BE PREPARED WHAT TO DO AFTER A TORNADO Always keep emergency supplies on hand. Store these supplies and a list of all your valuables in the Be sure the storm has passed before you leave your Are you basement or other safe location. Water and food shelter. Always use extreme caution. Warning sirens supplies should be sufficient to last several days for DO NOT sound an “all clear”. This information will all members of the household plus two. Puzzled come only from radio and TV broadcasts. EMERGENCY SUPPLIES SHOULD INCLUDE: • Portable battery powered AM & FM radio By A At home, check for: • Flashlight INJURED OR MISSING PEOPLE • Extra batteries TORNADO ∗ Don’t move anyone who is seriously injured • Water, stored in air-tight containers • ∗ Apply basic first aid Food (canned or dry) • Tools (wrenches to shut off utilities, pliers, etc.) WARNING? ∗ Notify local Emergency Medical Service • Blankets or sleeping mats GAS LEAKS • Pail with cover ∗ Use a flashlight—not matches or lanterns • ABC fire extinguisher ∗ Leave the home immediately if you suspect a gas • Can opener, spoons, etc. leak • Extra clothing and shoes • ∗ Don’t use the phone, call from a neighbor’s house First Aid Kit: ∗ First Aid handbook ELECTRICAL HAZARDS ∗ Assorted bandages and dressings ∗ Don’t use your electricity if you suspect damaged ∗ Aspirin or substitute or wet wiring ∗ Prescription medicines ∗ NEVER approach downed power line, they may ∗ Thermometer still contain electricity ∗ Scissors and tweezers Outside you home: ∗ Soap ∗ Sterile gauze pads and rolls of gauze • CHECK for structural damage Prepared by the Butler County • WATCH OUT for falling debris and broken glass For additional information, including home study courses Department of • STAY AWAY from downed power lines to better prepare you for emergencies and disasters, Emergency Management/Homeland contact: Security • ENTER buildings with caution, danger may be Butler County, Kansas Butler County Department of Emergency hidden Management/Homeland Security • Use FLASHLIGHTS ONLY 2100 N. Ohio Ste. B Augusta, KS 67010 316-733-9796 www.butlercoema.org ARE YOU PREPARED FOR A You must act quickly when a TORNADO WHEREVER YOU ARE, always…… TORNADO WARNING? WARNING is issued. Stay calm, but move to safety as quickly as possible. While there is GET LOW to the ground. Crouch or lie flat. no place that is 100%, safe from a tornado, Tornadoes are violently rotating certain places are safer than others. columns of air in contact with the PROTECT YOUR HEAD. Get under a table ground and extending from the base or bench and cover up with a blanket, pil- IN HOMES. The basement offers the greatest low, mattress or your hands. of the thunderstorm. Tornadoes safety. Seek shelter under sturdy furniture if have been called “twisters” and possible. In homes without basements, take “cyclones”, but these words are all synonyms for the cover in the center part of the house, on the STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. Broken glass is the most dangerous kind of flying most violent storm on earth. With winds speeds up to lowest floor, in a small room such as a closet debris. Don’t worry about opening or clos- 300 miles per hour, tornadoes can strike quickly and or bathroom, or under sturdy furniture. Keep away from windows. ing windows. Seek safety instead. with deadly force. Within seconds they can severely damage property and cause injury and death. IN SHOPPING CENTERS. Go to a designated STAY CLEAR OF doors, outside walls, heavy objects, corridors, long-span rooms shelter area (not your parked car). The Butler County Department of Emergency Manage- or auditoriums. ment/Homeland Security has developed the following IN SCHOOLS. Follow advance plans to an guidelines to help reduce the danger to the public in the interior hallway on the lowest floor. If the PLEASE: event of a TORNADO WARNING. Keep this brochure building is not of reinforced construction, go • Do not listen to or spread rumors handy and discuss it with your family so everyone to a nearby one that is, or take cover outside • Do not use the telephone except of knows what to do if an emergency situation develops. on low protected ground. Stay out of auditori- emergencies ums, gymnasiums, and other structures with • Do not go to school to pick up your If there is a TORNADO WARNING, you will be wide, free-span roofs. children. They will be safe with school warned by the National Weather Service through local officials who are prepared to take care IN AUTOMOBILIES. Leave your car and authorities, the news media, and NOAA Weather Alert of them. If you go to school, it will seek shelter in a substantial nearby building, Radio. Use local radio stations to gain important infor- cause traffic problems and hamper the mation. Follow carefully the directions given by the or lie flat in a nearby ditch or ravine. protective actions officials need to take. radio and television stations during the emergency. • Do not try to call your child’s school IN OPEN COUNTRY. Lie flat in the nearest TORNADO WEATHER WARNING SIGN ditch or ravine. WATCH means that severe weather is possible. Keep Alert! Listen to your NOAA radio or local radio and Prepare to take shelter if you notice: MOBILE HOMES. These are particularly vul- TV for National Weather Service bulletins. Prepare to ◊ Heavy, dark, storm clouds nerable and should be evacuated. Trailer ◊ Hail and/or heavy rain take shelter in the event of a TORNADO WARNING. parks should have a community storm shelter ◊ Thunder and lightning and a warden to monitor emergency broad- Take shelter IMMEDIATELY if you notice: WARNING means that a tornado has been detected by casts throughout the severe storm emergency. ◊ Twisting, funnel-shaped clouds radar or reported by a trained spotter. If it is in your If there is no shelter, leave the trailer ◊ Large hail area, TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. and take cover on low, protected ◊ Loud, roaring noise like a train or plane ground. Strong winds ◊.