Method 3. Pay attention to tornado watches and warnings. A tornado watch means that there is a threat of tornadoes within your area and that you should keep an eye on the news.
A tornado warning is much more serious. Tornado warnings mean that a sign of rotation has been detected and that you should take immediate action depending on the tornado's location and its predicted track. Whenever you see a tornado warning, get to cover immediately.
Craft an emergency plan in your house. Make a plan for where to go during a tornado. Have this plan in place and practiced before you need it. Everyone you live with should know exactly which room of the house to go to in the event of a tornado. Make sure that this room is stocked with all necessary provisions. Note the places in each room where you should seek cover if you cannot escape, like under tables or cabinets.
Are there any places where you would be trapped or in extra danger, such as upstairs rooms? Are there ways to make them safe, such as stashing a cheap rope ladder? Do you have first aid kits, crowbars, fire extinguishers or other special equipment around the house that people should know how to find? Put together a tornado emergency kit. Stash the kit in your safe room. This should contain all the basics for survival in the worst-case scenario, and can be used as a general emergency kit for most natural disasters.
First-Aid Gauze, antibiotic wipes, pain relievers, bandages, broad-spectrum antibiotic, necessary prescriptions, adhesive tape, diarrhea medicine, bar of soap Food and Water 1 gallon 4 liters for each person in house, canned goods, cracker packs, and other non-perishables General Scissors, writing materials, flashlights, battery-operated radio, extra batteries, pocket knife, plastic bags, needle and thread [10] X Research source.
Learn how to turn off the gas in your house. Major disasters can crack gas pipes and lead to incredibly dangerous leaks. If you smell gas, you need to be able to immediately switch off the utilities to protect you and your house from flammable gasses. Call your gas provider if you have any questions.
Clean your lawn of potentially dangerous debris. Keeping your lawn clean is about more than looks. Dead branches, decorations, and lawn chairs will be whipped at hundreds of miles an hour in the event of a tornado, which can turn into a serious hazard.
To keep your property safe during a tornado, take the following precautions: [11] X Research source Cut away dead or damaged tree branches that could be ripped off in high winds. Tie down or secure lawn furniture.
If you are unable to, consider moving heavier pieces indoors, but only if you have time. Keep your lawn free of anything that could turn into a weapon when picked up by a tornado, such as glass gazing balls. Consider building a tornado shelter. This is very wise if you live in a high-risk area. If tornadoes are a regular part of your local weather, buying or building a shelter is well-worth the cost.
You will see odd things happening with clouds. They appear to be combining together to make a tornado. Next, you will see the clouds start landing right to the ground, in a funnel formation.
If these two conditions are met, then you know a tornado is coming. If you see a tornado touching down, get shelter immediately. Not Helpful 26 Helpful Put an ID tag on your pet's neck and have it micro-chipped as well. This will allow anyone who might find your pet for any reason it might get lost, that you're the person to return the pet to. In preparation for your safety before a tornado, call your pet early if you can't find it and make it a priority to keep looking regularly until you find it.
As soon as you do, place it in its carry cage and keep it there, with some food and a blanket or towel. If it needs the bathroom, either provide a litter tray in an enclosed area or on a leash, so that you can return it to the cage immediately after. As soon as you get any inkling a tornado is coming, prepare to evacuate pets along with yourself well ahead of time.
Not Helpful 29 Helpful Most tornadoes form during thunderstorms. You need warm moist air from the Gulf Of Mexico and cool dry air from Canada. When they meet they create instability in the atmosphere. Not Helpful 23 Helpful Make some noise periodically. If you have some flash lights, shine them periodically at night if you think it is visible outside do not use a candle, as it may start a fire.
Find a screwdriver and start dismantling the door. It is best to keep a few cans of air-horns and earplugs in your bunker for this reason. Use a cellphone, if you have a working one, to call or your local emergency number. If your phone works, use the light from the screen or the flashlight function. Do not use a match or lighter for illumination in case of a gas leak.
Not Helpful 22 Helpful Every home is different - there is no absolute safe place in every home. Use the guidelines. Freak accidents can happen. The basic tornado safety guidelines apply if you live in an apartment. Get to the lowest floor, with as many walls between you and the outside as possible.
Apartment dwellers should have a plan, particularly if you live on the upper floors. If your complex does not have a reinforced shelter, you should make arrangements to get to an apartment on the lowest floor possible.
In some cases, the apartment clubhouse or laundry room may be used as a shelter, provided the basic safety guidelines are followed. You need to have a shelter area that's accessible at all times of the day or night.
This is why tornado safety plans are so crucial for residents of mobile homes! Pictured below is a destroyed mobile home southeast of Wewoka from a tornado in This is an example of what an EF-1 tornado can do to a mobile home.
Mobile homes are especially susceptible to high winds from severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Mobile homes cannot stand up to even a weak tornado, and you should make plans BEFORE the storm arrives to get to a safe shelter. Due to the potentially short amount of time between a warning and the arrival of a tornado, people should consider executing their safety plans when a tornado watch is issued- Do not wait for the tornado warning!
