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Campus Tornado Safety
Tips |
Tornado
season in Oklahoma is generally from March through June. (Although
tornados can occur at any time of the year, they are more likely to form during
the spring months.) Now is the time to decide the best course of action to
take in case the tornado warning sirens sound while you are in class, on your
job, in University housing or in off-campus housing.
Remember, you are responsible
for finding shelter in the event of a tornado.
Persons with disabilities who are
mobility impaired must also make plans. If a power outage occurs during
severe weather, elevators may not work. Go to a small interior room or
closet (or a landing in an interior stairwell); stay away from windows and
exterior walls.
If you are on the main campus
during a normal workday, the best places to seek shelter are in buildings with
basements.
If the building you are in does
not have a basement, go to the ground floor and get in an interior (windowless)
room or hallway (put as many walls between you and the outside as
possible). It is too risky to go to another building once the storm
sirens are sounding.
These buildings have
basements: 4-H Bldg., Ag Hall, Architecture, Bennett Hall, Business,
Classroom, Colvin, Cordell, Engineering North & South, Gallagher-Iba, Human
Environmental Science, Iba Hall, Library, Life Science East & West, Math
Science, Noble, North Murray, Parker Hall, Physical Science, Scott Hall,
Seretean Performing Arts Center, Small Grains, Stout Hall, Student Union,
Seretean Wellness Center, Wentz Hall, and Willard Hall. (Note that some of
these basements are quite small.)
Some places of concern on campus
are the glass-walled hallways and lobbies of the Colvin Center, Food &
Agricultural Products Center, Wes Watkins CITD Building, the atrium areas of the
Noble Research Center and the Student Union, and the Kerr-Drummond
mezzanine. It is best to stay away from these areas when
looking for shelter.
After hours, Campus Police will
open four buildings for general shelter in the event of tornadic
weather: 4-H, Ag Hall, Engineering South, and the Student Union.
Monitor weather reports and go to these buildings when it begins to storm; if
the sirens are sounding, it is too late to seek other shelter.
A good idea would be for your
office to have a drill during the next regularly-scheduled storm siren test
(1st Tuesday of every month at 11:30 a.m.). The Environmental
Health & Safety Department encourages you to take responsibility for plans
in your area.
Post this notice (http://www.pp.okstate.edu/ehs/chapters/tornado_info.htm)
on bulletin boards in your area. It contains information on after-hour
shelter sites and local radio stations.
More information on tornado
safety can be found on the EHS web site weather page at
http://www.pp.okstate.edu/ehs/weather.htm