What To Listen For...

• TORNADO WATCH: Tornadoes are possible in your area. Remain alert for approaching storms.
• TORNADO WARNING: A tornado has been sighted or indicated by weather radar. If a tornado warning is issued for your area and the sky becomes threatening, move to your pre-designated place of safety.
• SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH: Severe thunderstorms are possible in your area.
• SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING: Severe thunderstorms are occurring.

Tornado Safety

What YOU Can Do

Before the Storm:

• Develop a plan for you and your family for home, work, school and when outdoors.
• Have frequent drills.
• Know the county/parish in which you live, and keep a highway map nearby to follow storm movement from weather bulletins.
• Have a NOAA Weather Radio with a warning alarm tone and battery back-up to receive warnings.
• Listen to radio and television for information.
• If planning a trip outdoors, listen to the latest forecasts and take necessary action if threatening weather is possible.

Top: James Campbell; Bottom: Gene Rhoden

If a Warning is issued or if threatening weather approaches:

• In a home or building, move to a pre-designated shelter, such as a basement.
• If an underground shelter is not available, move to an interior room or hallway on the lowest floor and get under a sturdy piece of furniture.
• Stay away from windows.
• Get out of automobiles.
• Do not try to outrun a tornado in your car; instead, leave it immediately.
• Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes and should be abandoned.

Thunderstorm Safety
 

What to Do Before a Thunderstorm

• Use a NOAA Weather Radio with a tone-alert feature to keep you informed of watches and warnings issued in your area. The tone- alert feature will automatically alert you when a watch or warning is issued.
• If planning a trip or extended period of time outdoors, listen to the latest forecasts and take necessary action if threatening weather is possible. Knowing what weather could happen helps you be prepared to respond if necessary. Having a raincoat, umbrella, and disaster supplies kit available will make it easier to deal with severe weather if it occurs.
• Postpone outdoor activities if thunderstorms are imminent. Coaches of outdoor sports teams should have a NOAA Weather Radio with a tone-alert feature during practice sessions and games. Threatening weather can endanger athletes, staff, and spectators. Many people take shelter from the rain, but most people struck by lightning are not in the rain! Postponing activities is your best way to avoid being caught in a dangerous situation.
• Keep an eye on the sky. Pay attention to weather clues around you that may warn of imminent danger. Look for darkening skies, flashes of lightning, or increasing wind, which may be signs of an approaching thunderstorm.
• Stay aware of your surroundings. Look for places you might go should severe weather threaten.
• Listen for the sound of thunder. If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to the storm to be struck by lightning. Go to safe shelter immediately.

What to Do During a Severe Thunderstorm WATCH

• Listen to a NOAA Weather Radio, or local radio or television stations for updated information. Local authorities will provide you with the best information for your particular situation.
• Avoid natural lightning rods such as golf clubs, fishing poles, tractors, bicycles, and camping equipment. Lightning is attracted to metal and poles or rods.
• Be prepared to seek shelter if a severe thunderstorm approaches. A sturdy building is the safest place to be during a severe thunderstorm. Avoid unprotected gazebos, rain or picnic shelters, golf carts, baseball dugouts and bleachers. While many people take shelter from rain in these locations, they are often isolated structures in otherwise open areas, and, therefore, a target for lightning. In addition, gazebos and picnic shelters are often poorly anchored and subject to being uprooted and blown around in strong thunderstorm winds. They also offer little protection from large hail.

If you perceive a severe thunderstorm approaching:

• Secure outdoor objects such as lawn furniture that could blow away or cause damage or injury. Take light objects inside.
• Shutter windows securely and brace outside doors. This will help protect your house from damaging winds or flying debris.
• Avoid electrical equipment and telephones. Lightning could follow the wire. Television sets are particularly dangerous at this time.
• Avoid bathtubs, water faucets, and sinks because metal pipes can transmit electricity.

What to Do During a Severe Thunderstorm WARNING

What to Do at Home During a Thunderstorm WARNING

• Draw blinds and shades over windows. If windows break due to objects blown by the wind or large hail, the shades will help prevent glass from shattering into your home.
• Unplug appliances. Avoid using the telephone or any electrical appliances. If lightning strikes, telephone lines and metal pipes can conduct electricity. Leaving electric lights on, however, does not increase the chances of your home being struck by lightning.
• Avoid taking a bath or shower, or running water for any other purpose. Metal pipes and plumbing can conduct electricity if struck by lightning.
• Turn off the air conditioner. Power surges from lightning can overload the compressor, resulting in a costly repair job.

