How to Survive a Tornado While Stranded

Tornados are seemingly random events. Hard to predict, they strike with little warning leaving a trail of destruction behind them. If you live in an area prone to tornados, there are things you can do to increase your odds of surviving a tornado even if you are stranded out in the open away from safe refuge.

Instructions

• 1

  Familiarize yourself with the types of weather conditions that are prone to spark a tornado, and watch for them at all times. Even if there have been no tornado warnings or watches issued for your area, it is possible for a tornado to strike. If you think one is possible, follow the advice given in Step 2 through Step 4.

• 2

  Go low and inside. The safest place to be during a tornado is an inside room on the lowest level of a building. To survive a tornado, take shelter in a basement, an underground storm shelter or, if neither of those are available, in an interior room on the lowest floor of your home or other building. Cover yourself with a mattress, couch pillows, or hide under a stairway or sturdy table. Stay in the shelter until the tornado has passed. If you are unsure whether the danger has passed, stay put.

• 3

  Get into a ditch, culvert or depression in the ground, and lie down as low as possible if you are unable to take shelter in a building. If you are near a building but cannot get inside, crouch into the fetal position low to the ground near the building's foundation. Cover your head with your arms for protection from flying debris to increase the likelihood that you will survive the tornado.

• 4

  Pull your car over to the shoulder of the road if you are driving during a tornado, but make sure you are not near any trees, utility poles, hanging wires or billboards. In other words, nothing that can fall on you. Get out of the car. Try to find shelter in a building as described in Step 2. Failing that, take shelter in a low-lying area as described in Step 3.