SECTION 1 - UNDERSTANDING
THE DANGER: WHY AN EMERGENCY PLAN IS NEEDED
A. Lightning
It's a warm, early
fall afternoon and the football team is on the field practicing. Some parents
and a few other spectators sit in the bleachers watching the play. The sky to
the southwest is darkening and a warm breeze has picked up. The rumble of thunder
can be heard in the distance. Keeping a watchful eye to the sky, the coach figures
he can get through most of the practice before the rain comes. There is a big
game on Saturday and only one practice left. He can't afford to let up now.
The practice continues,
the thunder gets louder and the sky a bit darker. A cool, gusty wind now blows
in from the southwest, but still no rain. A parent walks over to the coach and
asks about the chance that practice will be called early. The coach smiles and
says, "I've been watching that storm and it appears to be passing north
of us now. " The sky begins to lighten to the southwest and a couple sun
rays beam down from beneath the towering clouds. Suddenly, a white streak hits
the uprights in the end zone with a deafening roar. Players, near that end of
the field, tumble to the ground.
There is confusion.
What happened? Where did the lightning come from? The storm was at least 5 miles
away and none of the previous strokes were anywhere near the school. It seemed
to just come out of the blue! Although the story above is made up, in 1998,
two football players were taken to the hospital after lightning struck their
practice field. Fortunately neither one was killed. Every year lightning hits
ball fields during little league, soccer games and other outdoor events. Many
games are not called until the rain begins, and yet it is not the rain that
is dangerous. Ball fields provide a lot of potential lightning targets, such
as poles, metal fences, and metal bleachers. The fields themselves are wide
open areas where players often are the tallest objects around.
Lightning is the
most common thunderstorm threat. Nationally, lightning kills an average of 85
people and injures 250 each year. This number may not seem high, yet when you
look at the individual cases, most could have been prevented. The basic rule
of thumb is "If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to the storm
to be struck!" Thunderstorms extend 5 to 10 miles high into the atmosphere.
Winds aloft can blow the upper portion (anvil) of the storm many miles downstream.
Lightning can come out of the side or anvil of the storm striking the ground
10 to 15 miles away from the rain portion of the cloud.
B. Flash Floods
Heavy warm rains
had been falling for nearly two days on low elevation snow pack across Western
Idaho around the first of the year. The National Weather Service issued a Flash
Flood Watch around noon on the first day and upgraded to a Flash Flood Warning
at 3 PM. Children loaded onto buses at "Yourtown" Elementary School
as they normally do at the end of each day. With a full load of children, Fred
started the bus and pulled out.
Fred had been driving
this route for more than five years and had never encountered any flood problems.
He didn't expect any today. About halfway through his route, he turned onto
Dark Hollow Road. The road crosses a small stream and this afternoon, the stream
was out of its banks and flowing across the road. Fred slowed the bus as he
approached the water. If he turned around, it would take him an extra hour to
get the remaining children home. The water looked less than a foot deep. Certainly,
the bus could safely cross that. He decided to move forward.
The bus moved easily
through the water, but as it approached the bridge, the front tires fell into
a hole. With the water over the road, Fred hadn't seen that the pavement had
been undermined. He attempted to back out, but the bus wouldn't budge. What
was worse, the water was continuing to rise and was now more than a foot and
a half above the road! Fred knew that he better act fast. There still were eleven
children on the bus!
About fifty yards
away was higher ground, a hillside. They would head there. The current was picking
up. He would have to carry the smaller ones. His third and last trip from the
bus to the hill was a hard one. In just ten minutes, the water had risen to
waist deep and he could barely keep his footing. Grabbing onto trees and bushes
along the way, he pulled himself and the last child to the hillside and out
of the water. He was exhausted. He wouldn't have made it if he had to carry
one more. As he turned around to look back at the bus, the bus overturned and
washed into the raging waters.
Events like this
do occur. Take for instance, the extensive flooding that occurred on December
31, 1996 and January 1, 1997 when heavy rain did fall on low elevation snow.
The combination of the heavy rain and melting snow caused numerous mud slides
and caused many creeks and streams to exceed their banks across the rugged terrain
of the Idaho Panhandle. Many roads, bridges, and railroads were washed out along
with several homes.
Floods and flash
floods occur every year in Idaho and eastern Washington. Nationally, it is the
number one sudden weather-related killer, averaging 150 deaths per year. Half
of these deaths occur in automobiles. NEVER ENTER FLOODED WATERS! If caught
in rising water, abandon your vehicle immediately and move to higher ground.
Fred and the children were lucky. He acted quickly and got them to safety, but
he never should have attempted to cross the flooded area to begin with.
C. Severe Thunderstorms
- Hail, Downbursts, and Tornadoes
It is February 14,
a special Valentines Day. School is letting out and the girls and boys basketball
teams are practicing for the upcoming tournaments. At 350 PM, the National Weather
Service issues a tornado warning and several Severe Thunderstorm Warnings for
a line of thunderstorms moving through the area. In less than an hour the storms
have passed moving at speeds over 55 mph.
In the storms wake,
five tornadoes touched down as well as strong downburst winds in excess of 90
mph and hail. Damage is reported at many locations including roof damage at
a High School. Mobile homes were picked up by the twister and shredded. Irrigation
systems are toppled. In all, over 4 million dollars worth of damage occurred
from these storms.
If you were at one
of the schools in the path of these storms, what action would you have taken?
Although tornadoes are not that common in Inland, strong downburst winds occur
quite frequently. Do your schools know what to do when they see a storm approaching?
D. Winter Storms
It is April 3, and
your baseball team is headed for what they believe is an afternoon game. However,
a cold front passed by the area at 11 am, and the rain showers have turned to
sleet and snow. The wind picks up just as the bus nears the stadium. The wind
and cold has caused a layer of ice to form on the roads and snow is starting
to drift. Should the bus return? This event occurred in 1998 when a bus loaded
with ball players slid off the road west of Burley Idaho injuring nearly a dozen
students. Could you have known that the storm was approaching and canceled the
event before leaving?
E. Conclusions
Flash floods, severe
thunderstorms, and tornadoes occur with rapid onset and perhaps, with little
or no warning. Decisions must be made fast and actions taken immediately. One
cannot wait for the storms to strike to plan what must be done to save lives.
Get prepared now and develop an emergency action plan for your school.
Schools should also
consider what to do when winter storms, excessive cold, or excessive heat is
expected to affect the school district. This type of weather, however, is usually
predicted at least a day in advance, allowing more time to make decisions about
the operations of the school. Developing and designing a severe weather emergency
action plan follows on the next page.
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