When a tornado approaches, you have little time to make life or death decisions. Planning ahead and quick response is the key to surviving a tornado.
After a tornado
• Help injured or trapped people.
• Provide first aid when necessary.
• Do not try to move seriously injured people, unless they are in immediate danger of suffering further injury.
• Seek help.
• If you perceive a gas odor, do not turn on any appliance or switch. This includes phones, flashlights or a cell phone.
• Listen to a radio or television to receive last minute emergency information.
• Get away from damaged buildings. Return home only after authorities inform there is no danger.
• Use the telephone only for emergency calls.
• Clean medicine, bleach, gasoline or other flammable liquid spills immediately. Exit the building if you smell gas or chemical emanations.
• Document damages, in the house itself as well as its content, for insurance claim purposes.
Remember to help neighbors that might require special assistance: Babies, the elderly and handicapped people.
Background: Tornadoes
Emergency information
• The best protection during a tornado is in an inner building at the lowest level of a building, preferably in a safe room.
• Tornadoes attack with incredible speed. Wind speed may approach 300 miles per hour. These winds may uproot trees and structures and turn harmless objects in deadly missiles, all in a matter of seconds. Mobile homes are especially vulnerable to tornadoes.
• Injuries and deaths related to tornadoes happen more frequently when buildings collapse; flying objects hit people or when people are trapped when trying to escape.
• Tornadoes are more destructive when they hit the ground. Usually, a tornado is never on ground for more than 20 minutes; however, a tornado may touch ground several times in different areas.
Danger Zones
Tornadoes may unchain in any state, but they are more frequent in the Middle West, the Southwest and Southeast. The states of Alabama, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas are at most risk.
What is a tornado?
A tornado is a very violent gale characterized by a funnel shaped gyrating cloud. It is generated by thunder storms (or, sometimes, as a result of a hurricane) and is produced when cold air extends over a layer of hot air, forcing hot air to elevate quickly. Damage caused by a tornado is the result of speeding wind and rubble dragged by the wind. The tornado season is usually from March to August, although tornadoes may occur at any time of the year. They are usually produced during the afternoons and nights: More than 80 percent of all tornadoes are triggered between the afternoon and midnight.
Help your Community Prepare
The media can increase tornado awareness by providing information to the community. Here are some suggestions:
1. Print a special section in the local newspaper with emergency information about tornadoes. Locate information printing phone numbers for local emergency services, American Red Cross, and hospitals.
2. Inform your community of the local public warnings periodically.
3. Sponsor a “Help your neighbor” program at local schools to encourage children to think about people requiring special assistance, such as the elderly, babies or handicapped people.
4. Publishing a series about protecting against a tornado in case you are at home, in a car, at the office or outdoors.
5. Interview local officials about what people living in trailer parks can do in case a tornado warning is issued.
Did you know…?
Tornadoes can be almost invisible, marked only by rubble dragged by the wind at the base of the funnel. Some are only completely made by dust and others are made by small funnels.
In average, in the United States 100,000 thunder storms are produced every year. Approximately 1,000 tornadoes are generated from these storms.
Although tornadoes are produced around the world, the United States experience the most intense and devastating tornadoes.
Tornadoes produce the most intense winds on the Earth. Tornado winds can reach up to 300 mph, travel more than 100 mph and reach heights over 60,000 from the ground.
In November 1988, 121 tornadoes hit 15 states of the south of the country and caused 14 deaths and damages that reached 108 million dollars.
According to the National Weather Service, approximately 42 people die as a result of tornadoes every year.
Fujita – Pearson Tornado Scale
There are several scales to measure a tornado, but the most universally accepted is the Fujita scale, established in 1957 by T. Theodore Fujita of the Chicago University. This scale is based in the destruction caused to manmade structures and not on the tornado’s size, diameter or speed. Therefore, a tornado’s intensity cannot be calculated by looking at it. Caused damage must be assessed.
The scale has 6 degrees (0 to 5) and an “F”, in honor of its author, is set in front:
F-0: 40 mph, chimney damage, broken tree branches
F-1: 73-112 mph, mobile homes uprooted from their bases and tipped over
F-2: 113-157 mph, considerable damage, demolished mobile homes and uprooted trees
F-3: 158-205 mph, torn roofs and walls, derailed trains, thrown vehicles
F-4: 207-260 mph, well-built walls knocked over
F-5 261-318 mph, houses lifted from their foundations and carried at great distance, cars thrown at a distance of up to 100 meters.
In theory there could be an F6 tornado with Mach 1 wind speeds, but its existence has not been proven.
Weak Tornadoes:
F0 and F1. These are 69% of the total, cause 5% of fatal cases and last between 1 and 10 minutes.
Strong Tornadoes:
F2 and F3. These are 29%, 30% of all deaths and last more than 20 min.
Strong Tornadoes:
F4 and F5. These are 2% of the total, cause 70% of deaths and can last more than an hour.
