Last night, a tornado warning was issued for our area at almost 11pm that was in effect until 5am this morning. We didn't know this, and awoke at 1:30am to 40-50mph winds roaring outside our window. Panic ensued, thinking it was a tornado outside. I was scared. While I rushed to grab Adelaide from her crib and sit in the hallway, Spencer grabbed his computer to check the weather report. That's when we found about the alert issued by the National Weather Service. We wound up "sleeping" the rest of the night in our bed with the radio turned on low so that we would (hopefully) hear the Emergency Broadcast System, if it went off.
This brings up some serious concerns about our emergency preparedness. We don't have cable/satellite/network television. The music we listen to is from pandora, iTunes, or CDs. We don't have smartphones or even text messaging on our phones. What steps do we need to take to ensure we know about weather-related alerts?
It goes further than that, though. Are we prepared to evacuate on short notice, if necessary? What if a natural disaster did destroy our house? I've had it in the back of my mind to put together a 72-hour kit; maybe it needs to move up my priority list.
Are you prepared for a natural disaster? If not, here are some helpful links:
Kitchen Stewardship outlined how to make a bug-out bag in 20 easy steps. I know that sounds like a lot, but the point is to do one small, easy thing each week. And here's a great post directed at emergency preparedness for couples, especially those of us who are still in school, young professionals, and living in small apartments. There are also a plethora of government sources, such as FEMA and CDC. A simple google search will provide more resources.
I hate tornado watches! The only safe room in our whole house is our downstairs half-bath. You can imagine how well our family of five (plus the dog) fits in there. We will eventually move or add on to our house and when we do I'd like to make sure we have a better setup--maybe even a small underground shelter accessible through the floor. Last night I didn't feel comfortable with our girls upstairs in their bed, so for several hours we camped out together downstairs. Ha ha. Not much sleep was had last night. We need to get a weather radio, but the way the wind was howling last night I wouldn't have trusted it anyway.
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