Role of Your EMA

Safe Driving Tips

If you have a cell phone available for your use, keep the battery charged and keep it with you whenever traveling in winter weather.

Keep a windshield scraper and small broom in your car for ice and snow removal.

Keep your car’s gas tank full for emergency use and to increase your car’s traction.

Plan long trips carefully, travel during daylight when possible, and let someone know your destination, route and expected arrival time.

Put together a disaster supply kit for the trunk of each vehicle to include:

• Several blankets
• Extra set of dry clothing
• Nuts, high energy munchies
• Several bottles of water
• Small shovel, pocket knife
• First aid kit
• Jumper cables & tools
• Small bag of sand
• Flashlight with batteries
• Brightly colored cloth

Important tips if you become stranded:

• Stay with your vehicle
• Display a trouble sign
• Drink fluids
• Take turns sleeping
• Run your engine 10 min. per hour to stay warm, remember to crack open windows while car is running
• Use newspapers and maps for added insulation

Tornado Safety Tips

The following safety tips can protect you during a tornado:

Tornadoes can occur without warning, giving you very little time to act. It is important to know the basics of tornado safety so that you can survive, should a tornado strike.

Tune to one of the following for weather information: local radio, local television, NOAA weather radio, or the Weather Channel.

Don’t wait until the warning alarms sound to begin planning how to respond. Take responsibility for your safety and plan now.

Have a plan. Meet with household members to discuss how to react to a tornado
warning. Hold tornado drills. Learn how to turn off the water, gas and electricity at the main switches.

When a tornado watch is issued, review your plan. Don’t wait for a warning to be issued.

The safest place to be during a tornado is underground. If you have no basement or cellar, go to a small room (a bathroom or closet) in the middle of the building. Once there, try to find something sturdy that you can crawl under. Getting underneath a workbench or heavy table will protect you from flying debris and/or a collapsed roof.

Be aware of emergency shelter plans in buildings and schools where you and your family spend time. If a specific shelter does not exist, move to the building’s lowest level. Try to avoid areas with large glass windows, large rooms, and wide, free-span roofs.

Mobile homes are particularly vulnerable to damage from high winds. Residents (even those who live in mobile homes with tie-downs) should seek safe shelter when a tornado threatens. Go to prearranged shelter when the weather turns bad. If you live in a mobile home park, talk to management about the availability of a nearby shelter. If no shelter is available, go outside and lie on the ground in a ditch or depression. Cover your neck and head with your hands and wait for the storm to pass. While waiting, be alert for the flash floods that may accompany tornadoes.

Never try to outrun a tornado. A tornado can toss cars and even large trucks around like toys. If you see a funnel cloud or hear a tornado warning issued on the radio or by siren, get out of your vehicle and find safe shelter. If no shelter is around, lie down in a low area using your hands to cover the back of your head and neck. Be sure to stay alert for flooding.

Tornado Facts

• A tornado is a violently rotating column of air extending from a thunderstorm to the ground.
• The most violent tornadoes are capable of tremendous destruction with wind speeds of 250 miles per hour or more. Damage paths can be in excess of one mile wide and 50 miles long.
• The average tornado moves from southwest to northeast, but tornadoes have been known to move in any direction.
• The average forward speed of a tornado is 30 miles per hour, but may vary from nearly stationary to 70 miles per hour.
• Ohio’s peak season for tornadoes in April through July.
• Tornadoes are most likely to occur between 2:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., but have been known to occur and any hour day or night.
• Ohio averages 16 tornadoes and five tornado-related fatalities per year.
• Allen County has experienced 12 tornadoes since 1950, resulting in 18 tornado-related deaths.

Thunderstorms/Lightning Safety Tips

The following safety tips can protect you during a thunderstorm:

If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to the storm to be struck by lightning. Go to safe shelter immediately, such as a sturdy building or car. Do not take shelter in small sheds, under isolated trees, or in convertible automobiles.

Telephone lines and metal pipes can conduct electricity. Unplug appliances not necessary for obtaining weather information. Avoid using electrical appliances. Use phones ONLY in an emergency.

Turn off air conditioners. Power surges from lightning can overload the compressors.

Do not take a bath or shower. Water is an electrical conductor.

If caught outdoors and no shelter is nearby:

If lightning is occurring and a shelter is not available, get inside a hard top automobile and keep the windows up.

If no automobile is available, find a low spot away from trees, fences and poles. Be alert to the possibility of flash flooding.

If you are in the woods, take shelter under short trees or bushes.

If you feel your skin tingle or your hair stand on end, squat low to the ground on the balls of your feet. Place your hands on your knees with your head between them. Make yourself the smallest target possible and minimize your contact with the ground.

If you are boating or swimming, get to land and find shelter immediately.

Stay away from open outdoor spaces.

