- Pick a place where family members can gather if a tornado is headed your way. Make sure everyone knows where to go.
- Assemble a Disaster Supplies kit containing:
- First aid kit
- Canned food and can opener
- Battery-powered radio and flashlights ,extra batteries
- At least 3 gallons of water
- Protective clothing
- Sleeping bags or blankets and pillows
- Special items when infants, elderly or disabled family members seek shelter
- Written instructions on how to turn off electricity, gas, and water if authorities advise you to do so
- Flashlights or glow sticks for light in your shelter
Conduct periodic tornado drills so everyone remembers what to do when a tornado is approaching.
WHEN A TORNADO watch IS ISSUED—
- Listen to Local radio and tv stations for further updates.
- Be alert to changing weather conditions. Blowing debris or the sound of approaching tornado may alert you. Many people say it sounds like a freight train.
WHEN A TORNADO warning IS ISSUED—
- If you are inside, go to the safe place you picked to protect yourself from glass and other flying objects. The tornado may be approaching your area.
- If you are outside, hurry to the basement of a nearby sturdy building or lie flat in a ditch or low-lying area.
- If you are in car or mobile home, get out immediately and head for safety (above).
TORNADO WARNING SIGNS:
- A sickly greenish or greenish black color to the sky
- If there is a tornado warning or watch posted, then the fall of hail should be considered as a real danger.
- A strange quiet that occurs within or shortly after the thunderstorm.
- Clouds moving by very fast. Especially in a rotating pattern or converging toward one area in the sky.
- A sound a little like a waterfall or rushing air at first, then turning into a roar as it comes closer.
- If you see a tornado and it is not moving to the right or to the left relative to trees or power poles, it may be moving towards you.
- Tornados usually move from the southwest to northeast.
TORNADO FACTS
- A Tornado is only a tornado if it’s in contact with the ground. Otherwise, it’s a funnel.
- Tornados can be nearly invisible, marked only by swirling debris at the base of the funnel.
- Close to 1,000 tornados, are reported every year in the United States.
- Most, but not all, tornados in the northern hemisphere spin counter-clockwise, or cyclonically.
- Leave the windows alone when a tornado is coming. It’s a myth that tornados causes houses to explode due to changes of air pressure.
- Tornados strike with incredible velocity. Wind speeds may approach 300 miles per hour.
- Oklahoma City has been hit by more tornados than any other city in the U.S. based on current tornado information.
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