Students completed a tornado drill Friday in preparation for the upcoming tornado season. Along with preparing for tornado situations at school, students must also know what to do in case of a tornado in any location. Some tips from the Storm Prediction Center are listed below.
-If you have a basement in your home, avoid windows and get in the basement under a sturdy piece of furniture, or cover yourself with a mattress or sleeping bag. Try not to be directly under a heavy object on the floor above. Heavy objects call fall through weakened floors.
-If you do not have a basement in your home or live in an apartment, avoid windows and go to the lowest possible floor or to a central room or hallway with no windows. If you are in a bathroom, lie down in the bathtub and cover yourself with a mattress. If you are in an interior room or hallway, crouch down, cover your head with your hands, and try to find a mattress or blanket to cover yourself with.
-If you are in a mobile home, get out of it. Run to the nearest tornado shelter or sturdy building. If you have to, lie flat on the ground away from your home and vehicles with your head covered and a blanket over you.
-If you are in a car, get out. Vehicles are extremely dangerous in a tornado. Park wherever you can and run to the nearest sturdy building. If there are no buildings nearby, lie face down on the ground and cover your head. DO NOT SEEK SHELTER UNDER BRIDGES.
-At school, always follow the drill and keep the back of your head covered.
-As a preventative measure, always keep some sort of protective covering in the rooms you will be sheltering in during a tornado. Keep food, water, a flashlight and a battery powered radio with you in a shelter.
-Know the signs of a tornado. If you see rotation in a cloud base, whirling dust or debris on the ground under a cloud base or persistent lowering from a cloud base, or hear a loud, constant sound that is not thunder, there may be a tornado.
For more information, visit the Tornado Safety article from the Storm Prediction Center: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/safety.html
