Tornado Safety Tips

Tips to Protect Yourself

• Abandon mobile homes and go to the lowest floor of a sturdy nearby building or a storm shelter.
• At school, go to your designated location or to an interior hallway on the lowest floor and cover your head!
• Avoid locations with high ceilings or wide-span roofs, such as gymnasiums, shopping malls, cafeterias, churches, and auditoriums.
• Do not take shelter under a highway overpass or bridge.  Do not try to outrun a tornado in your car.  Leave it immediately for safe shelter.
• Go to a basement and get under the stairway or under a heavy piece of furniture.  If there is no basement, go to a small interior room on the lowest floor, such as a closet, bathroom, or hallway. Put as many walls as possible between you and the outside.
• If caught outside or in a vehicle, go to the lowest floor of a sturdy nearby building or as a last resort, lie flat in a ditch or depression and cover your head.
• In a pinch, put a metal trash can over your body. It will help to protect you from falling and flying debris.
• Know where very heavy objects rest on the floor above (pianos, refrigerators, waterbeds, chimneys, etc.) and do not go under them. They may fall down through a weakened floor and crush you
• Remember it is flying debris from tornadoes that causes the most injuries and fatalities.
• Stay away from windows, glass, and cover your head!  Cover your body with thick blankets, pillows, mattresses, sleeping bags, couch cushions, etc.