What to Do if You Are Outside and a Severe Thunderstorm Is Approaching

• If you are boating or swimming, get to land, get off the beach, and find shelter immediately. Stay away from rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. Water is an excellent conductor of electricity. When lightning strikes nearby, the electrical charge can travel through the water. Each year, numbers of people are killed by nearby lightning strikes while in or on the water.
• Take shelter in substantial, permanent, enclosed structures, such as reinforced buildings. Sturdy buildings are the safest place to be. Avoid unprotected gazebos, rain or picnic shelters, golf carts, baseball dugouts and bleachers. While many people take shelter from rain in these locations, they are often isolated structures in otherwise open areas, and, therefore, a target for lightning. In addition, gazebos and picnic shelters are often poorly anchored and subject to being uprooted and blown around in strong thunderstorm winds. They also offer little protection from large hail.
• If there are no reinforced buildings in sight, take shelter in a car. Keep car windows closed and avoid convertibles. Rubber-soled shoes and rubber tires provide no protection from lightning. However, the steel frame of a hard-topped vehicle provides increased protection if you are not touching metal. Although you may be injured if lightning strikes your car, you are much safer inside a vehicle than outside.
• If you are in the woods, find an area protected by a low clump of trees. Never stand underneath a single large tree in the open. Be aware of the potential for flooding in low-lying areas.
• As a last resort and if no structure is available, go to a low- lying, open place away from trees, poles, or metal objects. Make sure the place you pick is not subject to flooding. Have as little contact with the ground as possible. Squat low to the ground. Place your hands on your knees with your head between them. Make yourself the smallest target possible. Do not lie flat on the ground this will make you a larger target.
• Avoid tall structures such as towers, tall trees, fences, telephone lines, and power lines. Lightning strikes the tallest objects in an area.
• Stay away from natural lightning rods, such as golf clubs, tractors, fishing rods, bicycles, and camping equipment. Lightning is attracted to metal and poles or rods.
• If you are isolated in a level field or prairie and you feel your hair stand on end (which indicates that lightning is about to strike), drop to your knees and bend forward, putting your hands on your knees. Crouch on the balls of your feet. Do not lie flat on the ground. The electrical build-up just before lightning strikes will cause your hair to stand on end. Make yourself the smallest target possible and minimize contact with the ground.

What to Do While driving During a Thunderstorm and Heavy Rain

• Pull safely onto the shoulder of the road and stop, making sure you are away from any trees or other tall objects that could fall on the vehicle. Stay in the car and turn on the emergency flashers until the heavy rains subside. Heavy rains produced by thunderstorms can greatly reduce visibility. Vehicles will provide better protection from lightning than being out in the open. Emergency flashers will alert other drivers with limited visibility that you have stopped. Keep car windows closed.
• Avoid contact with metal or conducting surfaces outside or inside the vehicle. Lightning that strikes nearby can travel through wet ground to your car. The steel frame of a hard-topped vehicle provides increased protection if you are not touching metal. Rubber tires provide no protection from lightning. Avoid contact with potential conductors to reduce your chance of being shocked. Although you may be injured if lightning strikes your car, you are much safer inside a vehicle than outside.
• Avoid flooded roadways. Most flood fatalities are caused by people attempting to drive through water, or people playing in high water. The depth of water is not always obvious. The roadbed may be washed out under the water, and you could be stranded or trapped. Rapidly rising water may stall the engine, engulf the vehicle and its occupants, and sweep them away. Look out for flooding at highway dips, bridges, and low areas. Two feet of water will carry away most automobiles.

What to Do After a Thunderstorm

• Continue listening to local radio or television stations or a NOAA Weather Radio for updated information and instructions. Access may be limited to some parts of the community, or roads may be blocked.
• Help a neighbor who may require special assistance - infants, elderly people, and people with disabilities. Elderly people and people with disabilities may require additional assistance. People who care for them or who have large families may need additional assistance caring for several people in emergency situations.
• Stay away from storm-damaged areas. You may be putting yourself at further risk from the residual effects of severe thunderstorms.
• Watch out for fallen power lines and report them immediately. Reporting potential hazards will get the utilities turned off as quickly as possible, preventing further hazard and injury.

