Sincere question for those of you who live in tornado prone areas.

house_cat · ‎03-09-2010

I guess, thanks to the Wizard of Oz, tornadoes have always frightened and fascinated me. I've never lived in a tornado prone area and I can only imagine how terrifying it must be.

Here's what I'm wondering - when a warning is issued, do you stay home and hunker down, or must you send your kids off to school and go to work as usual? Do most homes have shelters?

No matter what, stay safe.

I'm wishing you all a mild, uneventful season.

~ house cat ~

beckyb1012 · ‎03-09-2010

East Texas here and only once in my 55 years have I ever taken cover due to what I saw out the window or when I hear the warning signal. I usually just go right back to what I am doing whether at home or at work on the 10th floor. I do look outside but it is just a way of life for so long.

The one time back in the 90's is was bad and my family and sat in the hallway until it passed. Thank goodness no damage for us.

"Live frugally, but love extravagantly."

qualitygal · ‎10-04-2010

With enough notice, our area schools have sent the kids home if it was safe. (Be sure parents are there).

When the horn goes off, head for the basement!!! If it looks bad out and we have the t.v. or raido on, we may go just for safety sake anyway. Water, flashlight, dog, etc.

p.s. personally, hate the word hunker.

brandiwine · ‎03-11-2010

All areas of the country have weather and other natural disasters concerns. No one lives under a rock to try to avoid blizzards, floods, hail, tornados, avalanches, lava flows, or earthquakes. Have a plan for your situation, make sure your kids schools have a plan and here in Colorado the airport and malls have plans for tornados. I lived in California as well and we had plans for earthquakes. I think most people just go about living their lives and don't allow "what if" to control them.

CareBears · ‎08-30-2015

MN here, I remember being in school and actually having tornado drills, we went out into the hallway (no windows) and covered our heads, while my daughter was in school we never had a tornado come through the area, although I do remember that they still had drills.

When the sirens go off, you head to the basement if you have one, currently I live in a one level home, and when we have been warned, I head into the bathroom with no windows and hop into the tub, fortunately this has only happened once, I have never had a tornado touch down in the towns I have lived in, but we have been very close to one, we have lived through straight line winds though, and on one occasion had two trees fall onto the house, I was alone at the time and I can verify that it is scary!

tucsongal · ‎03-10-2010

A tornado warning means that there is an imminent threat, so no, you wouldn't send kids off to school, etc. Under a tornado watch, you just stay aware because conditions are right for a tornado to develop. Morning is an unusual time for a tornado to occur, so not much of an issue re: how to start the day.

teainlondon · ‎03-09-2010

In the lower SE states and where I live, there are tornadoes any time. As a teacher, my school had designated areas for every room in case of an alert and we had regular drills. In my home, there is no basement or specified shelter, but we do have one inside bath that we would use if we had to take cover. Our son was in a tornado two weeks ago, and his car was totaled and he was without electricity for over a week. He lives in an older small house. All of the trees were destroyed, but he was safe in the inside room of his house. It has been this way all of my life. It is always a scary situation.

tea

Laura14 · ‎06-09-2014

Usually you are under a tornado watch. The warning only comes when someone actually spots a tornado which is much rarer. At that point, it's time to get really weather aware.

I've only been down in my basement a handful of times and never in the liquor room at work which is our safe place.

You can tell if the severe weather is right on top of you and it's time to shelter in place. It's dark and the wind is just wild. Normally, it's not that bad and the height of the storm is just around you somewhere.

9 times out of ten I just put my phone next to me if I'm at work or the tv on at home if the alerts go off and the storm really picks up. But I just carry on doing whatever it is I'm doing while paying attention to what's going on outside in case I do have to make a run for it.

software · ‎06-08-2016

I've been through several killer tornadoes over the years. I take no chances.

My kids are grown but I always give them a head's up about the weather.

Our local "weather guessers" have become very good at predicting the type of weather that can spin off a tornado so I am not ashamed to hunker down when they give the warning.

Most of the time here in the SE, the type of weather that will spin out a tornado usually happens in the afternoon, evening or even overnight. I hate those tornados after dark. So we all go about our business, watch the weather and take appropriate action when the time comes

The last worse tornado I experienced is referred to as 2011 Super Outbreak. It was horrible & scary, I could see the tornado and I knew people were dying. One thing we found out, people do pull together. And if you can't make a phone call on a cell phone, your texts will go through. We learned more than we ever wanted to about how to stay alive, how to be a first responder and how to recover.

I have an underground basement in my home, in fact I'll probably spend some time down there this weekend, the potential is high. I've also learned where the best place to go in a building during a tornado and never never never be caught in your car or a mobile home or camper.

@house_cat wrote:
I guess, thanks to the Wizard of Oz, tornadoes have always frightened and fascinated me. I've never lived in a tornado prone area and I can only imagine how terrifying it must be.

Here's what I'm wondering - when a warning is issued, do you stay home and hunker down, or must you send your kids off to school and go to work as usual? Do most homes have shelters?

No matter what, stay safe.
I'm wishing you all a mild, uneventful season.

Mominohio · ‎08-08-2010

Ohio isn't generally as well known for tornadoes as some other states, but we do get them and at times they are very devastating.

As others have pointed out, tornado watches are what comes first, and they can be announced many hours in advance because the weather people are following the storms usually moving from west to east in this area of the country. The watch just means that conditions are right for a tornado to form. During a watch, everyone goes about their business as usual, school, work, etc. We just keep an ear out and an eye on the TV/radio for updates on the weather.

A tornado warning is issued when actual funnel clouds have been seen and reported or wind damage resembles that of tornadic conditions in areas the storm has already passed through. Often after a big storm, it takes a while for the officials to declare whether or not the event was a tornado and what level of tornado it was. They don't always look like what we see in the movies.

During a warning, most people do continue their business until it looks or gets really ominous. Schools all take cover, executing pre planned and practice drills. It usually consists of getting into main hallways with no windows, lowest levels (back in the day all our schools had basements, but most new ones don't). Many workplaces require employees to follow a drill similar to schools and go to designated safe areas. Most cities and towns have sirens when the warning goes off, but rural areas often do not.

At home, when there is a warning, we are supposed to go to the basement if we have one (we do) or get into an interior room or the bathtub and it is suggested you pull something like a mattress (I think that is from back in the day when twin mattresses were popular and thin and easier to move!) or sofa cushions etc on top of you.

A warning usually doesn't last long, and a tornado moves relatively quickly. In some areas of the country you will see that multiple tornadoes (sometimes a lot of them) will strike a general area in a several hour time frame, and that is where things get really bad.

Unlike hurricanes, which we see so much about on TV news, that give many days warning, and the storm can last for hours and hours or a day, tornadoes spring up very quickly and move out in a matter of minutes. And usually the damage from a tornado is contained to a narrow path (it is when you get multiple tornadoes coming for hours on end in a general area that the devastation really increases), where the hurricanes damage is much more widespread.