SEMA campaign to focus on severe weather events

In the event of a severe weather incident, do you have a plan for safety?

Monday through Friday, the National Weather Service and State Emergency Management Agency will host Missouri Severe Weather Preparedness Week, in which Missourians are urged to learn about severe weather and how to respond to potentially deadly hazards posed by tornadoes, severe storms, lightning and flash flooding.

Each day of the week focuses on a different safety message. Topics that will be covered include having a plan and receiving weather information, tornado safety, lightning safety, hail and wind safety and flood safety.

The most important takeaway folks should have from the weeklong campaign is a plan for safety in the event of a severe weather emergency, NWS meteorologist Rachel Trevino said by phone Thursday. Should a person be forced to make a decision about safety on the fly, "usually you don't make as good of decisions," Trevino said.

"Decide what you want to do before things happen because when severe weather hits and you start to panic, you can't think straight," Trevino said.

Sgt. Joey Hann of the Cape Girardeau Police Department explained the city offers "a very effective, coordinated response effort" to weather events through the police department, fire department, medical personnel, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and additional response and rescue resources.

"But even the most well-staffed municipalities can be overwhelmed by the influx of calls for services when a disaster strikes," Hann stated. "For that reason, it is imperative for every resident and every household to [make] their own individual preparations."

Some of those precautions look like storing the proper disaster prevention supplies: flashlights, batteries, bottled water, a well-prepped first-aid kit, even a National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) radio.

"Every household should have a disaster plan that covers practices and paths of escape if disaster strikes a home, as well as an interior map highlighting structural safe points within the home, such as braced hallways, concrete basements and bathrooms," Hann stated. "It is highly recommended that every household also has a coordinated plan of what to do if disaster strikes while everyone is outside of the home, such as the designation of known primary and secondary rally points for everyone to meet."

Hann also suggested parents and guardians be aware of local school dismissal and evacuation procedures to help streamline those efforts when they occur.

"It is also highly suggested that everyone consistently monitors weather reports so that they can better anticipate weather events and mitigate against being caught off guard," Hann stated.

NWS Paducah serves 58 counties across the lower Ohio and mid-Mississippi valleys. In that area, Trevino said meteorologists have seen a "very, very wet pattern" for roughly the last year and a half. Flooding in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois has been due, in part, to consistent rainfall.

"Our ground has been so saturated, you can have a pretty good idea [heavy rainfall is] going to turn into a flood event," Trevino said. "Sometimes you can get 1 to 2 inches and it causes no flooding. Right now, we get 1 to 2 inches, and you do get flooding because the ground is so soaked."

As of Thursday morning, Trevino said there were still four points in flood stage along the Ohio River and one along the Mississippi River.

But predicting severe weather is an ongoing process often shrouded in fluctuating information.

"You constantly have to watch and adjust and modify things," Trevino said. "It's just an ongoing process all the time to try to get the forecast better and better."

Only once the weather event is about two to three days out do meteorologists have "a really good handle" on the timing and severity of a storm, Trevino said.

Forecasting tornadoes can be challenging, Trevino said, because of their brevity and size.

"Around here, because we don't get the EF4, EF5-type tornadoes that they do in Oklahoma. They're smaller [and] harder to see on the radar," Trevino said. "We get plenty of tornadoes around here, but they're usually EF0s to EF2s."

Missouri experienced 66 tornadoes with three deaths and 38 injuries in 2019, according to a SEMA news release.

As part of Severe Weather Preparedness Week, a statewide tornado drill will take place at 10 a.m. Tuesday and will be signaled by warning sirens and weather alert radios. The Cape Girardeau and Jackson school districts will participate in the drill, according to each district's communication director.

Next week could see a "heavy rain event," Trevino said, noting such an event could lead to river flooding and "other problems," depending on the level of rainfall.

If severe weather is forecasted for March 3, the statewide tornado drill will be moved to Thursday, March 5 at 10 a.m., according to the release.

Additional disaster preparedness tips, NOAA guidelines and CERT program details can be found on the Cape Girardeau Fire Department website at cityofcapegirardeau.org/departments/fire. For more information about how to take shelter from tornadoes, avoid flash flooding and more, visit stormaware.mo.gov.

General safety tips to practice in the event of severe weather, according to SEMA, include:

• The safest shelter location is an interior room without windows on the lowest floor.
• Do not seek shelter in a cafeteria, gymnasium or other large open room because the roof could collapse.
• Immediately leave a mobile home to seek shelter in a nearby building.
• Overpasses are not safe. Their under-the-girder-type construction can cause a dangerous wind tunnel effect.
• If you are driving, stop and take shelter in a nearby building.
• If you are driving in a rural area, drive away from the tornado to the closest building. If you cannot get away, stay in your car with your seatbelt on. Protect yourself from flying debris by placing your head in between your legs underneath the window line and covering it with your arms, a coat or a blanket.
• Never drive into standing water. It can take less than 6 inches of fast-moving water to make a slow-moving car float. Rapidly rising water may engulf the vehicle and sweep it away.