Tornado emergency preparation

In North America, it's tornado season, and it will be for six more months.

Wikipedia Commons

Some reminders on preparation for these killer storms:

• Make your emergency plan now and discuss it with your family
• Find your "safe room," the best place in your home to survive a tornado
• Know where the designated shelter is at work or school
• Have a contact person and meeting place for your family at least a few miles away from home, should your home be destroyed and the cell phone towers taken down, too, preventing phone calls
• Prepare your emergency kit: a gallon of water per person and per pet, a battery-operated radio (a NOAA weather radio is ideal), canned food with pop tops and crackers and peanut butter (or equivalent), life-saving medicines, plastic bags for waste, work gloves, and a flashlight. This is the very minimum you should have, and you can google for more information on tornado emergency kits
• Keep photocopies of driver's licenses, insurance information, birth certificates, and other important information either at a relative's house, in a safety deposit box, or scanned and in the cloud
• Listen to the broadcast warnings and obey them
• Don't risk your life getting a video for youtube of a funnel cloud bearing down on you
• Obey police and fire when they tell you not to enter an area or structure, no matter how panicked you are about loved ones or how curious
• Don't be a tornado tourist if there's destruction near you. It's rude at best, dangerous to you and others, and places unnecessary strain on first responders who might be saving lives instead of trying to police you
• If you loot tornado victims, expect to be shot, and prosecuted, and shunned by decent people thereafter

Stay safe!