Thunderstorm/Lightning Facts

• Thunderstorms are a common spring and summer occurrence throughout Ohio.
• Many Ohioans may not realize that thunderstorm winds and lightning kill more people each year than tornadoes.
• Over a 30-year time period, lightning has caused approximately 83 deaths in the United States each year.
• All thunderstorms produce lightning. Lightning often strikes outside of heavy rain and may occur as far as 10 miles away from any rainfall.
• In any given thunderstorm, approximately two-thirds of the lightning occurs from cloud-to-cloud and about one-third from cloud-to-ground.
• Lightning results from the buildup and discharge of electrical energy between positively and negatively charged areas. The action of rising and descending air within a thunderstorm separates positive and negative charges.
• Ohio experiences thunderstorm activity an average of 30 to 50 days annually.
• The typical thunderstorm is 15 miles in diameter and lasts 30 minutes.
• Nearly 1,800 thunderstorms occur at any moment around the world.
• That’s 16 million storms per year.
• Of the estimated 100,000 thunderstorms that occur each year in the United States, only about 10% are classified as severe.
• Severe thunderstorms can produce damaging winds as strong as the winds in a weak tornado and can be life threatening.
• A severe thunderstorm can produce hail that is ¾ inch in diameter or larger, winds of 58 miles per hour or higher, or tornadoes.
• Large hail causes nearly $1 billion in damage to property and crops annually.
• The costliest U.S. hailstorm occurred in Denver, July 11th, 1990. Total hail damage was estimated at $625 million.
• Lightning strikes the earth 100 times each second.

Flood Safety Tips

About 80% of flood deaths occur in motor vehicles. Never attempt to drive into a flooded roadway. It only takes about two feet of water to float most cars. A common remark of motorists who survived driving through a flooded road and were swept away was that they only thought the water was a few inches deep.

Even if the vehicle in front of you successfully crossed a water-covered road, it is best to find an alternate route or to wait. If you get stuck, you are not only risking your life, but also the lives of rescue personnel.

Most of the deaths due to flooding in Ohio in the past 10 years have been motorists driving through a flooded roadway or persons refusing evacuation requests. A wise choice can save your life!

If you live in a low-lying area or near a creek, pay close attention to water levels during heavy rain events. Water rises rapidly during flash floods, often taking victims by surprise. Be prepared to move quickly to higher ground if water levels begin rising rapidly.

Never let children play near creeks or storm drains. Every year, deaths or injuries occur as a result of people getting swept away into a creek or storm drain, with the most frequent victims being children.

If you are camping, never place your tent or camper on the bank of a river or creek. Allowing some distance between your campsite and the creek is best, so of a flash flood does occur, you will have more time to move to higher ground.

Remember that just 6 inches of rapidly moving flood water can knock a person down. A mere two feet of water can float a large vehicle, even a bus.

Flood Facts

Floods and flash floods are the leading weather-related killers in the United States. Flooding in Ohio is no exception. In the past 16 years, there have been 68 flood-related deaths in Ohio.

Three types of flooding occur in Ohio . . .

General River Flooding occurs after long-term heavy rain, snow melt, or a combination of the two. It usually occurs slowly, allowing more time to move people and property to safety.

Flash Flooding is always life threatening and occurs very quickly. Flash flooding typically occurs in hilly or mountainous areas, but can occur anywhere when heavy rain falls in a short amount of time. Flash flooding can also be caused by a dam failure.

Urban and Small Stream Flooding is a more subtle flood threat. It can occur when heavy rains fall in an urban or rural area, resulting in flooding streets, underpasses, or drainage ditches in an urban area, or creeks in rural areas. It is not normally a threat unless motorists drive through the flooded road or children play in the flooded drainage ditches. Small stream flooding can be hazardous if persons get too close to a swollen creek.

Heat Awareness Tips

Tolls of extreme heat:

• Heat kills by taxing the human body beyond its abilities
• 175 people succumb to the demands of heat on an annual basis
• In the heat wave of 1980, more than 1,250 people died

Contributing factors:

• Stagnant air conditions in cities add the stress of pollution
• Sunburn can significantly retard the skin’s ability to shed excess heat
• Alcohol and certain medications can limit the ability to shed excess heat

What to look for:

• National Weather Service heat advisories and excessive heat warnings
• NWS forecasts which headline advisories and warnings

Heat Advisory – Issued when the Heat Index (HI), which combines the effects of high temperatures and relative humidity, is expected to be at least 105 degrees for 3 hours or more.

Excessive Heat Warning – Issued when the Heat Index is expected to be at least 115 degrees for 3 hours or more.

How to prevent heat disorders:

• Drink plenty of water, even before you feel thirsty
• Slow down – reduce, reschedule or eliminate strenuous activity
• Dress for heat – wear lightweight, light-colored clothing
• Plan your activities to avoid the sun during the heat of the day

Heat disorders, symptoms and actions:

HEAT EXHAUSTION symptoms include heavy sweating, weakness, cold and/or pale clammy skin, and thready pulse. Actions include: Get the victim out of the sun immediately, lay the victim down and loosen clothing, apply cool wet cloths, give sips of water unless nausea occurs.

HEAT STROKE symptoms include hot and/or dry skin, a rapid and strong pulse, possible unconsciousness. Heat stroke is life threatening! Actions include: Summon medical help or take to hospital, move the victim to a cooler environment, bathe or sponge with cool water, do not give fluids.