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November 06, 2005

Tornadoes

What an awful tornado in Indiana and Kentucky! The TV news channels are reporting the heck out of it.

However, the ignorance of the East Coast news readers as they talk to police and hospitals is very evident.

I have heard several of them ask how people could have been caught in their homes in a tornado - didn't they get any warning?

As someone who has lived in Tornado Alley her entire life - the only people who should leave their homes in a Tornado are people who live in mobile homes.

The rest of us are safer going to a safe room in the house - in our case, we have a room with no windows in the basement - it is a cinderblock room and happens to have a bathroom in it.

The entire house could come down around us, and we would most likely survive in that room.

For those without basements, a closet or bathroom with no windows on the lowest floor is the safest place to go.

Getting into a car when there is a tornado siren is idiotic - if you are outside, take cover in a low area and protect your head.

If you live in a mobile home court, you should have a community tornado shelter that you should get to as soon as possible.

Tornadoes can occur any time of the year. I recall a particularly nasty tornado in the suburbs of St. Louis when I was a kid. It was January 24th - and it was an F4 tornado. I remember it because my parent's anniversary was the next day and because my cousin's house lost its roof in the tornado. 3 people died and well over 100 were injured.

Tornadoes do not search out mobile home parks, despite the fact that it seems so. It's just that trailers are very susceptible to wind damage.

Posted by Beth at November 6, 2005 09:16 AM