Taking cover under sturdy furniture, in a bathtub or closet or under a mattress will be meaningless in a mobile home if the home itself is destroyed, blown over, or rolled over by tornado or severe thunderstorm winds.
Get out of mobile homes and find a more substantial shelter as quickly as possible. In the later part of March , I was on spring break and home by myself that whole week. For 3 days before the tornado, it was incredibly windy but sunny out.
My dog would just stand in the yard and howl for hours those entire 3 days as well as acting off in other ways. As a side note I had never seen her act like that before or after that time period. On the evening of that third day, we were eating supper and starting cleanup when the tornado sirens went off. We all were surprised considering it was still sunny out. Mom turned on the radio and sure enough a tornado was on the ground headed our way.
Now in Oklahoma when I was a kid, if the sirens went off you went outside first to try and get a look before taking shelter.
So we all went out front and encountered multiple neighbors and their children doing the same. It was almost like a block party with all the excitement. Suddenly my friend's dad turned with a look of absolute terror and started screaming "get inside, good God get inside now! I will never forget the look on his face and the fear in his voice. I was 7 and knew it must be serious. We didn't have a basement so we all got in the interior hallway with blankets and pillows on top of me mostly and waited.
I thought it was over but then my dad said, "Here it comes get ready. It sounded more like a jet engine sound than a train approaching. I've never felt a house shake and shudder like that and the sound of dirt, debris, whatever else raking the house was unearthly almost.
During the worst of it, my parents who weren't incredibly religious started saying the Lord's prayer and telling each other and me, "I love you no matter what" over and over. To this day I tear up realizing they thought we might not make it that day. Finally it was over and we stepped outside to survey the scene. Apparently the tornado was skipping thru town rather than taking a continuous path and jumped right over my street but destroyed houses and businesses just blocks in either direction.
Our street was littered with paper, siding, tree limbs, etc. Two streets down though people were not so lucky. In the frenzy of taking cover, we forgot about my dog in the backyard. I flipped when she wasn't out there after the storm.
We were calling her but no response when suddenly she comes out from under the shed concrete slab all wet and muddy. She had burrowed under that concrete slab to take cover. She went on to live a good dog life and died of old age. I was living in Lancing TN on a farm in a mobile home. The weather channel was calling for some rough weather so my mum, dad, brother and I went to my aunt and uncle's house not far from us because they had a basement and phoned us asking us to come over just in case.
I remember being in the living room with several family members, aunts and cousins. My cousin said her friend's house was just hit.. I remember it getting very dark really quickly. My nana, who unfortunately would be in another massive tornado in Mossy Grove, TN, several years later, was terrified of storms.
My dad and my uncles yelled from the front porch to get into the basement because the tornado was "coming over the mountain. I remember my adrenaline even as a child being just through the roof. We started the journey to the basement and upon getting down the stairs, saw the basement was completely flooded except for one small spot in the far corner that was on a hill.
We had to basically swim to safety. Except I couldn't swim so my mum lifted me up and carried me. We were all piled into this corner of the basement just freaking out while my Nana was praying in a language I didn't understand. There was one small dusty window right across from us ground level and I saw the tornado almost as if it were framed like a picture coming towards us. You could see the roof of the lady down the street just spinning in the tornado and I really thought we would all die.
My dad and uncles were still on the front porch watching it like the cowboys they were, which I would never advise. This was the 90s before camera phones were a thing. The tornado tracked closer and the praying got louder. I expected to hear a train like sound but it sounded more like a fighter jet that was very angry. Somehow, some way it "jumped" our house and continued on for a short time behind us. We thought we were in the clear but the night had just begun.
I think it was pure fear that caused my uncle to have a heart attack on the porch that day. We took off to the hospital while warnings were still being handed out like parking tickets. That was the scariest drive ever. I remember looking out the window expecting to see another tornado any minute. Thankfully we made it safely and spent part of the night at the hospital. My uncle was there for days but he was released and is still going strong today.
The skies were so blue all day but I had a pit in my stomach when I seen the black clouds off in the distance. Poor Nana was at church that night along with a bunch of other family and my cousin Linda got up with her newborn to get a drink from the water fountain near the entrance.
She looked up and saw the huge tornado coming across the parking lot. She ran and dove into the pews while the tornado moved and twisted the church off its foundation. Most of the congregation dove to the corner. That corner of the church was still there after it was over. We lost lives that night and in such a small county we felt every single loss, especially the small baby who didn't even get to start her life.
Her papa was trying to rush her to safety from the mobile home they were in. Ironically, their mobile home wasn't touched but their truck was and both of them perished together. That town still bares the scars and the fear. All of us do really. I was once told we couldn't be hit by tornadoes because of the mountains. What a foolish thing to say, especially since Mossy Grove almost got hit again later but the skies showed mercy that day and settled down almost as if it took pity on us and our non-Walmart or McDonalds town.
