Here are three simple guidelines for how to shelter in a tornado: Get In, Get Down, Get Covered. The key is to protect yourself from falling or flying debris. So you want to get as far down and as far away from exteriors as possible. The more solid protection between you and the tornado the better.
Remember, among those things never to do in a tornado, is to tray to outrun it. Take shelter as quickly as you can and as best you can. Get in, Get down, and Get Covered.
Even as an expert in emergency preparedness, I have tended to think of tornadoes as more localized disasters and ones in which help is usually readily available to meet all of the basic disaster survival needs. However, after seeing the devastation and the aftermath of the Moore, Oklahoma tornado, I am convinced that a well stocked emergency kit is as needed after a tornado as it is after any other catastrophic disaster.
Just watch this video of the aftermath of the Moore, Oklahoma tornado and consider the need for a tornado emergency kit.
Take the time to either get an emergency kit today or make sure that your current emergency kit is well stocked and that all the supplies are current and not expired.
50 tornadoes in 24 hours - some massive. The most destructive tornado hit Moore, Oklahoma and already over 50 are confirmed dead. They had 20 to 30 minutes warning but with winds over 200 MPH, it wasn't enough to keep everyone safe. That tornado was over a mile and a half wide and was on the ground for over an hour.
Sometimes we think that tornadoes are such localized events that there is no need for a tornado emergency kit. The truth is that torandoes can be of disasterous proportions and help may not be immediately available to everyone.
A massive tornado over a mile and a half wide spent over an hour on the ground in Moore Oklahoma. The enormous destruction included an elementary school. Its too soon to know the number of casualties.
If you live in America, where 95% of the world's tornadoes actually hit, then be ready to respond and protect yourself in case of a tornado. Make sure to have your tornado emergency kit at the ready during tornado season.
So far we are at 108 cases and 23 fatalities. That about a 21% mortality rate. What concerns scientists and health professionals is that this strain of bird flu seems to be developing much more quickly than the H5N1 strain that caused such concern.
We are not yet at human-to-human transmition, so we'll just cotninue to keep and eye on this one along with the SARS-like coronavirus.
Novel viruses have the potential to spread person-to-person and rapidly travel around the world. We all must be prepared for a global pandemic. Experts continue to tell us its a when, not if scenario.
