Tornadoes: What to do

This is Ohio’s Severe Weather Awareness Week. Here are some tips about what to do before and during a tornado.

BEFORE

Be alert to changing weather conditions.

Listen to weather radio or to local radio or television stations for up-to-date weather information.

When a tornado watch is issued, review your emergency preparedness plan.

Don’t wait for the watch — which means conditions are favorable for a tornado to occur — to become a warning — meaning a tornado’s been sighted in your area.

Look for approaching storms. Tornado danger signs include dark, often greenish or orange-gray sky; large hail; large, dark and low-lying clouds rotating or funnel-shaped; sudden, loud roars that sound similar to a freight train. If you see or hear any of those signs, immediately take shelter.

DURING

If you’re in a building, go to a pre-designated shelter area such as a safe room, basement, storm cellar or the lowest level. If there is no basement, go to the center of an interior room on the lowest level, such as a bathroom, closet or interior hallway, that is away from corners, windows, doors or outside walls.

Stay in the shelter until the storm passes.

If you’re in a vehicle, trailer or mobile home, get out immediately and go to the lowest floor of a sturdy, nearby building or storm shelter. Even if they’re tied down, mobile homes offer little or no protection from tornadoes.

If you are outside with no shelter, lie in a nearby ditch or depression and cover your head with your hands. Don’t seek shelter under a highway overpass or bridge.

Source: Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness