Preparing Your Home for a Tornado

The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center has issued an enhanced severe storm warning for Saskatchewan and Manitoba with a five percent chance of tornadoes.

Is your home tornado ready? No? You'll want to follow these tornado preparedness tips.

Pick a safe place
Choose a structurally sound place in your home to wait out the tornado. Basements are preferred, but closets and interior rooms without windows also work. Laying inside a bathtub with a heavy mattress pad on top of you is also acceptable in a pinch. Hold a tornado drill in advance to practise retreating to this area with your family.

Pack a tornado kit
Before a potential storm, prepare a tornado kit and place it somewhere it can easily be grabbed during an emergency. This kit should include:

• Non-perishable food and water, enough for a 72 hour period
• First aid kit
• Flashlights and extra batteries
• Essential medicines
• Battery-powered or hand radio
• Cell phone with fully charged battery

Scan important documents

In case of emergency, save hard to replace documents such as birth and marriage certificates by scanning them into an online database like Google Drive.

Keep up to date
Stay up to date on any changes in your area by listening to the local weather report. Should a tornado be imminent, you can prepare yourself and your family accordingly.