A Thought On Planning for Tornadoes

Bell is a wonderful motorcycle helmet

Dallas/Fort Worth yesterday.  (Photo: Tim Sharp,   Reuters)

  
    Today was a peculiar weather day for many places in the world.  In Scotland, just a couple of days from unseasonable 70 degree F. weather, there was a blizzard which extended to the North of England.   In  the Dallas, Texas and Fort Worth area, reports say that THIRTEEN tornadoes did significant damage to homes, subdivisions, schools, stores, and tractor trailer trucks. Early reports cite massive damage. We are still waiting to hear from our many friends in the area   National News claims that there was at least one F-3 tornado, and that 6.3 million people were displaced or needed to be relocated as a result of these storms.  It is absolutely miraculous that the early warning system in Texas worked so effectively that no deaths resulted from these significant scary storms.
    One family told an interesting account of their survival.  Without a basement, their safest location was their bathtub.  In order to protect their children from flying debris as their house came apart, they quickly donned the sports helmets that their children used to go skateboarding.  I got to thinking about this.  Almost any helmet would be very helpful in such a situation.   A motorcycle helmet, some bicycle helmets, a skateboarding helmet could all prevent serious head injury during a tornado.   Although these are expensive when new, if you have these already, you might consider placing them all in a central areas so that they may be grabbed in a moment's notice.  It also might make sense to buy one used at either a garage sale or at somewhere like "Play It Again Sports" which specialized in used sporting equipment.  I would select one with the maximum coverage around the head and face.  It would still be necessary to cover the child's head and face with pillows just before the impact of the storm, but this would afford extra protection. I would clean such a purchase with a mild bleach solution, or perhaps some Lysol spray and then air the purchase outdoors for awhile before putting it away.  Don't forget the adults in your family.   I don't know that I would spend hundreds on outfitting your family for tornado headgear, but I would gather these items inexpensively if I could, and place them near a "tornado kit".  Remember that all of the 50 US states CAN develop tornadoes, and so can much of Canada.  Even England had a tornado in the last couple of years.  Stay safe.

This is a motorcycle helmet.  This affords a lot of protection if you have one.

Lancaster, Texas taken yesterday.  ( Photo: Tim Sharp, Reuters)

This is an aviation helmet.  Sometimes it is possible to buy these reasonably from military surplus stores or even from E-bay.

Best wishes to those who were in Dallas-Fort Worth today.  May you all stay safe.

I found this on a biker's blog for a post entitled "Helmet is Very Important" 

 (Photo: 21hotbiker.blogspot.com)