A huge tornado funnel cloud touches down in Orchard, Iowa, Tuesday, June 10, 2008.Lori Mehmen/AP
The Toronto Fire Service offers an online guide for emergency preparedness. Below are tips from their guide on how to protect yourself in severe weather:
Things to do in case of a tornado
- Listen to your radio during severe thunderstorms. As a rule, when Environment Canada issues a tornado warning, radio stations broadcast it immediately. If you hear that a tornado warning has been issued for your area, take cover immediately.
- If you are at home, go to the basement or take shelter in a small interior ground floor room such as a bathroom, closet or hallway. Failing that, protect yourself by taking shelter under a heavy table or desk. If you are at the office or in an apartment building, take shelter in an inner hallway or room, ideally in the basement or the ground floor.
- Avoid buildings such as gymnasiums, churches and auditoriums with wide-span roofs. These roofs do not have supports in the middle and may collapse if a tornado hits them. If you are in one of these buildings take cover under a sturdy structure.
- Stay away from windows and outside walls and doors. Do not use the elevator.
- Do not get caught in a car or mobile home. More than 50 per cent of all deaths from tornadoes happen in mobile homes. Take shelter elsewhere - such as a building with a strong foundation.
- If no shelter is available, then lie down in a ditch away from the automobile or mobile home. However, beware of flooding from downpours and be prepared to move.
- If you are driving and spot a tornado in the distance, try to get to a nearby shelter. If the tornado is close by, get out of your car and take cover in a low-lying area.
- If a tornado seems to be standing still then it is either travelling away from you or heading right for you.
- In all cases, get as close to the ground as possible, protect your head and watch out for flying debris. Small objects such as sticks and straws can become lethal weapons when driven by a tornado's winds.
Tornado warning signs
- Severe thunderstorms with frequent thunder and lightning
- An extremely dark sky sometimes highlighted by green or yellow clouds
- A rumbling sound, such as a freight train might make or a whistling sound such as a jet aircraft might make
- A funnel cloud at the rear base of a thunder cloud often behind a curtain of heavy rain or hail.
- Tornadoes usually hit in the afternoon and early evening but they have been known to strike at night too.
Source: Toronto Fire Service