imstilla.grandma
Believer of Miracles
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I create this thread for my mighty state of Oklahoma. I will return with current stats as I collect them.
In Oklahoma, where a tornado in Moore in 2013 killed 24 people, “the COVID-19 pandemic arrived just as we are entering into our primary storm season,” Keli Cain, public information manager at the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, told Oklahoma Watch.
But because federal and state public health officials recommend people avoid gathering in groups larger than 10 to slow the spread of the disease, local jurisdictions will make the call whether to open their public shelters, Cain said. “Public facilities may be closed. We’re really encouraging people to start thinking about that now,” she told Oklahoma Watch. “This is just March. We still have April, May and June where we have a high frequency of severe weather.”
For example, Newcastle, near Norman, has a city-owned shelter that's rated to hold more than 1,000 people, but it’s closed for now. “We are not going to open the shelter at this time,” city manager Kevin Self, who doubles as the city’s emergency management director, said to Oklahoma Watch. “We can’t run the risk of exposure to coronavirus.”
Tornado shelter during coronavirus: What about social distancing?
Springtime in Oklahoma means families should start making storm preps in case of severe weather. In many areas, that could mean getting ready to go to public shelters, which are having to adjust their plans to keep people from potentially spreading coronavirus while they’re inside.
Emergency managers say the safest option in a tornado warning would be to hunker down where you are, but getting to a shelter before the storm hits is the best way to keep yourself and your family safe.
Social distancing could now clash with hiding in a communal storm shelter, like the one at Kellyville Public Schools. The Kellyville Fire Department will be able to let people in to the shelter at the school, but Superintendent Joe Pierce has instructed them to ask those seeking shelter to stay as far apart from each other as possible while they’re inside.
“In the event that we did have to let the public in there, the next day we would probably have some sort of cleaning regimen that would take place,” Pierce said. “We would isolate that part of the building until we could get in and give it an appropriate sanitizing.”
Prepping Storm Shelters to Avoid Coronavirus Spread
In Oklahoma, meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Norman — arguably the country’s busiest office for tracking significant tornadoes — are working to pull agencies together and issue a joint statement of their own.
“I am actually coordinating with someone. … We’re working on something with the state,” said Rick Smith, the branch’s warning coordination meteorologist.
Smith said he began pursuing the collaboration after encountering concerning inconsistencies between various communities.
“Two communities said, ‘We’re opening our shelter.’ One said, ‘We’re not opening officially.' So it would be good to have some [state] guidance,” Smith said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/03/26/tornado-shelters-coronavirus/
This is the last tornado to directly hit my house. I see them driving as they pass my street sign. They’re here. Boom! at the end is when it hit my house. We didn’t see water, electricity, gas, cable, phone, relatives or this frightening video until many many weeks later after that horrible freight train sound. So we are very frightened right now. What do will we do?
In Oklahoma, where a tornado in Moore in 2013 killed 24 people, “the COVID-19 pandemic arrived just as we are entering into our primary storm season,” Keli Cain, public information manager at the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, told Oklahoma Watch.
But because federal and state public health officials recommend people avoid gathering in groups larger than 10 to slow the spread of the disease, local jurisdictions will make the call whether to open their public shelters, Cain said. “Public facilities may be closed. We’re really encouraging people to start thinking about that now,” she told Oklahoma Watch. “This is just March. We still have April, May and June where we have a high frequency of severe weather.”
For example, Newcastle, near Norman, has a city-owned shelter that's rated to hold more than 1,000 people, but it’s closed for now. “We are not going to open the shelter at this time,” city manager Kevin Self, who doubles as the city’s emergency management director, said to Oklahoma Watch. “We can’t run the risk of exposure to coronavirus.”
Tornado shelter during coronavirus: What about social distancing?
Springtime in Oklahoma means families should start making storm preps in case of severe weather. In many areas, that could mean getting ready to go to public shelters, which are having to adjust their plans to keep people from potentially spreading coronavirus while they’re inside.
Emergency managers say the safest option in a tornado warning would be to hunker down where you are, but getting to a shelter before the storm hits is the best way to keep yourself and your family safe.
Social distancing could now clash with hiding in a communal storm shelter, like the one at Kellyville Public Schools. The Kellyville Fire Department will be able to let people in to the shelter at the school, but Superintendent Joe Pierce has instructed them to ask those seeking shelter to stay as far apart from each other as possible while they’re inside.
“In the event that we did have to let the public in there, the next day we would probably have some sort of cleaning regimen that would take place,” Pierce said. “We would isolate that part of the building until we could get in and give it an appropriate sanitizing.”
Prepping Storm Shelters to Avoid Coronavirus Spread
In Oklahoma, meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Norman — arguably the country’s busiest office for tracking significant tornadoes — are working to pull agencies together and issue a joint statement of their own.
“I am actually coordinating with someone. … We’re working on something with the state,” said Rick Smith, the branch’s warning coordination meteorologist.
Smith said he began pursuing the collaboration after encountering concerning inconsistencies between various communities.
“Two communities said, ‘We’re opening our shelter.’ One said, ‘We’re not opening officially.' So it would be good to have some [state] guidance,” Smith said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/03/26/tornado-shelters-coronavirus/
This is the last tornado to directly hit my house. I see them driving as they pass my street sign. They’re here. Boom! at the end is when it hit my house. We didn’t see water, electricity, gas, cable, phone, relatives or this frightening video until many many weeks later after that horrible freight train sound. So we are very frightened right now. What do will we do?
