses during emergency situations. Use your phone to keep in contact with friends and family members. It's a good idea if you live with multiple people in your home to start a group message ahead of time specifically for emergencies to keep in touch with everyone simultaneously. Earlier today, my phone alerted me to the tornado warning almost a full minute before the sirens started, so make sure you have alerts turned on. Make sure if you're expecting bad weather to keep your phone charged. As soon as you're in a safe place, turn on battery saver and enable location services if you haven't already. If someone gets separated, their phone GPS can come in handy. Phones that connect to the internet can also be used to keep track of the weather so you'll know when it's safe to leave you safe place. Even if you can't afford a fancy phone, you can probably find a prepaid or used one for pretty cheap. Mine is an older model prepaid phone that was being discontinued, so it was on sale and only cost $10.

And, of course, with a phone (any phone, not just smart phones) you can call emergency numbers if needed. If you're ever in trouble, even if you don't have phone service, try to call an emergency number anyway. All phones are required by law to connect to emergency services, even if you haven't paid for phone service. (This is also true for landlines and payphones.) Locked phones also have a button for making emergency calls, so if you find someone's phone and need to call an emergency number, you should still be able to. If you don't have a signal, try to call anyway. For emergency numbers, phones will connect to any phone tower they can find, even ones for a phone company that your phone isn't connected to. So, for example, if you have a phone with Verizon that says there's no service, but there also happens to be an AT&T tower nearby, you should still be able to connect to an emergency number through the AT&T tower. This is especially important to know for tornadoes since cell towers can be damaged during the storm.


Prepare an emergency kit beforehand

For an emergency kit, it's best to use a large backpack that way you can keep your hands free. This is especially important if you need to carry small children. Having one per family member is preferred, but you should always have AT LEAST one. If you're in a house with your own basement, keep food and water stocked up in the basement, but still prepare a backpack kit in case you need to evacuate for any reason. Also be sure to keep one in your car if you're going on a trip. Make sure to include a first aid kit in your bag. For a more extensive list of what should be in a first aid kit, I'd suggest looking that up online, but be sure to at the very minimum have bandages of various types and sizes, sterile gauze for dressing wounds, disinfectant, and pain killers. If anyone in your family is on any sort of vital medication, make sure to keep it all in one place so it can be retrieved and quickly added to the emergency kit on the way out. If possible, keep back up medication in the emergency kit, such as a backup inhaler for people with asthma or epi-pens for people will severe allergies.

Aside from your first aid kit, prioritize water (and powdered baby formula if you have a baby in your family) above everything else; you'll sooner die of dehydration than you will of starvation. Canned food is best since it won't spoil very easily and is usually precooked or doesn't require cooking, just make sure you also have a small, non-electric can opener. An adult should ingest a minimum of 1200 calories of food a day, so use that to plan for at least a few days to a week, but you can ration it even further below that minimum if you need to. Having a sturdy utility knife may also come in handy. Keep a flashlight in case of power outages; I have a handy emergency flashlight that can be set to flash an SOS signal. Emergency flares and matches (both preferably the water proof variety) can also be useful. I would also suggest a spare charger or two for your phone since your phone is important and the chargers don't take up much space. If you have an old phone that still works but isn't connected to any service, I'd recommend keeping that in your emergency kit too since it should still work for making emergency calls. Just be sure to remove the battery if you can (keeping it with the phone) so it won't corrode. The same applies for any other electronics that will be kept primarily inside of your emergency kit.


If you live in an apartment building/dorm etc, knock on doors on your way to a safe place

Sirens go off for a bunch of different reasons and a lot of people are stupid have the mentality of "well, nothing bad could possibly happen to me" so doing this will ensure they know it's a real emergency. Do this even if you think no one is home, but don't go out of your way to do this if you don't have time. Only knock on the doors you pass by on your way to the safe area, don't go out of your way. Don't wait for anyone to come out, just knock as loudly as you can, shout something to the effect of "TORNADO!" and then leave. Knock if you can because they'll be more likely to hear, but if you have your hands full and can't knock, just shout. Putting things down will take too much time. If there are a lot of doors to knock on between you and your safe place and knocking will take too much time, try to knock on every other door, just shouting, or skip doing this all together.


If someone gets badly injured, don't try to move them

This is true in any situation, but in this instance I mean specifically if someone gets buried under rubble, falls down stairs, or any other injuries (specifically head, neck, or back/spine injuries) that can happen as a result of a tornado. Moving someone who is badly injured can be fatal depending on where the injury is. It's best to leave them as they are and try to call for help. As an exception to the rule, if they're injured while heading towards the safe place, you may need to choose between moving them or leaving them. Again, this is situation-specific and you should make that call on your own based on your own specific circumstances, but be sure to prioritize your own safety. In the event that you do need to leave someone behind, tell emergency/rescue personnel as soon as you possibly can.

 

I added one more under "get to a safe area" for anyone who might be in a trailer/RV. I can't believe I forgot that one; that actually saved the life of the teacher who told me about it back in the 6th grade.