Essential bad weather safety tips to save your life

Knowing bad weather safety tips is essential to save your life. In fact, there are millions of people who die each year of natural disasters. Just only in the US, this number is hundreds of people dying due to heatwaves, hurricanes, lightning, winter cold, etc. Moreover, thousands of people are damaged by these severe weather events annually. Therefore, to protect yourself before the damage of nature, let’s read and remember these important tips below.

Essential bad weather safety tips to save your life

Essential bad weather safety tips to save your life

What you should do before severe weather strikes?

First of all, installing a weather forecast app on your phone is convenient for you to get weather news as well as other important information. There are tons of weather app on both Android and iOS operating systems which you can easily search and download. 

Most of these iOS and Android weather apps are free and have a friendly-design, therefore, you can be definitely comfortable using them. Moreover, a special feature of installing a weather app you should consider is weather notifications in the early morning each day. 

Thanks to that, you can see “what is the weather today” on your notification screen without opening the app. Dangerous warnings are also sent to you when occurring in bad weather conditions. From that, you can prepare and take a safe place to shelter. This is one of the list of bad weather safety tips you need to know.

Installment a weather forecast app on your phone is convenient for you to get weather news as well as other important information

Besides, when a natural disaster happens, identifying a safe place to take shelter is also important you need to take notice of. Information on how to build a Safe Room in your home or school is available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency at:

Visit the website to learn the way of building or finding a safe shelter.

Furthermore, you can keep a highway map nearby because you can look at the map and follow storm movement, direction from weather bulletins. Knowing the direction of the disaster, you can avoid that dangerous movement way and go to other safe ways.

Knowing the direction of the disaster, you can avoid that dangerous movement way and go to other safe ways

Installing the best weather forecast apps is not enough, it just sends you alerts, bad weather safety tips but you will need to spend time to read them. Therefore, it is better to combine using a weather app and listening to commercial radio or television/cable TV for weather information. These resources will provide you more useful information which you have not read yet to help you be confident to overcome bad weather conditions. 

Last but not least, if there are elders, young kids, people who have physically or mentally disabling conditions, they will need to be taken after carefully. Plan a schedule, task-list when having bad weather conditions or even natural disasters to make sure they are safe. Of course, Do not forget about pets and farm animals. 

Bad weather safety tips

These bad weather safety tips below are useful in each different natural disaster.

Tornado Safety Tips

1. Seek a shelter in buildings 

When a tornado comes close to you, let’s seek shelter in a sturdy building, or a pre-designated shelter. If you are in the higher floor of the building, you should go to the ground floor or the lowest level  of the building, preferably in a basement. Besides, getting under firm things such as a heavy desk or workbench; sitting next to the wall is a safe place you can choose when you do not have time to go to a shelter. Remember to cover your head with your arms/hands in order to protect your head. 

2.  Shelter interior room

If an underground shelter is not available, move to shelter in an interior room/hallway which has many concrete walls or obstacles between you and the outside of the building, and stay away from windows. When a tornado comes, with the huge pressure of water, glass windows will collapse and you will be injured or even die. Another good safe place you can find is to get into a bathtub or under a bed or sofa.

3. Get out of vehicles 

Bad weather safety tips when having a tornado is to get out of vehicles. In general, you will think being in a car is safe enough to prevent the damage of natural disasters if you are outside. However, this thought is totally wrong. You should change this thought. Cars can easily be tossed around  as well as do not try to outrun a tornado. Your car will never drive faster than the speed of a tornado.

Bad weather safety tips when having a tornado is to get out of vehicles

4. Lie down and protect your head if you are outside

If caught outside, let’s lie flat on the ground and cover your head with your hands. Remember, in tornado situations, glass, concrete debris often stuck in roadside ditches or other low spots. As a result, if heavy rains are pouring in the area, ditches and low spots become flooded areas quickly. Therefore, laying down in a ditch may make you injured and drowning. This is not your best choice.

5. Do not seek shelter under a highway overpass

If you hide under a highway overpass, you are placing yourself at risk. The wind blows stronger under the overpass due to the wind-tunnel effect. Additionally, flying debris (glass, wood, metal) can pummel you, and the tornado winds may suck you out from under the overpass anyway.

