Surviving my First Tornado Warning

I got to experience my first tornado warning last week. 

Paul called me and asked “do you hear the tornado sirens?”.  I said “no, how long have they been going off?”  “Awhile”, he said.  He also shared with me that one tornado hit an area not too far from where he lived.   He advised me to take cover. 

I then started to plan out my “take cover” strategy.  Things needed while I’m in cover – laptop so that I could stay in touch with the world around me.  That is all I initially cared about.  I then came to my senses and decided that having some blankets with me might help.  After all, I’ve heard people with more tornado experience than me say you need mattresses, pillows, and blankets.  Next decision to make: where in my apartment do I take cover?  Paul had suggested my laundry room since it is in the middle of my apartment, away from outside walls, and would shelter me from any broken glass.  One problem with the laundry room – it is the happy home to my hot water heater, which sits overhead on a shelf.  I have visions of winds whipping through my apartment and tossing that puppy on me.  I don’t care how may blankets and pillows I have, having a hot water tank heaped on me doesn’t sound appealing.  Being a tornado novice, I did the next best thing – I stood outside my laundry room door, with laptop in hand and my blankets surrounding me. 

As I sat there, I wondered:

1. How would I know it would be okay to resume my normal activities? 
2. How would I know that a tornado wasn’t getting ready to sweep away my apartment complex?
3. Would these blankets really protect me from the tornado?

Since I didn’t have any answers for my questions, I kept my eye on my laptop screen watching Twitter updates from other people located in the area. I learned a lot about the tornado warnings from other people’s tweets.  After a few minutes, Paul called to let me know that the warning was lifted.  It was a good thing since I still couldn’t hear the sirens to determine when they had stopped, nor could I hear the hard rain that was coming down; I guess my apartment is shelter pretty good.

Yes, I survived my first tornado warning, but I still don’t consider myself an expert in figuring out my personal take cover strategy for the next one.  I have come to the conclusion that covering myself up in my garden tub is a better than my laundry room and that I would rather drive in a blizzard in NY than wait for a tornado to pass by.