Where do you go when the sirens go off?

[Feralpeg]

When I lived in Kansas City, we'd go to a little room under the basement stairs. Now, I have no basement and there are no sirens. If the weather radio says there is a tornado warning, I check the television to see what is happening. If necessary, I could go to a closet. I really do miss my basement.

 

[Feralpeg]

This is a very timely thread for me.

I was in the Jackson, Michigan area for the weekend camping out in the middle of nowhere, not at a recognized campground.

We heard the sirens go off last night but since we don't have them here (across the border in Ontario, Canada) we were actually wondering how the system works

Are there different siren sounds, lengths of the siren etc to let you know when it is a warning or a watch and also the radio said something about sounding the all-clear siren. How does that differ from the original siren sounded?

In Kansas City, there are two different sounds of siren. If the sirens sounded a long blast, that meant a tornado warning. The sirens did not go off for a watch. If you heard a series of short blasts, that meant an attack. Of course, the only time they every did the short blasts were on a testing schedule. Everyone in KC knows that the sirens are tested the first Wednesday of each month at 2 pm. If I'd ever heard the shorts blasts on any other day, I would probably have had a heart attack!

 

[AustinTink]

We have a half-bath in the middle of the house, with no windows. It fits two adults, one kid and a dog. Although, my husband loves to stand on the front porch and watch. Last year he got an actual picture of a funnel on the golf course across the street from us. He was in sooooo much trouble with me!

Do you all crack your windows when a tornado is imminent? We do.

 

[minkydog]

We have a tornado siren stationed at the high school about 1/2 mile from my house. Believe me, that thing could raise the dead! When the siren goes off the first thing we do is turn on the news to see what's going on. In the past we have herded everyone to the basement--I have a windowless "safe room"/laundry down there. But now that Christian is so big(he's 15) I can't safely get him down there in the middle of the night. So I basically lay beach towels over him and just sit by his side ready to throw myself over him if I need to. He usually sleeps right through it. I just pray the windows never blow in.

 

[SandrA9810]

Not all places have sirens. The past few years in central florida, there's been really bad tornados around christmas time. There's been a huge push to put up sirens. They were giving away free weather radios for a while.

Growing up in Miami, it was only common to get hurricanes, which is what spawned the tornadoes. And since hurricanes are very predictable, it's very easy to be prepared with the house boarded up.
Our house was actually built about 3ft above ground, and ranch style, so windows in practically every room. There were two rooms, laundry and a small bathroom that didn't have windows.
But i don't ever remember hunkering down. During hurricanes we sat in the living room in the front of the house because there were two sets of large sliding glass doors on the back of the house. And my grandfather would go outside to check on the storm.
Andrew was the only really really bad storm i clearly remember, everything else was just another thunderstorm...

 

[bookgirl]

The sirens went off around 3:20 AM today so I laid towels in the the bathtub (we don't have a basement) and put the boys (7&12) in the bathtub where they promptly fell asleep! Where do you go when the sirens go off?

Outside.


But I'm from Oklahoma our sirens go off only to tell us to tune in to the media or to get off the water, we're kinda use to twisters, so we always have the tv or radios going during the storm, so unless it's right over us on the radar we're out looking. Unless you're smack dab in the middle of the city you can usually see the circulation a few miles away.

 

[Karibeth19]

Outside.


But I'm from Oklahoma our sirens go off only to tell us to tune in to the media or to get off the water, we're kinda use to twisters, so we always have the tv or radios going during the storm, so unless it's right over us on the radar we're out looking. Unless you're smack dab in the middle of the city you can usually see the circulation a few miles away.

I was just about to post the same thing!!!

 

[bookgirl]

I was just about to post the same thing!!!

I posted before I read the thread, and thought 'someone is going to just lecture me about going outside', then I read the thread and about every 5th one was some variation of outside looking at the storm.

We midwesterners aren't afraid of a little wind. Not so sure about other natural disasters. Once when I was in Vegas and I kept telling my mom the hotel feels like we're shaking...and turned on the news and there was a quake. I'm sure if I'd have known I'd have been freaked out.

 

[C.Ann]

We had tornado watches all day today - here in the mountains.. We don't typically have tornadoes - but over the years there have been a few - and one was particularly bad..

I don't have a basement here and I have no "interior" rooms or closets.. I don't believe we have any sirens here - they would most likely use the Emergency Alert system on the tv.. I have a key to my neighbors place - down across from my extra lot - and they have a basement.. So - I guess if I was in a situation where I knew it was really bearing down on me, I could try to make a run for it to their place.. If it was too dangerous to go outside, I guess I would just get under my bed - and pray..

The one thing my Dson-in-law did tell me is that if I ever have to go over to the neighbors to that basement, do not stay in the center of the room.. Huddle in a corner - because the collapse will cave in towards the center.. Good to know - I never would have thought of that..

 

[kristilew]

Sirens here are for lightening strikes. When we hear them, we get the heck away from the water, and fast.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Sirens here are for lightening strikes. When we hear them, we get the heck away from the water, and fast.

That is interesting.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

This hasn't happened yet since I moved, but I purposely bought a house with a basement for this reason. I lived on a second floor apartment for a couple of years in Kirksville, MO and always worried about where I would go as there were no good options. Last year, while I was here closing on my house, they did indeed have a tornado in the Kirksville/Novinger area. Several people were killed. It turns out I would have been fine in my apartment, but I know I would have been terrified the whole time.

If it happens here, I'm going straight to my basement. In my parents' house, we use the bathroom in the basement. We only had to truly go down there one time that I recall, and thankfully that one never touched down, but the hail was awful and it looked like somebody had tried shooting out our neighbors' siding!

ETA: That night we had to go to my parents' basement, I was very disappointed with Weather Channel. They were playing their commercials for "Storm Stories" all night, which features a tornado siren. I would always mute it to make sure our siren wasn't going off. I finally changed the channel, and when our siren did go off, it took me a minute to realize that I was no longer on the weather channel and that wasn't the tv. You would think that in the middle of a tornado outbreak, they would refrain from playing those commercials.

 

[MidgeD79]

135 mph isn't a little wind! I had the boys take cover because the tornado had touched down in Dundee (about 10 miles from us) and it was dark. During the day, if the sirens go off, I'll turn off the tv and computer and watch outside until I see something that I don't like. In the 8.5 years we've been here, we've only taken cover 2x and Sunday AM was the second time. The only other siren we have here is the Fermi (nuclear power plant) and if those sirens go off, I would get down on my knees and pray - forget about hiding anywhere (it's about 5 miles from us)!

 

[Stargazer]

We always turn on the local news first (if it's not already on) - our city's policy is to sound the sirens whenever the county is issued a tornado warning, so that doesn't always mean it's anywhere near us.

If we are in the path, then we go to the master bedroom closet, which is the safest room in our house. All of our other rooms share an exterior wall due to the open floorplan.