Safety Tips for Stormy Weather

As temperatures begins to cool for fall, we head into a new season for weather. Here are some tips to help prepare you for various storm situations:


Lightning Safety Tips

• Seek shelter inside a building with plumbing pipes and wiring, like your home or a store.
• Avoid contact with conducting pathways, like plumbing, corded phones, televisions and electronic equipment. Appliances, when plugged in, can conduct electricity from the outside.
• Use only a cordless telephone during an electrical storm and stand away from the phone charging base.
• Avoid household chores, like doing the dishes, and delay showering until after a storm passes, as pipes are conduits for electricity and touching them can result in an electrical shock.
• Stay indoors for 30 minutes after a storm passes, as lightning can strike miles from a storm’s center.

AAA Hail and Rain Damage Prevention Tips

• Seek shelter during a hail storm and park your vehicle in a covered space.
• If caught in a car with no shelter from a severe hailstorm, park and cover your face with clothing to protect yourself from flying glass.
• Never attempt to drive through a flooded road, or drive around street barriers. A foot of water can float many vehicles.
• Avoid ravines and dry creek beds during heavy rain. Flash floods can occur with little or no warning.
• At home, keep rain gutters and spouts clear of debris to allow runoff to flow freely away from the house.
• Repair and maintain your roof and consider installing hail-resistant roof tiles.
• If you are inside during a hailstorm, close the window coverings and stay away from windows and skylights as hail and wind may shatter windows and blow glass inward.

What you should know about floods

• Homeowners may be at risk of flooding, even if they don’t live in a designated flood zone.
• Floods are the number one disaster in the United States and they occur in all 50 states.
• Some floods develop slowly, while flash floods can develop in just a few minutes, even without visible signs of rain.
• Federal law requires flood insurance for federally financed loans if you live in a high-risk flood zone, and lenders may require it for moderate risk zones.
• The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) says just an inch of water can cause damage to your property, and flash floods can bring waves of water many feet high.
• Flooding can also occur due to clogged drains or pipes, or new construction in or around your home that changes natural drainage pathways.
• You can learn more about the flood risk to your home and community at www.fema.gov.

AAA Checklist for Tornado Preparedness

• Keep emergency and first aid kits available, including a battery powered radio, extra batteries, food, and water.
• Prepare a disaster communications plan with your family members.
• Learn your children’s school disaster dismissal policy.
• Identify a safe shelter area in your home, away from windows. Choose the interior part of a basement, or an inside room on the lowest floor like a closet, bathroom or center hallway.
• Practice your shelter in a safe place plan with your family.
• Know where your utility switches are located and how to turn off gas, water and electricity.