Tornadoes
have caused severe and irreparable damage to tens of thousands of Americans and
their property in recent years. On top of the physical and emotional fallout, many
have also lost their lives as a direct result of a tornado.
Although
you can never control the weather or the outcome of a destructive storm, there
are steps you can take to help you and your family remain protected in the
event of a tornado. Those steps of action begin with knowing fact from myth.
Here
are a few tornado truths that could help keep you and those you love safe:
When
indoors, shut all windows and doors.
Do not leave them open in an attempt to follow the mythical need to “pressurize”
your home because the result would more likely be debris flying through the window
and causing severe harm, or wind pressure working to lift the roof off the
house from the inside.
If
you are inside your home or other structure, retreat to the
lowest level (a basement is ideal) or the room closest to the middle of the
home or farthest from windows and doors. Do not seek a “corner” of the
structure for your retreat; instead, go to the center-most point, away from
windows and anything heavy that could fall on your head.
If
you’re outdoors, find the lowest
spot, such as a ditch or dry river bed, and lie flat on your stomach, covering
the back of your head with your hands. Do not follow the myth of seeking shelter
underneath a bridge or overpass because it could collapse on top of you or
large debris and winds could come rushing underneath and potentially sweep you
up into the tornado itself.
If
you are in a vehicle, abandon the
vehicle and try to find shelter in a structure or outdoors in a low place where
you should lay stomach-down and cover the back of your head with your hands. Most
importantly, do not attempt to drive away from the storm unless it’s very
obviously far away and moving in the opposite direction.
Do
not take shelter near a road or foothill and expect the tornado to miss you. Some
myths say that tornadoes will reverse their directions when nearing a road or
foothill, but a tornado doesn’t discriminate and will keep on its path.
Keep
head gear handy. Head protection can be the number-one most important factor in
remaining protected from flying debris—indoors or outdoors—so know where bike,
football, batting, boxing and other helmets are in the house, and make them
easily accessible.
At Fey Insurance we want to help you know
the tornado truths that will help keep you and your family safe. For more tornado
safety tips, visit the Storm Prediction Center’s comprehensive guide at http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/safety.html.