6.  Avoid the southeast side of the basement

The southwest side of the basement is not necessarily the safest place. In fact, vehicles can be pushed into basements. Therefore, you can still be crushed no matter where you are in the basement. Even the bricks/stones of a fireplace can crash into the basement and crush you!

7. Take notice of the sign of weather conditions

Remember that the tornado can occur before there is a visible funnel cloud. A tornado is nothing more than a violently rotating column of air extending from the ground to the cloud base. You may not be able to see the tornado (can’t see the rotating air) until enough debris and dirt get swept into the vortex, and/or the visible funnel cloud develops all the way to the ground.

Lightning Safety Tips:

Bad weather safety tips for lightning 

1. Postpone outdoor activities

The first bad weather safety tips is to postpone outdoor activities if thunderstorms are imminent. Android weather apps are often developed to have alert notifications. Install it and get warning when there is lightning outside and then delaying. The speed of lightning can reach up to 5-10 miles away from the thunderstorm and strike the ground with blue sky overhead. The storm does not have to be overhead in order for you to be struck.

2. Choose a firm shelter

When realizing a sign of lightning, let’s move to a sturdy shelter or vehicle. Remember that do not hide in a small shed, under isolated trees, or in a convertible-top vehicle. These places are not safe enough or even dangerous for you. Moreover, you should stay away from tall objects such as trees or towers or poles. Lightning can strike tall obstacles and make you injure.

3. Do not touch metal surface

Do not touch metal surfaces when there is lightning outside to avoid shockwaves. If you are in your vehicle when lightning strikes, do not touch a metal surface absolutely. You are safer in a vehicle than being outdoors.

Do not touch metal surface

4.  Do not use electrical appliances

When lightning happens, a bad weather safety tip you need to remember is that do not use electrical appliances. The reason is that utility lines or pipes can carry the electrical current underground or through a building and there could be an open wire which causes a shockwave. Therefore, avoid electrical appliances, and use telephones or computers only in an emergency.

5. Do not lie flat

If you feel your hair standing on end, let’s get down quickly into a baseball catcher’s position and plug your ears with your fingertips so if lightning does hit, it will not blow your eardrums out. Do not lie flat! See the pic below to protect your ear in the right way.

 Let’s get down quickly into a baseball catcher’s position and protect your eardrums

6. 30/30 rule 

The 30/30 rule is very important and you should learn by heart. The rule is shown that if the time between lighting and thunder is 30 seconds or less, go to a safe shelter. Stay there until 30 minutes after the last rumble of thunder. 

Flash Flood/Flood Safety Tips:

1. Do not try to drive over a flash flood

The first bad weather safety tips when occurring flash flood is do not try to drive over the flash flood. In reality, there are nearly half of all fatalities in a flash flood which relates to a person driving a vehicle. Hence, do not drive into a flooded area. Turn Around ! Don’t Drown! Maybe you do not believe it, but it can take only 2 feet of water to float away most cars. That's the amazing power of nature. 

The first bad weather safety tips when occurring flash flood is do not try to drive over the flash flood

2. Do not walk through a flooded area

Besides, you also should not try to walk through a flooded area. It can be a shallow area , you think you can go through easily but the fact is totally different. With just only 6 inches of fast-moving water, it can sweep a person off their feet. It is very threatening so do not walk through or go through with the help of another specific - role person. 

3. Move to a higher area to shelter

Move to a higher as much as possible to avoid floods. Especially, if you are camping in a river valley, you should move to higher ground quickly if thunderstorms with heavy rains are in the area. Do not attempt to drive away because it will be very desperate.

4. Don’t operate electrical tools in flooded areas

Plug out as well as do not use any electrical tools in flooded areas. This bad weather safety tip is important and you need to do first if your house is flooded. There may be open wire and electricity can transfer from that open wire causing a shockwave. 

Don’t operate electrical tools in flooded areas

5. Prepare torch  

At any time, at any bad weather you should prepare at least a torch in your home. Most flash flood deaths happen in the middle of the night. That time, it is dark outside and more difficult to see rising water levels judging the depth of water covering road surfaces. Torch will make it easier to move and raise the possibility of survival.

Conclusion

Do you remember those bad weather safety tips above? Installing iOS and Android weather apps is to get weather alerts. Natural disasters can come suddenly damaging humans therefore, you need to learn how to protect yourself. These tips are essential to save your life as well as your relatives. Read more useful tips at the news of Weather Forecast.