Thursday, June 12, 2008

Tornadoes appreciate irony?

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Topeka, KS (AHN) - Northeast Kansas was hit by several tornadoes from Wednesday night until Thursday, causing extensive damage in the area.

[snip]

The twister also smashed the Kansas State University campus, causing cars to turn turtle and smashing glass windows.

It destroyed the university's Wind Erosion Laboratory...

Joking aside, having never lived in an area of extreme weather, I would have no clue what to do. For those who want to know:
So what can you know about tornadoes which might save your life? Knowing something about tornadoes and using common sense can go a long way towards saving yourself. Here are six tips everyone should be aware of.

1 Hail is closely related to tornadoes! Large hail may precede a tornado, so the areas of a thunderstorm adjacent to areas of hail is a good candidate for a tornado to form. Seek appropriate shelter and remain in the shelter until well after the hail has stopped, about a half hour until the storm has moved away.

2 Opening a window in a house with the idea of reducing damage from tornadoes is a myth! Most building have sufficient ventilation to allow for the sudden drop in atmospheric pressure related to tornadoes. It is a myth that opening a window will allow inside air pressure to equalize with outside air pressure. Actually, opening the wrong window can increase damage.

3 Most deaths from tornadoes are caused by flying debris. Stay in the center of a building away from windows and exterior doors. Bathrooms and closets offer good protection if a basement is not available. Bathrooms have added support from pipes. Large rooms are more likely to have roof collapse.

4 Tornado wind speeds increases with height within the tornado. Storm cellars and well protected basements offer the best protection from tornadoes. In high rise buildings, occupants should try to reach the lowest floor and take shelter in small rooms or stairwells.

5 An approaching tornado may sound like a loud roar such as that from a freight train or airplane. At night or in heavy rains the only clue to a tornado may be the roar from its winds.

6 Although most tornadoes occur in the afternoon, they can occur at any time or the day or night.

The key to survival is awareness and planning. All members of the household should know where the safest areas of the house are. Make sure everyone knows that they may only have seconds of warning and that they must never hesitate or pause to grab toys or valuables.
In ways these suggestions sound very much like our California earthquake training: going for the strongest supported areas of the house, not trying to collect valuables, planning ahead. Sadly, we did not plan ahead for the tornado currently blowing through the Oval Office....

8 comments:

Sorghum Crow said...

My great aunt Margaret lived in a tornado prone area. I loved here house because it had a sort of sub-sub basement for a tornado retreat.

ellroon said...

Oooo, I'd have found that scary, a deep dark spooky place!

Did she store emergency food and bedding down there?

The strangest looking emergency shelter I've read about were those circular pod things buried in the ground, apparently to be placed in areas with no other kind of protection.

I'd buy about ten of them....

mapaghimagsik said...

Science has discovered that trailers actually cause tornadoes!

Don't live near a trailer park!

Steve Bates said...

I suppose they'll open a new facility to study "instant wind erosion." :)

"An approaching tornado may sound like a loud roar such as that from a freight train or airplane."

I live near a railroad track, and about halfway between Houston's two major airports, under many approach routes. How am I supposed to know? Oh, right; I remember now... an approaching train or plane sounds just like a tornado.

Indeed, tornado survival does resemble earthquake survival. (Hurricane survival does not.)
Tornadoes are not uncommon here; in response to earlier bad experience, the building code requires large glass-exterior buildings to be capable of withstanding quite a wind. But we don't get tornadoes very often in the dense middle of the city, except as side-effects of the occasional hurricane. I believe it was Alicia in 1983 that spun off so many tornadoes downtown, causing 80th-floor windows to pop and fall to the ground. Yikes!

ellroon said...

Omg, mapaghimagsik! I never put that together! It is so obvious that the scientific community must support your conclusion.

But FEMA trailers must be immune. Live in one of those and you'll never see another tornado in your lifetime... because you'll quickly die of formaldehyde poisoning...

ellroon said...

Steve, I live under one of the routes to the Ontario Airport here in Southern California. They fly over our house when the Santa Ana winds blow... a very insecure feeling...

I remember Alicia and the falling windows. That was very ... impressive. That made me start thinking whenever I'm in a big city where I would stand if an earthquake went off. Do I want to be killed by falling masonry? Or guillotined by a falling window? ...

hipparchia said...

it's pretty bad when windows are defenestrating themselves.

ellroon said...

I love that word. Especially when used on a bad guy about 10 floors up...