Severe Weather Awareness Week Tip 1: Is Your Family Prepared?

Good family communication requires some degree of advanced preparation, basic steps, and logical thinking. On a normal day, think about where you and your family go, how often you are separated, and how you use phones, text messaging, or email to communicate where you are and what you are doing. When severe weather strikes, your family may not be together and if land lines or cell phone towers are un-operational, how will your family meet up and make sure everyone is safe? Families need to plan now on what they will do in different situations.
Consider the structure of your family. Do you have a traditional family structure with two parents, or are you a single parent? Is one of your parents out-of-town or are both here? Do you have extended family members that need to be included in your plan? Do you have pets that are considered family members?

#1: HAVE A FAMILY MEETING
Discuss the dangers of severe weather.
Identify where to go should a tornado strike - will it be a basement, a saferoom, or a closet or hallway towards the center of the home?
What if you are caught driving, what will you do then?
Mobile homes and vehicles offer little protection in a tornado. Wind flows underneath vehicles, causing them to overturn or become airborne. Wind speeds of less than 100 mph can easily flip a car and there have been numerous cases of vehicles being carried up, dropped, and more commonly penetrated by flying debris. Over a third of the people killed by the Mid-May 2008 tornado outbreak died in a vehicle. If a tornado is approaching, leave your vehicle and seek shelter in a sturdy building. If a building is not available, get away from the vehicle and lie flat in a ditch and cover your head. DO NOT get under bridges or overpasses as a tornado passing over will create a wind-tunnel effect that can cause HIGHER wind speeds, driving debris towards you and possibly carry you out from under the overpass.
Establish a meeting place - where is a place somewhere in town that you all will meet if you can't make it to your house in the event of an emergency. Will be a friend's house, a relative's house, a church? Make sure everyone knows where it is and knows how to get there.

#2: Prepare Contact Cards & A Family Plan
It may be easier to dial out on a long distance line rather than local telephone lines during or after an emergency event. Identify an out-of-town contact so that each family member can call and tell them where they are and get information on the location and condition of other family members.

Have your family fill out a Family Communication Plan and Contact Cards. You can find some online ones here that you can fill out and print.


#3 PRACTICE & MAINTAIN YOUR PLANQuiz your family every now and then on your plan and make sure you keep telephone numbers up-to-date.