Special Thanks to Barbara McNaught Watson, Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service, Baltimore-Washington Forecast Office.
Use the following checklist for the evaluation or design of a severe weather safety plan for your school. The plan should be designed so that teachers and students anywhere on the school grounds can be quickly alerted and follow a preset plan of action to maximize safety.
- Who is responsible for activating the plan? Is there a back-up person?
- What is/are the primary means of receiving severe weather information? NOAA Weather Radio with an Alert feature is recommended.
- What method do you employ to alert teachers and students? Is there a back-up that does not require electricity?
Make provisions for the following problem areas:
- Students that are in mobile classrooms away from the main building and disconnected from an intercom system.
- Students that are in the cafeteria or gymnasium during the storm.
- Any students with disabilities who may be in a position to either not hear the warning or be able to respond to it on their own accord. Assign a teacher to each student who needs special attention to ensure that the student arrives at a place of safety.
- Students who are outside, including after-school activities. Remember, if you hear thunder, it is time to take action. Also, students who are outside are at risk from dangers of large hail and severe thunderstorm winds.
Five main problems for schools in a tornado:
- Forces caused by winds and the airflow around the building.
- Forces caused by other objects (debris) impacting school walls.
- Pressure differences caused by a tornado (secondary to first two).
- Gas leaks and electrical hazards after the storm. Have someone knowledgeable in turning off gas and electricity at the school during school hours.
- “Wind Tunnel Effect” – When blown by tornado-strength winds, debris (such as fragments of glass, wood, and metal) can cause serious injury when accelerated by relatively narrow hallways in schools.
Other thunderstorm hazards: Are you prepared?
- Lightning may pose a threat well before strong winds/rain affect the area. Athletic teams out on open fields need to be especially cautious.
- Large hail – the larges hail usually occurs near the most dangerous area of the storm for the development of tornadoes. Large hail can break windows.
- Heavy rains/ flooding – Are there flood-prone areas near the school?
- Damaging “straight-line” winds – A thunderstorm does not have to produce a tornado to pose a threat to schools in students.
Safest places to be in a school: (assuming no underground shelter)
- Interior hallway on the lowest level.
- Away from windows.
- If possible get in a hallway that is at a right angle to the approaching tornado’s path (to avoid the wind tunnel effect).
- In a small room such as a bathroom, surrounded by load-bearing walls.
- In a room without small objects that can serve as projectiles.
Some other aspects of designing a plan:
- Practice your plan. Have drills semi-annually (fall and spring).
- Include Severe Weather Safety Instruction as part of the drill period.
- Encourage teachers and administrators to develop a plan for their families at home. The knowledge that their families know what to do at home will enable them to focus their attention on the students. The American Red Cross has brochures on developing a “Family Protection Plan.”
- Educate school administrators about the structure of severe thunderstorms and the basic sequence of events as a storm approaches. Explain the concepts of rotating wall clouds and the preferred locations for these features within the storm. (Attend the NWS SKYWARN severe spotter training class – no fee). Emphasize the variability that may exist with each storm and the need to understand basic storm structure to assist in determining the degree of threat at a school.
- For optimum planning purposes, an engineer and a member of the local school board should participate in the design of an emergency plan.
- Encourage administrators to contact the nearest National Weather Service Office or Local Emergency Services Coordinator for assistance in answering ANY questions that may arise in developing a plan.