What to Do if Someone Is Struck by Lightning

• Call for help. Get someone to dial 9-1-1 or your local Emergency Medical Services (EMS) number. Medical attention is needed as quickly as possible.
• Give first aid. If breathing has stopped, begin rescue breathing. If the heart has stopped beating, a trained person should give CPR. If the person has a pulse and is breathing, look and care for other possible injuries.
• Check for burns in two places. The injured person has received an electrical shock and may be burned, both where they were struck and where the electricity left their body. Being struck by lightning can also cause nervous system damage, broken bones, and loss of hearing or eyesight. People struck by lightning carry no electrical charge that can shock other people, and they can be handled safely 
   
   

1. Know the terms used to describe flooding:
   Flood Watch - Flooding is possible. Watches are issued 12-36 hours in advance of a possible flooding event.
   
   Flash Flood Watch - Flash flooding is possible. Be prepared to move to higher ground. A flash flood could occur without any warning.
   
   Flood Warning - Flooding is occurring or will occur soon. If advised to evacuate, do so immediately.
   
   Flash Flood Warning - A flash flood is occurring. Seek higher ground on foot immediately.
   
    
2. Do some research in your area. Ask local officials whether your property is in a flood-prone or high-risk area. Ask about official flood warning signals and what to do when you hear them. Also ask how you can protect your home from flooding.
3. Purchase a NOAA Weather Radio with battery backup or rechargeable battery and a tone alert feature that automatically alerts you when a watch or warning is issued.
4. Be prepared to evacuate. Explore your area and learn your community's flood evacuation routes and where to find high ground.
5. Talk to your family about the possibilities of flooding. Plan a place to meet in case you are separated from each other and cannot return home.
6. Prepare to survive on your own for at least three days. Assemble 72-hour kits for each member of your family. Have some food storage and a water supply for emergencies such as this.
7. Know how to shut off electricity, gas, and water at the main switches and valves. Know where gas pilot lights are located and how your heating system works.
8. Consider purchasing flood insurance.
9. Record all of your personal property, either using a camera, videotapes, or just writing everything down. Store these in a safe place.
10. Install check valves in sewer traps to prevent floodwater from backing up into the drains of your home.
11. Construct barriers such as levees, berms, and floodwalls to stop floodwater from entering the building.
12. Seal walls in basements with waterproofing compounds to avoid seepage.
13. Call your local building department or emergency management office for more information.

What to Do During a Flood
 

1. Listen to the radio or television stations for local information.
2. Flash floods can occur in drainage channels, canyons, streams and other areas known to flood suddenly.
3. If local authorities issue a flood watch, prepare to evacuate.
4. Secure your home if you have time. Tie down or bring outdoor equipment and lawn furniture inside. Move essential items to upper floors.
5. Turn off utilities at the main switches or valves. Disconnect electrical appliances. Do not touch electrical equipment if you are wet or standing in water.
6. Sterilize the bathtub with a diluted bleach solution and then fill it full in case water becomes contaminated or services cut off.
7. Do not walk through moving water. Six inches of moving water can knock you off your feet. If you must walk in a flooded area, walk where the water is not moving. Use a stick to check the firmness of the ground in front of you.
8. Be aware of the kind of flooding that is happening around you. If there is any possibility of a flash flood, move immediately to higher ground. Do not wait for instructions to move.

What to Do After a Flood

1. Avoid floodwaters. The water may be contaminated by oil, gasoline, or raw sewage. The water may also be electrically charged from underground or downed power lines.
2. Avoid moving water. Moving water only six inches deep can sweep you off your feet.
3. Be aware of areas where floodwaters have receded. Roads may have weakened and could collapse under the weight of a car.
4. Stay away from downed power lines and report them to the power company.
5. Stay away from designated disaster areas unless authorities ask for volunteers.
6. Return home only when authorities indicate it is safe. Stay out of buildings if surrounded by floodwaters. Use extreme caution when entering buildings. There may be hidden damage, particularly in foundations.
7. Consider your family's health and safety needs:

8. Service damaged septic tanks, cesspools, pits, and leaching systems as soon as possible. Damaged sewage systems are serious health hazards.
9. Contact your insurance agent. If your policy covers your situation, an adjuster will be assigned to visit your home. To prepare:

10. If your residence has been flooded, download this copy of "Repairing Your Flooded Home" prepared by the American Red Cross.

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html

 

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/disaster/factsheets/pdf/41.pdf

http://www.disastercenter.com/guide/thunder.html

http://www.family-survival-planning.com/natural-disaster-floods.html