Emergency management director shares how to prepare for tornadoes, severe weather
Your tornado plan might not include the thing he says people forget most
Your tornado plan might not include the thing he says people forget most
Your tornado plan might not include the thing he says people forget most
Deadly and devastating tornadoes ripped through southwest and central Missouri Wednesday leaving three people dead and dozens injured.
The storms served as a reminder of what to do in case of a severe storm.
Michael Curry is Jackson County’s emergency preparedness director, and his office of full of plans in binders covering everything from tornadoes to terrorism.
"There is hardly anything that you can think of that we don't have a plan for,” Curry said.
His severe weather plan is sandwiched into a 1,600-page binder.
"The tornadoes scare me to death,” he said.
His goal is to get people throughout the area to at least think of a plan in case of a storm.
"You need to be prepared,” he said. “You need to know where your kids are."
He said anyone at home during a tornado should head to their basement. Those without basements should try to find a relative or friend with one, but in late-notice situations, a closet or bathroom will work.
“Just because you have a basement doesn’t mean you’re absolutely protected, but there are things that will miss you if you go to the basement,” he said.
He says the number one thing that people forget in their tornado plan is shoes. If a storm comes when a family is asleep at night, they may rush to a safe place and by the time the storm has passed, it’s dark and there’s broken glass everywhere.
If at work, Curry recommends that people go to a hallway where there are no outdoor windows or into a stairwell.
If you're driving, winds are worse under overpasses. If it’s too late to drive away, then get to a ditch.
“I don’t know anybody yet who really wants to jump in that ditch because it’s going to be full of rain and there’s going to be a lot of debris flying around,” Curry said. “If I’m in my car, I’ll probably try to turn around and go the opposite direction.”
Curry sleeps with a weather radio nearby.
"Please, please watch TV, listen to the radio, listen for the sirens,” he said.
It’s also important to trust the information. Even trained weather spotters can't see tornadoes at night.
"I can send them directly into the path of that tornado and they'd never see it,” Curry said.
He said even though Kansas City hasn’t recently had a tornado in the city center, that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
“We’ve been very fortunate in the Kansas City area, other than the Ruskin tornado many years ago,” Curry said.
Right now he's also keeping an eye on flooding risk in the coming days.