The Practical Prepper

Growing up in the Midwest, tornadoes have been a risk every year of my life. They are violent, destructive forces, as many people discover every year. I'm very grateful that I've never had to deal with the devastation that even a medium-strength tornado can cause. Nevertheless, I learned while very young how to prepare for, and react during, a tornado.

Preparing for Tornado Season

Of course, our foundation for preparing for tornadoes is the same basic preparedness for most catastrophes (e.g., we have an emergency kit, a family communications plan, etc.). Other things we do specifically for tornadoes include:

• We regularly check our trees for dead, damaged, or diseased limbs and remove them whenever necessary. We also monitor our neighbors' trees and discuss any potential problems with them. 
• Our lawn furniture, trash cans, etc. are kept secured during tornado season. Whenever there's a tornado watch, we move hanging plants or anything else that can be easily picked up by the wind into our garage or house. 
• We've identified the safest areas of our house and have that established as our shelter in a tornado warning. As a kid, we had a basement, which is preferable. We don't currently have a basement, but we have a interior bathroom with a central supporting wall and no windows, which is a fairly secure area. 
• We know how the local siren blares to indicate a tornado and listen for it. 
• On stormy days, especially in tornado season, we listen to local news to stay informed about developing weather situations and their effects, and to hear any instructions given by local emergency management officials.

Have a Weather Radio

In addition to the local community and television alerts, we also keep a NOAA Weather Radio on and monitoring for the severest weather. The Midland weather radio that we have allows us to select which kind of alerts we want to hear. For instance, we want to hear about tornado watches and warnings, but we suppress the alerts about thunderstorm watches and warnings. We do that so that we only get woken up at night by life-threatening events, not every time there's an update about a rainstorm. Since tornadoes most generally travel from the southwest toward the northeast, we program our radio to monitor the counties to the south and east of us.

Of course, I've made sure the entire family understands the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning:

• Tornado Watch: Tornadoes are possible in and around the areas specified. We consider our situation, check our supplies, and take care of anything outside that needs to be secured. In short we're on alert and ready to act quickly if and when a warning is issued or we see any of the tornado warning signs. 
• Tornado Warning: When this is issued, a funnel cloud (tornado) has been sighted or indicated by weather radar. Often, the tornado is just minutes away, and present an immediate threat to our lives and property. When we're home, we immediately go into our safe area, being sure to take out pets too. Our weather radio is nearby, and we keep a portable, battery-powered radio in our shelter area.

Knowing the Warning Signs of a Tornado

As mentioned above, we do watch the skies for the following danger signs, which either precede or are associated with tornadoes:

• A dark, often greenish sky
• Large hail
• A funnel cloud, which is the visible, rotating extension of the cloud base
• A "wall" cloud, which is a large, dark, low-lying cloud, or an isolated lowering of the base of a thunderstorm (particularly if the clouds are rotating)
• Loud roaring noise, similar to a freight train
• Cloud of debris

If we see any of the danger signs, we take shelter immediately, whether or not we've heard an announced warning. (But, honestly, we usually find out about tornadoes from the NOAA weather service before these signs are evident.)

Being Prepared when Away from Home

Of course, we're not always home when a tornado watch or warning occurs. Here are some ways we deal with tornado situations when we're not at home, adapted from guidance from FEMA, the Red Cross, and similar resources:

• At another's home: we follow their lead on taking shelter. If they haven't thought through sheltering for a tornado, we pick a location based on the same criteria mentioned above. If we're in a trailer or mobile home, we leave immediately and find shelter using the approach described below for commercial structures.
   
• In a commercial structure (e.g., work, school, shopping center, etc.): We go to the pre-designated shelter areas where available. If shelter isn't designated, we find the center of an interior room on the lowest level, away from corners, windows, doors, and outside walls (an interior hallway is good). We keep as many walls as possible between us and the outside. Getting under a sturdy desk or table works too.
   
• In a vehicle: In open country, we move away from the tornado's path at right angles (i.e., when facing the tornado, moving to the right or left of it). As noted above, tornados generally move southwest to northeast, so if a tornado is moving toward us, we head south. We don't try to outrun a tornado in urban or congested areas; instead, we immediately find safe shelter and leave the vehicle.
   
• Outside with no shelter: We avoid getting under overpasses or bridges. We lie flat in a nearby ditch or depression and cover our heads with our hands. While we look for a low area, we don't pick a place that is obviously prone to flooding. You are safer in a low, flat location. Covering our heads helps a bit against flying debris, which causes the most fatalities and injuries in a tornado.

Are You at Risk for Tornadoes?

So that's our approach to tornado preparedness, which is critical for us, since we live in an area of fairly frequent tornadoes. Take a look at the graphic below to see if tornadoes are a common threat in your area (click the image to enlarge it).

Image courtesy of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety's site, www.disastersafety.org

Other Tornado Preparedness Resources

If you do need to prepare against a tornado, here are a number of good resources to use in preparing your own tornado preparedness plan:

• Ready.gov's Tornadoes page
• The American Red Cross's Tornadoes Preparedness Fast Facts page
• The Center for Disease Control's Tornadoes: Being Prepared page
• The NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory's Tornadoes... Nature's ...
• The Tornado Preparedness section of University of Florida's The Dis... (PDF download)

Should you be interested in actually building a safe room in your current or future home or business, FEMA offers some additional information about them:

• Taking Shelter From the Storm: Building a Safe Room For Your Home o...: (PDF download) FEMA Brochure L-233. This is a brochure about obtaining information on how to build a wind-safe room to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes, and other high winds. 

• Taking Shelter From the Storm: Building a Safe Room For Your Home o...: (PDF download) FEMA Manual L-320. Though it has the same name, this is a manual of detailed information about how to build a wind-safe room  (including construction plans and price estimates) to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes, and other high winds.

Believing that preparedness and self-reliance are key to individual freedom, Atticus Freeman is the founder of the Self-Reliant Info blog, in addition to authoring The Practical Prepper weekly blog here on Farm Dreams. Thanks for reading!