Caution: Summer Does Not Mean the End of Severe Weather!
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Each year more than 1,000 tornadoes touch down in the United States and lightening strikes the earth some 20 million times. In fact lightening is actually more prevalent during summer storms.
In order to protect yourself from lightening there are a few rules that you should follow.
- Take shelter in a sturdy building.
- Unplug appliances and do not use the phone.
- Do not take a bath or a shower.
- If you are caught outside, with no shelter, stay away from tall objects like trees, power lines, and flagpoles.
- Stay away from natural lightening rods like fishing poles, camping gear, bicycles, tractors, and golf clubs.
- If there is absolutely no shelter nearby, get into a car and roll up the windows.
- If you are in the woods, get under a low clump of trees and squat down on the balls of your feet. Put your hands on your knees and your head between your knees.
- If you are boating or swimming, get out of the water and go into a sturdy shelter immediately.
Listen for information on the lightening storm has passed.
In order to protect yourself from a tornado here a list of precautions to take:
- Listen for watches and warnings.
- A watch is issued when conditions are right for a tornado to develop.
- A warning is issued when a tornado is spotted.
- Take shelter immediately when a warning is issued.
- The shelter should be on the lowest floor of your home or business.
- You can take shelter in your basement.
- Whichever one you are able to use find the most interior room, without any windows and get under a sturdy piece of furniture.
- ***If you are in a mobile home or in a car go outside.
- Lie flat in a ditch and cover your head with your arms.
- If you are outside and there is no shelter
- Lie flat in a ditch and cover your head with your arms.
- Tornadoes can be accompanied by flash flooding so watch carefully for rising water levels.
According to the National Weather Service, floods and flash floods cause more deaths in the United States than any other weather related incident – approximately 140 deaths each year. When floods or flash floods are imminent emergency response leaders may ask you to evaluate your home. Follow their instructions promptly, using a designated evacuation route.
In case of a flood, do not drive your vehicle through flooded areas since most deaths in these situations occur to people attempting to drive through an area that is deeper than they anticipated. Floodwaters hide road damage thus making it possible for as little as two feet of water to sweep your car off the road.
If you are outside when flooding occurs move to higher ground immediately. Also, do not try to walk through flooded areas that are more than ankle deep and do not allow children to play around swollen streams, drainage ditches, or viaducts.
While severe weather conditions are a fact of life, you should be safe if you follow these basic safety precautions.
(Information is from the Christian County Health Department, Ozark, MO)
[tags]severe weather, protecting against severe weather, tornado precautions, lightening, tornadoes, flash floods, flooding, Christian County, safety precautions[/tags]
7 Comments
University Update - Firefox - Caution: Summer Does Not Mean the End of Severe Weather!!!
July 13th, 2007
at 7:59am
[...] YouTube Link to Article firefox Caution: Summer Does Not Mean the End of Severe Weather!!! » Posted at Reflections by J. Schenone on Friday, July 13, 2007 [ Author Avatar] Each year more than 1,000 tornadoes touch down in the United States and lightening strikes the earth some 20 million times. In fact lightening is actually more prevalent during summer storms. In order to protect yourself from lightening there are a few rules that you should follow. Take shelter in a sturdy building View Entire Article » [...]
marc klink
July 13th, 2007
at 8:30am
One of the best things a person can do when in the Midwest [tornado alley] or anywhere else Mother Nature conspires against us is to obtain a radio capable of getting the NOAA reports.
Radio Shack sold them during my tenure there [1998-2003], but I’m no longer sure. Still, a little looking is worth it.
reflections
July 13th, 2007
at 9:05am
Dear Marc.
You are right again. Weather radio’s are invaluable but surprisingly few people here use them. One of the reasons that I have been given is that can make it difficult to sleep at night. Apparently, the radio goes off whenever there is a condition that might require action but is not selective as to your area. For example, there is a flash flood warning for a neighboring county. You are not in danger but will be subjected to the radio’s alert.
In MO, however, these radio’s are now mandatory for new mobile homes since as we all know - God hates mobile homes. I am glad that they have them though as it appears that many of the tragedies that occur during foul weather is connected with person’s living in these types of residences.
We are fortunate in that our home is all brick and while just east of tornado alley we have had only one major warning in the last year. In that instance we had an hour’s prior notice and thus plenty of time to drive the two blocks to the nearest shelter. If we hadn’t had the time, however, I would have felt relatively safe in our interior bathroom since it has no windows and a large tub.
Ron, says that you have some interesting postings on your site. I need to take a look.
Just for fun: I have a solution that I found on the internet on how to deal with the levies in New Orleans, the illegal immigration problem and the alligator problems in Florida.
First dig a huge canal on the Mexico/U.S. border. Then import the extra alligators from Florida and place them in the canal. Lastly take the extra dirt from the canal and shore up the levies in New Orleans. How do you like that for a solution.
Have a good day. Jackie
the oracle
July 13th, 2007
at 11:04am
Works for me!
I grew up in a military house, as my step-dad was a Nike-Hercules missile engineer in the Army. We lived in Grafton, Illinois, 300 ft from the banks of the Mississippi for 2 years. Because we were moving a lot, my parents bought a 12×60 mobile home. Where it was located, a tornado came and removed the 2 trees, in our front yard , and 2 weeks later another came and removed the only tree in our back yard. My bicycle was picked up and moved about 200 ft, and suffered a bent rim. The trailer was untouched, and so were we. It is one of the things I’ll never forget [unless I get Alzheimer's].
marc klink
July 13th, 2007
at 11:10am
Jackie, check your spam filter, I think somehow when I answed it went there. It went somewhere because when I tried to submit it again, it detected it as a dupe.
Hope the weather is nicer there than here!
reflections
July 13th, 2007
at 12:39pm
Dear Marc
Ron says our systems are not working correctly right now but that he will be working on it. Sorry for the problem.
Our weather has been stormy but not too hot which is nice.
Take care - Jackie
Eric
August 23rd, 2007
at 1:32am
Eric…
I realy enjoyed reading this site, i needed some info on this subject for my new study and your post helped me out a lot thank you for that …