Essay Example on Winter Tornados in Florida: A Closer Look

Introduction

Florida is one of the states where tornados are common in both summer and winter. The winter tornados are relatively stronger than the summer tornados as they move at an approximate speed of 40 MPH while the summer tornado moves at 20 MPH. The winter tornados generally move to the northeast direction from southwest while the summer tornados move in any direction (He and Zhuang, 2016). It is due to Florida's geography being surrounded by plenty of water masses and also receives plenty of sunlight. The sun warms air on the ground surface, causing air instability which due to thunder updrafts, the air raises rapidly in the form of a tornado (Thomas, Leander-Griffith, Harp and Cioffi, 2015). The US National Weather Bureau monitors and provides alerts on any upcoming Tornado to all people in Florida to take necessary precautions and avoid any possible loss.

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In the event, I receive an alert of a tornado that is headed to my neighborhoods from the National Weather Bureau; I shall first ensure that I send the same alert to all residents social media groups to make them aware of the alert. Secondly, I shall converge my family into the safe room. Fortunately, I have a tornado safe room that is specially designed as our safe room in the event of a Tornado. The room is constructed in the house basement with storm cellars and has no windows. The safe room is safe enough that there is no expected loss or damage to property due to the blowing wind. Converging my family members and getting to the safe room takes less than two minutes and since the alert notified me of the Tornado in the next fifteen minutes, I can utilize ten minutes to ensure that I secure my house from any impact of the Tornado winds by closing all house doors and windows to ensure wind does not damage hanging items in the house walls.

Within the fifteen minutes, I can also move fast to the house compound to ensure that I remove any hanging items that may be destroyed due to the strong Tornado winds. I shall also ensure that the car windows are closed to ensure nothing in the car is blown out or destroyed. The most important precaution I shall keep is ensuring that I return to the safe room to join my family before the fifteen minutes elapses. Inside the safe room, I have a radio where I shall tune in to the NOAA weather Radio or any other radio or television station to receive any weather updates on the Tornado. Ronan, Alisic, Towers, Johnson, and Johnston (2015) noted that family training on disaster preparedness is a great asset towards managing disasters. After the Tornado is over and the tornado siren warning system is off, I shall take ten minutes to train my family on how to be safe in the event of a tornado. I shall chair a small and simple question and answers session on how to know there is a looming tornado in the neighborhoods, what to do after getting an alert, how to use the first aid kit and fire extinguishers, how and when to turn off electricity, gas, and water during tornados. After the successful training, we shall disperse from the safe room and resume our normal duties.

How Prepared are you in the event of a Disaster?

I have resided in Miami, Florida, for the last six years. Miami being geographically being largely surrounded by the ocean, often experiences tornados and hurricanes that cause flooding. There have been few fire-related disasters as compared to water-related disasters. I do highly fear water-related disasters; hence, I am more prepared for water-related disasters than fire-related disasters. Water disasters in the form of Hurricane are mainly experienced in early June in Florida (Adame and Miller, 2015). Due to my fear of the hurricane storms, before June each year, I ensure that my family emergency preparedness kit is fully stocked in readiness for any disaster. In the emergency kit, I stock a flashlight, first aid supply, an analog phone, batteries and some enough cash enough to take care of some emergencies in the event a card cannot be used. Hurricanes can last for some time; hence, I also stock enough foodstuffs to take my family at least some days since some hurricane can take as long as a month. I also take the car to the garage to ensure it is serviced and is in perfect condition. I fill its tank with gas and ensure it is safely kept in the garage.

I confirm that on fire-related disasters, I am not well prepared since in my house, there are no fire detecting devices; hence, in the event of a fire I become vulnerable. The only fire equipment I have in my house is that I have a fire extinguisher that can only extinguish the small domestic fire. I noted that there was an absolute fire real that looks dilapidated since it has never been used since the house was constructed that is over two decades ago. The nozzle is broken with the pipes broken, and I cannot figure where it sources water in the house. However, I need to reconstruct the horse real and get more training on it as it can assist in extinguishing big fires. My house has no emergency fire exit that can be used in the event of a fire. Thus, I confirm I am more prepared on water-related disasters but very poorly prepared for fire-related disasters.

Level of Disaster Preparedness before and After Training

The training has impacted me with great knowledge on how to be prepared for different types of disasters. Today I can attest that I am enlightened on how to prepare and handle different disaster situations. Before my admission and undertaking the module on disaster preparedness and management, I had only a little knowledge on how to handle water-related disasters since I reside in a place that is prone to water-related disasters due to the frequently experienced hurricanes. Before enrolment into the module, I had very little knowledge of fire and wind-related disasters. Today, I have great knowledge on how to prepare for wind-related disasters like the Tornado, and I am also well versed with how to prepare for fire-related disasters as well, as the water-related disasters.

I can attest that after the module, I developed great knowledge on how to prepare for many types of disasters including fire, water, wind, earthquakes, pests, epidemics, and extreme heat-related disasters. Today I can coach and advise people on how well to prepare for fire disasters at both domestic residential level and at large scale like what is experienced in forest fires. I can also guide people on how to prepare for water-related disasters that include flooding due to hurricane storms. I am also conversant with how well to prepare for wind, pests, earthquakes, and epidemics disasters. The knowledge I gained in the disaster preparedness module shall be of great importance to me as well as in training others on how well to prepare for disasters both at domestic and commercial levels. Through the knowledge, I shall ensure my family and home is prepared for all types of disasters. I shall also offer advice and assistance to others to ensure they are well prepared for different types of disasters.

References

Adame, B. J., & Miller, C. H. (2015). Vested interest, disaster preparedness, and strategic campaign message design. Health communication, 30(3), 271-281.

He, F., & Zhuang, J. (2016). Balancing pre-disaster preparedness and post-disaster relief. European Journal of Operational Research, 252(1), 246-256.

Ronan, K. R., Alisic, E., Towers, B., Johnson, V. A., & Johnston, D. M. (2015). Disaster preparedness for children and families: a critical review. Current psychiatry reports, 17(7), 58.

Thomas, T. N., Leander-Griffith, M., Harp, V., & Cioffi, J. P. (2015). Influences of preparedness knowledge and beliefs on household disaster preparedness. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 64(35), 965-971.