jeepers4559's Blog

When I moved here in 98 from Calif, I was pretty well educated in preparedness. (I used to teach earthquake preparedned classes and was part of a county search and rescue)The difference I felt between "Severe Weather & Earthquakes" was the warning. You still need to make preparations for a "Safe Room" either a well structured room at the lowest point in your home or an non windowed "inner room" (inside bathroon, your bathtub can be pretty safe since alot of older tubs are cast iron), alternate power,flashights,(candles can be dangerous)battery operated or hand crank tv/radio. Water, snaks, back up meds, first aid kit,blankets,extra clothing, grab your cell phone as you head there. Other things to consider are tools, (pry bars, hammer, vise grips, gloves,rope) in case you are trapped inside your home. I used to advise people to keep these things in a 5 gallon bucket with a lid. I live in south county and even though there is a siren less than 1/2 mile away, the hills and other homes make sound travel difficult, we don't hear the siren. That means having to be dependant on weather radios or tv. Fox 2 does a good job. What that means though is that you need to go to sleep at night with your tv on (seems to me that most tornados happen at night, I could be wrong) and that means not a deep sleep. :( I had the house wired when I moved for a isolated power back up, so we are one of the few homes in our area that is lit up in the event of a power failure. You can do some inexpensive ways if you desire as long as you keep in mind, it needs to be isolated from your regular household

When a severe t-storm or tornado wath is issued I keep abreast of the weather situation by monitoring my scanner, listening to storm spotters where I live in St. Charles County. I have gotten quite a few heads-up warnings in the past just by listening to them. I also surf the web and check out local doppler radars to check storm movements. We have a siren about 1/4 of a mile away from our house, unimpeded by hills, and when it goes off you can't miss it! And when a Tornado Warning is issued, my wife and kids head to the basement. If the weather conditions permit, I continue watching local news (FOX 2) coverage upstairs (the floor above the basement) and look outside. Otherwise, I join my family downstairs and we hunker down beneath the basement steps.

When severe weather is in our area, we are glued to the tv, with flashlights in hand. We're watching for warnings, and keeping an eye on the radar. I also look out my patio door to keep an eye on the weather. When it's really bad, and we need to take shelter, we head to our basement. My oldest son loves the weather, and he is usually on the internet keeping track of the storms. Hopefully with spring and storms approaching, we don't have alot of power outages. One can keep their fingers crossed!