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    Tornadoes

  

  

  

  • Warnings and watches
  • Safety tips
  • How tornadoes form
  • myths and facts
  • rating tornadoes
  • Ohio tornadoes
  • insurance claims

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    WARNINGS AND WATCHES

    WHAT TO LOOK FOR

    Telltale signs of a tornado include:
  • Dark, sometimes greenish sky.
  • A rotating wall cloud filling the sky.
  • Large hail.
  • A loud roar, which has been compared to the sound of a freight train.
    • If you follow the advice of the experts and tune in your radio or TV forsevere weather warnings, here's what the terms mean.Tornado warning: A tornado has been sighted or indicated by weatherradar.
    Tornado watch: Tornadoes are possible in your area.
    Severe thunderstorm warning: Severe storms are occurring.
    Severe thunderstorm watch: Severe storms are possible.
      

      

    PROTECTING YOURSELF

    If threatening weather is approaching:
  • Stay tuned to weather reports.
  • Move to a pre-designated shelter, such as a basement.
  • If an underground shelter is not available, move to an interior room orhallway on the lowest floor, and get under a sturdy piece of furniture.
  • Stay away from windows.
  • Do not try to outrun a tornado in your car. Leave the vehicle.
  • If caught outside or in a vehicle, lie flat in a ditch or depression.
  • Mobile homes should be abandoned.
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    MYTHS AND FACTS

    Myth: Windows should be opened before a tornado approaches to equalizepressure and minimize damage.
    Fact: Opening windows allows damaging winds to enter the structure. Leavethe windows alone and go to a safe place.

    Myth: The low pressure with a tornado causes buildings to explode as thetornado passes overhead.
    Fact: Violent winds and debris slamming into buildings cause moststructural damage.

    Myth: Areas near rivers, lakes and mountains are safe from tornadoes.
    Fact: No place is safe from tornadoes. In the late 1980s, a tornado sweptthrough Yellowstone National Park and left a path of destruction up and down a10,000-foot mountain.

    Myth: Tornadoes always occur between 3 and 9 p.m.
    Fact: Tornadoes have been know to occur at all hours of the day andnight.

    Myth: Tornadoes always appear as a visible funnel extending toward theground.
    Fact: Although it's true that some tornadoes are clearly visible, othersare obscured by rain or low-hanging clouds.

    Myth: Tornadoes always move from southwest to northeast.
    Fact: Tornadoes have been known to move in all directions.

    SOURCES: The Dayton Chapter of the American Red Cross; the National WeatherService; the Miami Valley Emergency Management Authority, Ohio Committee forSevere Weather Awareness.
      

      

      There are three types of tornado:

    Weak: Last 10 minutes or less; have wind speeds of less than 113 mph; causeless than 5 percent of tornado deaths.

    Strong: May last 20 minutes or longer; have wind of 113 to 206 mph; cause30 percent of all tornado deaths.

    Violent: May last an hour or more; have wind speeds greater than 206 mph;cause 70 percent of all tornado deaths.

      

    Ohio tornadoes

    In 1998, there were 24 confirmed tornadoes in Ohio and one fatality and 17injuries, according to the Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness.

    Here is a look at killer tornados that have struck the Buckeye State since1950. April 11, 1965: Several Ohio communities were part of a `Palm Sundayoutbreak' of tornadoes that devastated much of the Midwest and the lower GreatLakes. A total of 57 people in Ohio died from the 47 tornadoes that toucheddown that day. Lima, in Allen County, recorded 13 of those deaths and 40injuries. There were three deaths in Shelby County and 18 deaths in CuyahogaCounty.
    April 23, 1968: Seven dead and 92 injured in Scioto County. Hail the sizeof golf balls was reported.
    Aug. 9, 1969: Four killed and 247 injured in Cincinnati and HamiltonCounty.
    May 10, 1973: Six dead and 100 injured in Seneca and Huron counties.
    April 3, 1974: Thirty-three dead and about 1,300 injured in and aroundXenia in Greene County. There were also five deaths and more than 200 injuriesin Hamilton and Warren counties. The outbreak of 148 tornadoes that day wasone of the worst in U.S. history.
    June 13, 1981: Four deaths and 56 injuries in Morrow County. It was oneof seven tornadoes to strike Ohio that day.
    May 2, 1983: Four died and 25 others were injured as funnel cloudsightings were reported in 10 counties.
    May 31, 1985: Ten dead and 250 injured in and around the Trumbull Countycommunity of Newton Falls.
    May 4, 1990: One dead and five injured in Butler County.
    June 27, 1998: One dead and one injured in Sarahsville in Noble County.
    April 9, 1999: Four killed in northeast Cincinnati suburbs of Blue Ash and Montgomery.