Lightening can and it will strike twice, three, four times in the same spot. The sad thing is most of us still aren't really prepared for another one. I'm working on a plan. That is the best thing to have here in Dixie Alley because the storms are getting worse. The April outbreak was a nightmare and I got stuck in a Food City that was about to close while there was another tornado warning for where I was.
I was so froze in fear so my father drove to me just to let me follow him home. His truck was struck by lightening on his way. Anyway, stay prepared people and most importantly stay informed. I listen to the Weather Channel and am grateful. My 6 year old son is a meteorologist in the making.
He loves weather as I do and can tell you how any storm happens, hurricanes.. In April , we had already been hammered by tornadoes. It was extremely odd to see paper debris from Alabama falling from the skies in TN.
Even canned goods! Where I was working the hail was prominent but only pea sized. I have never seen so much hail fall for so long. This went on for like 10 minutes. It was a rainstorm of hail and the wind was up. We were all just standing there watching it. It was close to go quitting time. As I drove home, the closer I got, the worse things looked. Trees were completely stripped of their leaves. Cars were parked on the side of the road with busted windshields.
My house is white. When I pulled in the driveway, my house was green! Even then, hailstones as big as a chicken egg were all over the yard and driveway. All the mailboxes had been sucked open and the mail was laying in the middle of the road. Power lines were down. My power line was ripped loose. The actual hail looked like it was grapefruit sized and went on just as long as the storm across town. About 10 minutes.
I was very thankful that I had closed my swimming pool the weekend prior to that. Tons of debris in the cover. Things started to happen pretty quickly after that. My neighbor came running and wanted to know if I had damage.
They had been sitting on their porch and saw the funnel and ran. No warnings were out that day. Storms pop up so quickly, you have to be a good watchful person. My cell phone rang and my parents had been coming back to town right about where the storm began. They said they could see a black cloud approaching them fast and then the hail hit. It busted out their windshields and the car got picked up and thrown in a ditch. Everybody in town had to have a new roof.
Roofing companies from every state in the union set up temporary camp here in town. Adjustors set up tents in the mall parking lot for you to drive your car into to assess damage assembly-line style. Roofing companies were going door to door. It immediately turned winter cold after that storm, too cold to get out and look around. I had to have new roofing on the house and all the outbuildings. The screens were pulled up out of the frames in the windows. Some of the vinyl siding had holes.
The dryer vent had been shattered. A plastic bucket full of sand for the swimming pool steps had been shattered. The kicker was taking the cover off the pool and the plastic side rails looked like swiss cheese!
The holes were all about inches in diameter. It took about 2 years or so to get all the roofing jobs done in town. With hail that large and coming down that hard it killed cattle. It just beat everything to smithereens. It was spring, My baby was asleep in a west-facing bedroom, Mom and Dad had gone shopping, and I thought the storm clouds in the west looked like they might bring hail.
I went out to cover the baby vegetable plants in my mother's garden, on the hillside about yards south of the house. Every time I glanced at the storm I was alarmed by how much bigger it had become and how quickly it was approaching.
With the last of the vegetables covered, I stood on the hillside wondering why there was so much noise coming from the entire western sky Then I saw the reason for the buzz-saw noise. The storm was raging up the hill, from the southwest corner of my parents' 5 acre lot, directly toward me. Its leading edge was as well-defined as a wall. The hail within it was chomping up the branches of shrub oak and Ponderosa pine, mixing them with blasted up dirt and grass, and spewing them out like missiles.
I ran for the house and my baby. As I tore into the house through the west door of the sun porch, and reflexively slammed the door closed behind me, the hail chewed into the screen door, and the wood above me. Pulverized ice and torn screen from the door whooshed down on my heels and icy fog rebounded with a force that blew my hair straight up. As I tore through the porch, into the house and north, down the hall, the windows along the west wall exploded, one by one, to my left and just a fraction of a second behind me.
I ran to my son, yanked him with a one-handed grab from his crib just an instant before the window exploded, and wrapping him into my arms I scurried down to the basement and into the root cellar.
The lights didn't work. As my eyes grew accustomed to the dark I tried to see my baby's face clearly enough to look for injuries. I felt him all over for glass. There wasn't any. Then I realized he was crying- probably shrieking- and I couldn't hear him over the noise of the storm: roaring wind, pounding hail and constant, overlapping blasts and rumbles of lightning. To protect yourself and your family from harm during a tornado, pay close attention to changing weather conditions in your area.
If you know thunderstorms are expected, stay tuned to local radio and TV stations or an NOAA weather radio for further weather information. Some tornadoes strike rapidly without time for a tornado warning. The following weather signs may mean that a tornado is approaching:. If you notice any of these conditions, take cover immediately, and keep tuned to local radio and TV stations or to a NOAA weather radio or check the internet. Falling and flying debris causes most deaths and injuries during a tornado.
Although there is no completely safe place during a tornado, some locations are much safer than others. If you are outside or in a mobile home, find a nearby building preferably with a basement. If you are in a car, do not try to outrun a tornado but instead find the nearest sturdy building. Prepare your home and family for the possibility of a tornado.
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