Seeking shelter
Cheryl Unruh
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
IT’S MARCH, do you know where your storm shelter is?
As spring rolls in, sure as shootin’ the storms will roll in too. It’s the time of year when a cold front bully picks a fight with a warm patch of air and the atmospheric rumble tumbles down to earth in the form of tornadoes, lightning and hail.
Stormy springs are just one of those exciting things we grow up with in the Sunflower State. Most of us know the drill — spring brings us robins, tulips and tornadoes.
In school, many of us practiced the required tornado drills. At Pawnee Rock Grade School, we were led into the nuclear fallout shelter, the basement with the ominous sign bearing three yellow triangles within a black circle.
In the ‘60s, we didn’t duck and cover from nuclear fallout, or from actual tornadoes, but with the ringing of the alarm, classrooms of children lined up in the hallway.
In silence, we filed down the hall, then wiggled our way through the lunchroom kitchen, past the big bread mixer, the stainless steel countertops and the smiles of Ruby, Wynona and Pauline who were preparing our noon meal.
When we reached the shelves containing industrial-sized cans of pears and peaches, we took a left down the stairs into a small basement in which we stood close enough to smell the fragrance of shampoo in each other’s hair.
In the pantry-cave, we whispered and waited for the “all clear.” We giggled when our stomachs growled, that hunger triggered by the aroma of rolls baking in the oven.
No school-baked rolls for us today, but we are passing through another March, another severe weather season. And so it’s a good idea to make note of potential tornado shelters along our daily routes.
This is Severe Weather Awareness Week. Tonight at 7 p.m., the National Weather Service will present a storm spotter training class at the Anderson Building on the Lyon County Fairgrounds. Another class will be held March 24 at 7 p.m., at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Olpe.
Last year, in 2008, only one tornado touched down in Lyon County; six counties had ten or more twisters.
According to an on-line information packet prepared by the National Weather Service, 2008 was a record-setting year: Kansas skies dropped 187 tornadoes. Four people died in those storms, nine were injured.
Just to show how big of a number 187 is – the annual average for tornadoes in Kansas is 59.
Last year’s busiest day for the NWS was May 23 with a whopping 70 tornadoes in the state. May was definitely a cloud-spinning month as 127 funnels touched the ground.
In the world of Kansas weather, tornadoes get the big press, but lightning, hail and flash floods all fall under the severe weather umbrella.
In the past 50 years, lightning has killed 63 people in Kansas and 208 have been injured. Last year, a Topeka girl received lightning-strike injuries while showering in her home during a thunderstorm.
Flash floods happen. Many of us remember Labor Day Weekend 2003 when six people lost their lives in a flash flood south of Emporia on the Kansas Turnpike. A memorial at the Matfield Green service area recognizes the heroism of Al Larsen, who died while trying to rescue a family.
Some advice has changed over the years regarding tornado safety. The experts used to suggest that before heading to your basement you should equalize air pressure in your home by raising the windows. Now the prevailing theory is — if the tornado wants your windows open, it’ll open them for you.
So, that’s one less thing to do when the city sirens go off, or when your NOAA radio announces a tornado warning.
Spiders or no, the basement is your friend. Find a sturdy place in your house, in that basement if you have one, or in a small room on the lowest level of your home. Be sure to protect your body from flying debris. I once heard a meteorologist say, “If a coffee mug hits you at 200 mph, it’s gonna hurt.”
Ready or not, storms will come. Let’s be ready.
Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.
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Posted by madpoet (anonymous) on March 10, 2009 at 2:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You were lucky, Cheryl. We didn't have a shelter at my school. We had to sit in the halls with our heads tucked. As we got older, we referred it to the "kiss your butt goodbye" pose. The sirens only went off once or twice while I was in school in Winfield. One I remember vividly still. I was in jr. high and we had to run down from the gym thru pouring rain to the main building to huddle in the halls. I never understood how that was safer than the gym or how none of us tripped and got trampled en route. I seem to recall once in high school the sirens went off but the school has a lower level. The lucky ones got to go into the locker rooms under the commons area. The rest had to line the lower hallways and hope for the best. We were fortunate and the tornadoes stayed far from the schools both times.
Posted by lovelyp0is0n (anonymous) on March 23, 2009 at 10:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
are there any public storm shelters in emporia
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