Tornado Season: How to Prepare for Potential Disaster

Tornadoes can strike anywhere, at anytime, leaving disaster in their wakes. The typical months, or tornado season, runs from March through July in the Midwest, Southwest and Southeast. The states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas are at the greatest risk for a tornado during these months.

Ironically, it was Severe Weather Awareness Week in Georgia when the killer tornadoes swept across the Southeast recently, leaving multiple deaths and disaster in their paths.

According to David Colmans, of the Georgia Insurance Information Service, tornado sirens were sounded, but relatively few people paid any attention them, until they saw the tornadoes. Tornado watches and warnings on TV and radio were either unheard or unheeded, weather alert radios were turned off or had dead batteries in them, rendering them inoperable to warn families of impending disaster.

We can’t stop the tornadoes from coming, but we can prepare ourselves for them, or other potential disasters with a few simple steps.

Keep a Weather Alert Radio on at all times. They have a silent mode that only activates when there is a weather warning.

Change the batteries every six months in the Weather Alert Radio and smoke detectors, so the devices are working properly and can warn before disaster strikes.

Keep battery powered and/or crank powered flash lights in easy accessible places throughout your home, along with an extra supply of batteries. Loss of electricity usually occurs when a tornado strikes, you will need flashlights.

Keep a hand-crank radio handy, so even if the electricity goes out, you can stay informed.

Have and practice an evacuation plan for your family before a disaster strikes. Know where the safest place to go in your home during a tornado. Experts recommend the smallest, centrally located room of your home, such as a bathroom. If your home has a basement, go to the corner of the basement. It’s wise to store bottled water, non-perishable food, a supply of batteries and other basic essentials in a water proof plastic container in the place you will run too in the event of a tornado.

Create a home inventory and store it in a safe place away from your home. This will be of the utmost benefit in the unfortunate circumstance that a tornado strikes your home. Memorize Social Security, drivers license, bank account PIN numbers or any other vital numbers.

Tornadoes strike with little warning, but that small window of warning can be the difference between life and death for you and your loved ones if you take time to get prepared before disaster strikes. Be prepared this tornado season.

Source: http://www.giis.org/giis/giis_articles.shtml