Tornado Preparedness Tips
If you live in an area prone to tornadoes, then it may be worthwhile to review a few tornado preparedness tips. There are several things you can do before a tornado strikes to help minimize the potential for injury to you and your family. Keep reading to learn the recommended steps to take when seeking tornado preparedness.
Create a Tornado Emergency Plan
One of the simplest ways to reduce potential for injury during a tornado is by creating a floor plan for your home and identifying all the different routes for exit. Ideally, it is recommended that you identify at least to exit paths from each room in the house. If necessary, consider investing in rope ladders and other escape aids. Once the plan is created, review it with your family and consider doing practice drills (this can help ensure all family members know how to remove window screens, etc.).
You may also want to mark the safest places to take cover in scenarios in which evacuation is not possible. Typically, the best place to wait out a tornado is in an interior room with no windows (for example, a closet or basement).
Additional Tornado Preparedness Steps
Areas that are prone to tornadoes typically install a siren warning system. If such is the case, then be sure you and your family know what the tornado warning siren sounds like so that you can take action before the twister touches ground. In the event of severe thunderstorms, it may also be worthwhile to turn on the television or radio so that you can keep up-to-date on potential tornado warnings.
Prior to a tornado, you may also want to invest in a first-aid kit and fire extinguishers. Mark the location of these items on your emergency floor plan and consider going over basic first aid procedures with your family. You may also want to identify where your water, gas and electricity shut-off sources are located so that you can shut them off if a tornado touches down (time permitted).
Tornado Preparedness – Storing Important Documents
An important part of tornado preparedness is taking steps to minimize the potential for loss of important documents. Such documents include birth certificate, social security cards, insurance policies, wills and car ownership documents. To protect these items, it is recommended you keep them in a lockable safe that is both fire- and water-proof. You may also want to keep important valuables and keepsakes in a safe as well.