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Severe Weather and Outdoor Warning Sirens

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Severe Weather and Outdoor Warning Sirens What to do? FAMILY COMMUNICATION If our community is under a tornado warning, seek PLANNING shelter immediately! Your family may not be together when disaster strikes, so plan how you will communicate in If you are in a structure: different situations. • Go to the basement, storm cellar, or the lowest building level. If there is no basement, go to the • Establish two family meeting places, one center of an interior room on the lowest level immediately near home and the other outside (closet, interior hallway) away from corners, the area, such as a relative’s house. Be sure windows, doors, and outside walls. Get under a each family member is aware of these locations sturdy table and use your arms to protect your and carries contact numbers with them. head and neck. • In a major disaster, it may be easier to notify If you are in a high-rise building: family of your safety via text message or • Go to a small interior room or hallway away long-distance call, as local communications from windows. may be hampered. Identify a friend or relative • Do not open windows. who lives out-of-state for family members to contact. If you are in a vehicle, trailer, or mobile home: • Get out immediately and go to the lowest floor of a sturdy, nearby building or a storm shelter. Mobile homes offer little protection from tornadoes. If you are outdoors, with no available shelter: • Lie flat in a nearby ditch or depression and cover Where to find more information your head with your hands. Be aware of the about Emergency Preparedness: potential for flooding. • Do not get under an overpass or bridge.You are safer in a low, flat location. National Weather Service • Never try to outrun a tornado in urban or www.weather.gov congested areas in a car or truck. Instead, leave the vehicle immediately for safe shelter. DuPage County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management www.protectdupage.org Ready Illinois www.ready.illinois.gov 2/17 Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Office of www.ready.gov Emergency Management OUTDOOR EMERGENCY SIRENS WHEN YOU HEAR A SIREN PLEASE • Do not take shelter in small sheds, under isolated The purpose of the sirens is to alert those who are DO NOT CALL 9-1-1 TO GET INFORMATION. trees, or in convertible automobiles. outdoors to the threat of danger, either due to weather 9-1-1 phone lines must remain free to respond to • If lightning is occurring and a sturdy shelter is not conditions or a National Emergency. If you are indoors, emergency reports and dispatch police, fire and available, get inside a hardtop automobile and roll the you may not hear the siren. emergency services where needed. windows up. • The siren sound means Take Shelter Now. • Get out of boats and away from water. SIRENS ARE JUST ONE TOOL Do not ignore it. • Telephone lines and electrical lines can conduct • The emergency is NOT over when the sirens stop. TO WARN THE PUBLIC. electricity. Avoid using hard-wired "landline" phones • There is NO “All Clear” siren. Monitor a weather or any electrical appliances. radio, local TV station or visit www.weather.gov for Take personal responsibility and exercise good • Avoid showering or bathing. Plumbing and bathroom the latest on the location of the storm. fixtures can conduct electricity. common sense: • Multiple siren activation indicates an imminent impact. • Be alert to changing conditions when severe weather • Secure outdoor objects that could blow away or threatens. THUNDERSTORMS cause damage. • Shutter windows and secure outside doors. If • Monitor weather reports via All Hazards NOAA Every thunderstorm produces lightning. Heavy rain can weather radio, broadcast radio or television stations, cause flash flooding, and high winds can damage homes shutters are not available, close window blinds, or smart phone App. NOAA radios can be purchased and blow down trees and utility poles, causing widespread shades, or curtains. at retail stores or online. power outages. • Unplug appliances and other electrical items such as • Keep an eye on the sky. computers and turn off air conditioners. Power • Know when and where to seek shelter. surges from lightning can cause serious damage. • Keep an emergency kit in your shelter area. KNOW THESE TERMS … TORNADOES • SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH: Tells you when Tornadoes may strike quickly with little or no warning. WHEN WILL THE SIRENS SOUND? and where severe thunderstorms are likely to occur. They may appear nearly transparent until dust and debris • Sirens are TESTED year-round on the first Tuesday of Watch the sky and stay tuned to an All Hazards are picked up or a cloud forms in the funnel. Look for the month at 10:00 a.m. NOAA weather radio, commercial radio, or the following danger signs: television for information. • Dark, often greenish sky • Sirens will be ACTIVATED under one or more of the • Large hail following conditions: • SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING: Issued • A large, dark, low-lying cloud (particularly if when severe weather has been reported by spotters rotating) 1. There is a confirmed sighting of a tornado or indicated by radar.Warnings indicate imminent • Loud roar, similar to a freight train. headed for our community. danger to life and property to those in the path of the storm. 2. The National Weather Service has issued a KNOW THESE TERMS … tornado warning for our community or an What to Do? • TORNADO WATCH: Weather conditions are adjacent community. If thunderstorms and lightning are occurring in your area, favorable for a tornado to develop. Be prepared to you should: take cover at short notice as tornadoes can develop 3. There are confirmed reports in the community • Use your battery-operated All Hazards NOAA of life threatening storm damage and wind. weather radio for updates from local officials. suddenly. • If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to the storm to be struck by lightning. Go to safe shelter • TORNADO WARNING: A tornado has been immediately! Move to a sturdy building or car. sighted or indicated by weather radar. Take shelter immediately!.
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