You can prepare for the possibility of a tornado by learning the safest places to seek shelter at home, work, school, or
outdoors and while traveling.
In homes and small buildings: Move to a pre-designated 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 and outside walls.
For information on building a safe room inside your house visit the Federal
Emergency Management Agency's "Taking
Shelter From the Storm: Building a Safe Room Inside Your House."
In schools, nursing homes, hospitals, factories, motels and shopping centers: Move to pre-designated shelter areas. Interior hallways and rooms on the lowest floor are usually best. Avoid areas with wide, free-span roofs. Stay away from
windows and outside walls.
Mobile Homes: Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer no protection from tornadoes and should be abandoned.
Outdoors: Seek shelter in a sturdy, well-constructed building.
While
Traveling: DO NOT TAKE SHELTER UNDER OVERPASSES
A dangerous trend has emerged in recent years among people in the
path of approaching tornadoes while traveling in a car. Many of those in
the path of a tornado are abandoning cars and seeking shelter under
highway overpasses, apparently believing this will increase their safety
from the storm. The idea that overpasses offer increased safety probably
received an additional boost in 1991, when a television news crew rode
out a weak tornado under an overpass along the Kansas Turnpike. The
resulting video was seen by millions, and appears to have fostered the
idea that overpasses are preferred sources of shelter, and should be
sought out by those in the path of a tornado.
In the Oklahoma City area on May 3rd, 1999, at least one
person was killed by a violent tornado while seeking shelter under an
overpass. Eyewitness accounts from others in the area indicated that
roads were blocked at times as people stopped cars to run up into the
small crevices under an overpass. Not only is the overpass unsafe as a
shelter, blocking roads denies others the chance to get out of the
storm's path!
In reality, an overpass in the direct path of a tornado is a
dangerous place to be. Airborne debris can easily be blown into and
under the overpass where people might try to seek shelter. In the 1991
Kansas Turnpike video, the tornado was relatively weak when it passed
near the overpass. A stronger tornado striking the overpass directly
would likely have caused serious injury to those attempting to find
shelter there.
The safest course of action when a tornado approaches is to get out
of the tornado's path by driving at a right angle away from the tornado,
or to seek shelter in a sturdy, well-constructed building. Overpasses
offer no protection from a direct hit from a tornado, and should not be
used as shelter. If there is no time and no nearby shelter lie
flat in a ditch or depression and use your hands to protect your head.
After, the storm has passed...
Check for injured or trapped persons. Give first aid when appropriate. Don't try to move the seriously injured unless they are in immediate danger of further injury.
Call for help. Turn on radio or television to get the latest emergency information. Use the telephone only for emergency calls.
©, Copyright, 2006 Sedgwick County Emergency Management.
last update:
06/11/08
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