Environmental Safety

Facts

• The word tornado come from two spanish words: "tronado" meaning thunderstorm and "tornar" meaning to turn
• Tornadoes can have winds from 200 mph up to 300 mph
• Most deaths from tornadoes occur in cars or mobile homes
• The United States get hit more frequently and stronger than any other areas
• The most killer tornadoes occur in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas
• Tornadoes usually form between 3 and 7p.m.
• Tornadoes occur one after another
• Tornadoes can be invisible
• Tornadoes occur most often in the month of May and the least in the months of January and February

Tips: What should your family do?

• In the home:
  • Go to the basement of to an interior room on the lowest floor such as a closet or a bathroom.
  • You can also go to the bathroom and lie in the bathtub with a mattress over you
  • Wrap yourself in overcoats or blankets. This will protect you from flying debris
  • Stay away from window
• In schools or shopping centers:
  • Go to interior rooms or halls on the lowest floor
  • Stay away from windows and glass enclosed areas
  • Crouch down and cover your head
• In cars or mobile homes:
  • ABANDON IMMEDIATELY!!!
  • Try to get to a designated tornado shelter or a substantial structure
  • If you can't get to a shelter, lie flat in the nearest ditch and use your hands to cover your head
• If you are outside:
  • Try to get to a designated tornado shelter or a substantial structure
  • If you can't get to a shelter, lie flat in the nearest ditch and use your hands to cover your head

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Facts

• Floods are the #1 cause of weather-related deaths
• One hundred forty deaths per year are recorded in the U.S. due to floods. The majority of these deaths are from people driving through flooded areas
• Floods are the greatest threat to Mississippi

Tips: What should your family do?

• When inside:
  • Leave immediately and get to higher ground
• If you are caught outdoors:
  • Go to higher ground
  • AVOID small rivers or streams, low spots, and canyons
  • Don't attempt to cross a flowing stream on foot where the water is above your ankles.
• If you are in a vehicle:
  • DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE THROUGH FLOODED AREAS
  • If your car stalls, abandon it immediately and move to higher ground

Web Sites

• Severe Weather Safety Guide
• Flash Flood Safety

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Lightning Safety

Facts

• Lightning causes around 100 deaths in the U.S. a year
• Lightning is a big charge of electricity that can reach from clouds to the ground or to other clouds

Tips:

• When inside:
  • Do not use the telephone
  • Do not take a bath or a shower
• When outdoors:
  • Go to shelter immediately or to a hard top automobile with the windows rolled up
  • If you are boating or swimming, get out of the water immediately and go to shelter
  • If you feel your hair standing on end, squat with you head between you knees- DO NOT LIE FLAT
  • AVOID isolated trees, tall objects, bodies of water, sheds, fences, convertible automobiles, tractors, and motorcycles

Web Sites

• Severe Weather Safety Guide
• Kids Lightning Information and Safety
• National Lightning Safety Institute

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Winter Storms/Blizzards

Facts

• A winter storm watch means that hazardous winter weather conditions are expected within 12-36 hours. (Snow greater than 6 inches in 24 hours, winds gusting over 35 mph, or visibility less than 1/4 of a mile)

Tips: Things you should have or do:

• At home or work:
  • A working flashlight
  • Battery powered radio of TV
  • Extra food, water, medicine
  • First aid supplies
  • Heating fuel
  • Emergency heating source
  • Fire extinguisher and smoke detector
• In cars and trucks:
  • Keep gas tank full
  • Don't travel alone
  • Let a friend or relative know about what time you leave and should arrive places
  • Have a winter storm survival kit: (blankets, flashlights with extra batteries, high-calorie non-perishable foods, sand or kitty litter, shovel, windshield scraper, tool kit, tow rope, jumper cables, water container, compass, road maps, and a small can and water proof hatches to melt snow for drinking water)
• If caught outdoors:
  • Find shelter.
  • If you can't find any shelter:
    • Set up something as protection form the wind
    • Build a fire for heat and as a signal for help
    • Don't eat the snow- it lowers your body temperature- melt it first

Web Sites

• Severe Weather Safety Guide

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