University Daily Kansan, April 28, 1982
Page 13
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Revised weather plan gives safety guidelines
By BECKY ROBERTS Staff Reporter
Dreeded tornades, for which Kansas is infamous, usually twist through the state from early spring until late fall, but occur most often in May and June.
In the last 30 years, there have been more than 800 tornadoes in Kansas during the months of May and June, from the National Weather Service.
In 1980 and 1981, there were 58 tornadoes in Kansas. Last summer a tornado in Lawrence killed one person, the couple and caused $17 million in damage.
With these statistics in mind, the executive vice chancellor's office and the KU police department's public safety division have formed a committee to update the University's emergency weather procedures, John Mullens, coordinator for public safety, said yesterday.
"Though the policy is not new, it has been rewored, revised and some of the procedures have changed as to who should notify whom," Mullens said.
During severe weather, there are no specific guidelines for each building on campus, Mullens said. There are, in general, safety guidelines to be followed.
Tornado warning sirens will sound only if a tornado has been sighted in Douglas County. Students should move immediately into basements, hallways, restrooms and other protected areas. If possible, they should try to move to the lowest level of the building and to rooms without windows, Mullens said.
MULLENS SAID a tornado watch would be issued if weather conditions were right for a tornado. A tornado has been sighted on the ground.
"Technically, it's not a tornado until it touches the ground," Mullens said. "There are a lot of storms that have the possibility of developing but don't."
Anyone who is outside during a tornado warning should lie down in a ditch away from trees and power lines and cover his head with his hands. But, if there is a lot of lightning, Mullens said, a person should not lie down.
"In a heavy electrical storm, it's the worst position you can be in," Mullens said.
Instead, people should kneel and put their hands on their knees so that the electric current won't go to their heart and chest.
People can tell when lightning is about to occur because their hair will fall out, Mud, and mud.
Mullens said hundreds more people as killed by lightning than by torrents.
Civil defense sirens are one way to people more protection from tornadoes.
There are three times when the civil defense sirens will sound, Mullens said.
At noon on the first Monday of each month, the sirens are tested. The other two times they sound in emergency situations.
If a tornado has been sighted, the campus sirens, on top of Watson Library and Joseph R. Pearson Hall, will be at continual three-minute intervals.
It is important to remember that there is no all-clear signal for sirens in Kansas, Mullens said. If the sirens mean another tornado has been sighted.
"Its the old civil defense air raid warning - in case of a nuclear attack or explosion," Mr. Aboosh said.
The other tone of the sirens is the civil defense warning, Mullens said.
Residents learn tornado safety procedures
Stouffer called safe
By JAN BOUTTE Staff Reporter
The Council for Emergency Preparedness mines no words on the subject—"Tornadoes are killers."
Lawrence residents were reminded of the destructiveness of the natural phenomenon when a tornado twisted through a neighborhood June 19, 1981, killing one man and mangling homes and businesses.
The residents haven't forgotten that reminder now that another tornado season has begun, and neighborhood groups as well as the county office for emergency preparedness are asking residents about emergency procedures for tornado situations.
The Stouffer Neighborhood Association was one group that became concerned about safety and formed a committee to examine tornado procedures for residents of the University-owned apartments.
Monica Hendershot, Lawrence junior and chairman of the tornado committee, said last summer's tornado was the first experience with a funnel cloud for many Stouffer residents and there was
Henderson's committee has been working with the housing department to develop a procedure that would residents would find comfortable.
"I felt that this was a life issue," she said.
confusion on where to go, because the Stouffer apartments have no basements.
AFTER AIN informational meeting with Joe Eagleman, KU professor of meteorology, the two men needed on a new safety procedure.
Stouffer residents should go to the first floor of their apartment buildings. Residents will also have the option of going to Oliver or Hall if volunteers are found to supervise the groups in the halls.
The residents had earlier doubted the safety of their buildings, but Eagleman stressed the dangers of walking or driving during a severe storm and the limitation of short warning time to take shelter.
Eaglean assured the Stouffer residents that their buildings, which are constructed of steel reinforced concretes, were as safe as any, but. "If you're going to get a direct hit, it is going to make a different difference where you are."
said, "Suddenly, staying in their own place was not a disagreeable thought."
reendershot said she planned to stay in her apartment building if the sirens sounded but she was still hoping to find monitors so that Oliver and Ellsworth would be available for other residents.
"I want people to know they have that option if they don't feel safe here," she said.
J. J. Wilson, director of housing,
Wilson said, "I think that Stouffer Place is better constructed than most apartment complexes in town."
In all University residence halls and scholarship halls, the resident directors have weather warning signs in front of emergency situations are posted.
Wilson said that in the residence halls, students were instructed to move inside the halls or go to the basement.
"Any of our corridors is safe," Wilson said. We think we can stand winds up to 160-170 mph."
WILSON SAID that the instructions recommend that residents stay in the halls outside their rooms so that the students could monitor the storm by watching their televisions or listening to their radios. Even on the top floors, he said, the halls are a safe place to be.
"I think information is what people really want in that situation," Wilson said.
In apartments or houses, people should take shelter on the lowest floor of the building away from windows and doors in rooms such as a closet or bathroom.
Students living off campus, often in apartments and houses not as sturdily constructed as University housing and without basements, are left to their own resources in emergency situations.
The type of housing most prone to destruction by tornadoes is mobile homes. In last June's tornado, Gavilage Wallidge (motor) park. A nighttime tornado struck the
All the mobile home parks in Lawrence have tornado shelters built into the ground, according to their administrators.
When the June tornado swept the south end of town where Gaslight is located, the power to most of Lawrence was knocked out, including power to local radio stations. The stations KLWN and KLZR went off the air, causing confusion for some Lawrence residents.
The department for emergency preparedness reminded residents to keep battery-operated radius and hand on hand for emergency situations.
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Did you have fun at the muscular dystrophy superdance?
Interested in planning next year's?
There will be a Meeting for those interested in helping plan next year's dance: 6:30 tonight
April 28th
International Room Kansas Union