[This is not a political post.]
This morning I leapt from bed to the sound of a tornado alert siren. Jim and I know from experience that it beats the hell out of awaking to an actual tornado.
I was already awake when the sirens began wailing. I've been sleeping fitfully since the storms arrived around midnight. Our regional radar has been on my screen many times throughout the night.
So, half asleep, with my stomach in my throat, I lurch into a long day of hazardous weather forecasts.
Anyway, it seemed a good time to remind our fellow Midwesterners (and everyone else) of some of our daily habits concerning emergency preparedness.
And here are some good tornado safety tips from NOAA.
Take care. I'm off to dig out some helmets and flashlights in case things get bad this afternoon and evening. Plus, I think the helmets spur your will to live. Who really wants to be caught dead in a helmet?
***Baby Toolkit is the independent, unsolicited opinion of geek parents presently operating on limited sleep and uneasy watchfulness. We're definitely not professionals at this.
I'm not far from you in KY, and I hope it all fizzles out. Tornados are the sole reason we chose a house with a full basement. I wouldn't even look at houses without a basement. Thankfully we've only had to use it for storm safety a few times.
ReplyDeleteStay safe!
Just wait 'til Ranger is old enough to really understand what is going on. Miss B saw just a few minutes of the weather reports from last week's bad storms and was terrified that a tornado would come for us. I told her that we were only expecting a bad storm and wind in our parts and that we would be fine. She wanted me to explain why the "weather people" are trying to scare little kids. We got home well ahead of the weather, but she was afraid to go into her room (we weather bad storms in our hallway).
ReplyDeletejill: How did you do last night? It looks like the KY weather made ours look mild. We're the same about requiring basements.
ReplyDeleteindywriter: I do not look forward to those chats. Yesterday morning I told Ranger that "Wow- now we're going to play with the flashlight." It will be harder when he sees through my bluff.
We came through ok. Most of the most severe damage (and of course a few deaths) was in Western KY - I'm in Central.
ReplyDeleteWe had a tree in our back yard slightly damaged, but nothing major for us. Neighbors had HUGE trees uprooted, patio furniture is strewn about, and there are all kinds of roads blocked and flooded. One main intersection in our town has the lights actually missing. Not out, but gone. That was a fun commute.
Fortunately, the kids slept through the whole thing, even when the sirens went off about 1:00. By the time we got up and were ready to wake the kids to head downstairs, the sirens stopped. My children sleep like the dead, apparently.
Just take him storm chasing a couple of times when he gets older. Turns a lightning storm/tornado warning from a scary thing to something to look forward to. (I still go outside to watch whenever the sirens go off and I notice them. I really want an enclosed porch on the next place.)
ReplyDeleteAlso? I miss our 50 and 60 degree weather... though the 80 and 90 degree weather in not enough months could take a pass.