Tornado Facts and Safety

Tornado Season is fast approaching us here in Kansas as well as other parts of the US. Here are some Tornado facts and tips to help you and your loved ones stay safe and informed.

Tornadoes have no trouble at all forming, especially when the conditions are right. “Tornado season” is usually during the months of March through August, although they may also occur at different times of the year. They also tend to occur in the afternoons or in the evenings, one year a tornado went right over our house 5 minutes after midnight. Wind velocity will average much above 40mph and can reach more than 300mph.

A tornado normally lasts about five minutes (although some last longer), but it can touch down several times in different areas. It can leave a path of destruction that can be as wide as 400 yards or more. The strongest ones can leave a swath as wide as a mile.

When there is a storm, turn your TV or radio on to a weather station. Authorities try to prepare people by issuing a tornado watch and a tornado warning. A tornado watch is issued when there is a possibility of a tornado. A warning is issued if there is an actual tornado. If you are in a tornado-prone area, make sure you have an emergency stock of water, food, clothing and medicine. If there is time: Shut off power and gas.

Don’t forget a flashlight, never light a candle if your home has been damaged by the tornado!

Heed the warning. Don’t try to stick around during a tornado to film it and try to send it to the Most Amazing Videos program or your local news station, it’s simply not worth the risk.

Don’t waste time. If you live in a mobile home, get to a shelter right away. Plan ahead on where you will go to seek shelter instead of waiting until one actually hits.

The tornado won’t wait for you to decide what to do and where you are going to go. Sometimes you only have minutes, even seconds, to spare.

If you are inside the house, go to the lowest part, away from ground surface, like the basement or cellar. The bath tub or acloset in the innermost part of the house will do if you have no basement. Cover yourself with a blanket or mattress. If you are outside, find a culvert or an open ditch. Tornados usually pick up anything that is above ground, including cars. If you are inside a vehicle, don’t think you can use it to get away. Get out and find a culvert or ditch.

The best way to survive a tornado is to try to remain calm so that you can think very clearly. Also use your common sense and heed the warnings!

Tornado Myth/Fact

Myth: Areas near rivers, lakes, and mountains are safe from tornadoes.
Fact: No place is safe from tornadoes. In the late 1980’s, a tornado swept through Yellowstone National Park leaving a path of destruction up and down a 10,000 ft. mountain.

Myth: The low pressure with a tornado causes buildings to “explode” as the tornado passes overhead.
Fact: Violent winds and debris slamming into buildings cause most structural damage.

Myth: Windows should be opened before a tornado approaches to equalize pressure and minimize damage.
Fact: Opening windows allows damaging winds to enter the structure. Leave the windows alone; instead, immediately go to a safe place.

Myth: Highway overpasses are a safe place to shelter if you are on the road when you see a tornado coming.
Fact: The truth is, any time you deliberately put yourself above ground level during a tornado, you are putting yourself in harms way. The best place is to lie flat in a ditch.

Myth: Tornadoes never strike big cities.
Fact: The downtown areas of “big cities” have had tornadoes on occasion. This past spring, a tornado passed through Miami before it moved out to sea, disproving the idea that they can’t form in cities. Also, Salt Lake City had a tornado run through the downtown causing thousands of dollars in damage.

Myth: The southwest corner of a basement is the safest location during passage of a tornado.
Fact: The truth is that the part of the home towards the approaching tornado (often, but not always, the southwest) is the least safe part of the basement, not the safest. Homes that are attacked from the southwest tend to shift to the northeast. The unsupported part of the house may then collapse into the basement or pull over part of the foundation, or both.

Tornado Safety Tips Recap

• In a home or building, move to a predesignated shelter, such as a basement.
• If an underground shelter is not available, move to an interior room or hallway on the lowest floor and get under a sturdy piece of furniture.
• Stay away from windows.
• Get out of automobiles.
• Do not try to outrun a tornado in your car; instead, leave it immediately.
• Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes and should be abandoned.

Occasionally, tornadoes develop so rapidly that advance warning is not possible. Remain alert for signs of an approaching tornado. Flying debris from tornadoes causes the most deaths and injuries.

Glenda Lives in Kansas

by Glenda Mills