Tornado drill taking place across Missouri next week

~ Similar drills have been conducted in Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois.

With tornado season approaching, the National Weather Service is taking steps to prepare itself and the public.

A tornado warning drill is scheduled to be broadcast over television, radio, and weather radios throughout Missouri at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to the weather service.

Similar drills have already been conducted in Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois. The drill, expected to last two to three minutes, will test the communication channels from the weather service to various local entities.

"Our intention is for people to treat it as it is a warning and to take action," said Rick Shanklin, the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

In conjunction with the drill, all Cape Girardeau city departments will test and evaluate their paging system at such places as the Arena Building, said fire department battalion chief Fred Vincel.

The town's warning siren, which is tested at noon the first Wednesday of every month will not be sounded, Vincel said.

The 10 buildings in the Cape Girardeau School District will also participate in the drill Tuesday, school district safety coordinator Fred Jones said.

About 4,000 students from kindergarten through high school will go to designated safety areas of their school, be it a basement or hallway, Jones said.

Both Saint Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital will conduct small, in-house drills as part of the statewide effort.

This is the only time of the year a statewide tornado drill is conducted, Shanklin said. The area's peak tornado season runs from April through the first of June.

A "moderate" risk of severe weather was forecast for today, something that only occurs about six times a year, Shanklin said.

Thunderstorms with wind damage are possible in Southeast Missouri, as are tornadoes, he said.

In the event of a real tornado, Shanklin said residents should go to the lowest floor of the building and find the smallest, most interior room, preferably with no windows.

kmorrison@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127