American Red Cross teams have been actively responding to numerous tornado and wildfire events in places like Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana over the past week. Forecasts say both states in this south could see more devastating storms and critical fire conditions are expected across the Plains throughout the week. The Red Cross offers tips that people should follow to help keep their families safe from severe weather and wildfires.
A massive hurricane system will spread from the Plains to the South and East this week, bringing destructive winds, hail, tornadoes and flood threats to large parts of the country. Here are the top Red Cross safety steps that people should follow:
TORNADO SAFETY Learn the difference between a tornado watch and a warning. A watching the tornado means a tornado is possible. A tornado warning means that a tornado is already occurring or will occur soon.
- Know your community’s warning system, for example many places use sirens outside.
- Watch for signs of tornado danger: dark and greenish clouds, a cloud on the wall or a cloud of debris.
- Take your pets indoors and watch over them.
- During a tornado warning, go immediately to your safe place – a basement, storm cellar or inner room on the lowest floor with no windows. In a tall building, choose a hallway in the middle of the building.
- If you live in a mobile home, find a safe place near a sturdy building or vehicle. No mobile home is safe in a tornado.
KUDULOG SAFETY Beware of storm signs, such as darkening of the sky, lightning and rising winds.
- If thunder roars, go inside the house. If you hear thunder, you are about to be in danger of lightning.
- Postpone outdoor activities if thunder and lightning are likely to occur. Many people struck by lightning are not in the area where it rains.
- Take shelter in a large building or vehicle with the windows closed.
- If you are driving, try to get off the road safely and park.
- If you are outside and cannot reach a safe building, avoid high ground, water, tall or isolated trees and metal objects, such as fences and bleachers.
WILDFIRES The National Interagency Fire Center reports there have been nearly 14,000 wildfires this year nationwide, consuming as much as 467,000 acres.
One of these fires started over the weekend near Boulder, Colorado, forcing more than 19,000 people to evacuate. The Colorado Red Cross opened a shelter to help those affected and shared fire safety information throughout the area.
Expect today in the northern and central states of the Plains and later this week in parts of Florida, the weather will be lifting to critical fire. It is very important for people to make their preparation plans now:
- Be prepared to evacuate in a moment and follow all evacuation orders from officers.
- Keep an eye on fires near you so you are ready to evacuate quickly.
- Find an outdoor water source such as a pond, well, even a swimming pool, and have a hose that can reach any area of your property.
- Make sure driveway entrances and your home number are clearly marked so fire vehicles can get to your home.
- Assign a room that can be closed from outside air. Close all doors and windows. Set up a portable air cleaner to keep pollution levels low inside when conditions are smoky.
You should also download the free Red Cross Emergency app to have severe weather safety information at your fingertips. The Emergency app provides real-time weather alerts and tips on how to stay safe during bad weather and countless other emergencies. Search “American Red Cross” in the app store or go to redcross.org/apps.
you can find safety information about all different types of emergencies in the Red Cross preparation section of this web site. Information is available on what to do before, during and after a storm or other emergency.
HELP CORPORATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS Generous donations from members of the Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and the Disaster Responder Program enable the American Red Cross to prepare communities for disasters large and small, responding whenever and wherever disasters happen and help families during the recovery process.
ADGP $ 1 Million members are: Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Anthem Foundation; Bank of America; Caterpillar Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation; FedEx; The Home Depot Foundation; Latter -day Saint Charities; Lilly Endowment Inc .; Lowe’s Companies, Inc .; Microsoft Corp .; Nationwide Foundation; PetSmart Charities; The Starbucks Foundation; State Farm; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Truist Foundation; VSP Global; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; at Wells Fargo.
ADGP $ 500,000 members are: Altria Group; Aon; Best Buy; Calmoseptine, Inc .; Capital One; Citi; The Clorox Company; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental Community Care Foundation; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company Fund; Fox Corporation; General Motors; HCA Health Care; Global Paper; The JM Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Mastercard; Merck; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; Organon; PayPal; PepsiCo Foundation; Salesforce; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, home of Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie; Stanley Black & Decker; Target; TJX Companies, Inc .; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; and The Wawa Foundation.
Disaster Responder Program members are: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; American Express; Ameriprise Financial, Inc .; Assurant; AT&T; AvalonBay Communities, Inc .; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Big 5 Sporting Goods; Bread Finance; CarMax; Choice Hotels International; Cisco Foundation; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Company; CSX; The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation; Discover; Dollar General; Duke Energy; Dutch Bros Foundation; Equal; FirstEnergy Corporation; Gopuff; Grainger; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; Humble Bundle; Kaiser Permanente; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo Foundation; LHC Group; Major League Baseball; Marathon Petroleum Foundation, Inc .; Martin Marietta; Mattress Firm; McKesson; MetLife Foundation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc .; Northrop Grumman; Northwestern Mutual and the Northwestern Mutual Foundation; Old Dominion Freight Line; Pacific Life Foundation; Procter & Gamble; Prudential Financial; Raytheon Technologies; Reckitt; Rodan + Fields Prescription for Project Modification; Ross Stores Foundation; Ryder System, Inc .; San Manuel Band of Mission Indians; Lending Hand Foundation of Security Finance; ServiceNow, Inc .; Southwest Airlines; Tata Consulting Services; Haul International; and US Bank Foundation.
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