Tornado Safety

AWXVTEC FEED | February 19, 2008 @ 1:36 pm | 7 Replies

I know that we meteorologists go over the tornado safety rules a lot…small room, lowest floor, center of the building, away from windows (and outside doors), protect your head, put as many walls between you and the tornado as you can, stay out of vehicles, etc. Remember, though, you need to have your tornado plan in place BEFORE the tornado approaches. You may only have 1 or 2 minutes in some cases, so you and your family need to know exactly where to go in the event of a tornado warning.

It looks like the tornado warning system worked very well in Prattville. When you look at some of the pictures of damage on this blog below, it’s amazing that there were no fatalities. But, people heeded the timely warnings from the NWS (there was 35 minutes’ warning on the Prattville tornado), and knew what to do.

Analyzing some of the damage photos from Prattville and discussing the safety rules may bring it close to home to some people who have never been through or seen anything like this. The old rule of going to the basement in your home is still a great rule, but, these days, so many homes are being built as garden or patio homes, without basements, that this is not an option anymore for many people. But, as seen in Prattville, a fairly flat area with few basements, lives can be saved in an EF3 tornado.

1. Go to the lowest floor.

The first thing to go in a tornado is often the roof and attic area of a house. Roofs, with eaves hanging over, and the slight shape of an airplane wing, literally may be lifted off a house in a tornado. Many two story or story and a halfs have rooms above the roof line, and these should be avoided during tornado warnings. If anyone had been in a second floor room in the house below, they would have likely been injured or killed.

2. Stay away from windows (and outside doors).

Flying glass can seriously injure a person quickly. The pictures below speak for themselves.

3. Stay away from garage doors and any rooms near them.

Research has shown that garage doors are a weak point in houses during a tornado. In a basement, you should try to go to an area away from the garage doors, preferably with something ( a wall or large furniture) between you and the doors. Once the wind breaks the garage door, it comes rushing in, and can cause failure of the next wall, too. The garage door is gone in the house below, and may have even contributed to some the roof failure above it (speculation).

4. Stay low and get under something sturdy if possible.

Sometimes in a small room this is difficult, but in a basement, get under a heavy workbench or desk. Even a coffee table can provide protection in basements or main floors. Wood beams often fall when the roof or walls fail, and that piece of furniture could save your life if it stops or breaks the fall of just one 2×8. In the house below (in Lamar County, hit by tornado on January 10), this den would have been a very dangerous place to be, especially standing up. But, if you were low and under something (like the sofa) you may have been OK.

5. Protect your head.

Flying debris can often cause serious injuries in tornadoes. In 150 mph winds, even a writing pen or book becomes a missile. And, falling debris is a big concern too, in a basement or not. It may sound ridiculous, but putting on a bike helmet, batting helmet, football helmet, or a hard hat can save your life. Look what flying debris likely did to the car window below. You wouldn’t want that coming at you without a helmet on.

6. Small, interior rooms

From my experience in looking at tornado damage, it seems like most tornadoes take a little bit of time to destroy one wall before the winds can get inside the house and destroy the next one. This may only be 5-10 seconds, but tornadoes sometimes don’t last much longer than that. This is not always the case, but an observation. So, you want to put as many walls between you and the tornado as you can. It also seems that small rooms and bathrooms offer better protection. Perhaps because of the close proximity of the walls preventing collapse and falling debris, and because there is likely more support per foot of wall. Bathrooms have pipes in the walls that may offer extra support.

Take a look at the house below. Most of the house is gone. But, notice there are what appear to be two closets in the room on the far left, whose walls and doors appear intact. These may not have been the best option in this case since they were on the outside wall, and we can’t see what that wall looks like. But often, closets or small bathrooms like this in the interior of a home provide good shelter, if you stay low and close the door.

7. Stay out of vehicles.

I heard a report of a vehicle being thrown 200 feet across a parking lot in Prattville yesterday. The picture below also speaks for itself. Maybe this is just a trailer or something.