| Пт, Сен 2, 2005 09:56am ona - 6831 d back | ↑↓ |
|---|
kak mi ponyali iz nedavnih i vse esche razvivauschihsya sobitii, v sluchae stihiinogo bedstviya ne na kogo, krome kak na samogo sebya, polozhit'sya nel'zya. i hotya pogoda v midwest ostaetsya dovol'no terpimoi, bellow are basic instructions on how to protect yourself in case of natural disasters that are more common in IL:
Although lightning is seemingly random, there are some things you can do to minimize your risks if you are caught in the open during a thunderstorm:
Avoid being the tallest object around ... get as low as you can, but don't lie prone on the ground. Go into a squat, instead. If you're wearing a backpack, get it off and seek the best shelter you can find ... the idea is not that the backpack attracts lightning, but rather to facilitate getting to shelter quickly. Obviously, standing on a mountaintop is asking for major-league trouble!
It also is unwise to be near the tallest object around, like an isolated tree. Sheltering from the rain under a tree is often a factor in people being struck. Depressions in the rock, or shallow caves don't offer much protection from lightning on a mountaintop. Your best protection is to get down from the peaks as quickly as possible. Leave your gear behind ... whatever it contains is not worth your life! You can always go back and retrieve it after the storm passes.
There is no "warning sign" that will tell you reliably that lightning is about to strike; don't depend on having your hair stand on end, or whatever. The first sign of a CG may be the flash itself. Of course, if your hair does stand on end, then you should take steps to protect yourself immediately! If no suitable shelter is available, see points #1 and #2, above.
The time from the flash to the thunder is a rough measure of how distant the lightning is. If you see a flash and count the seconds, five seconds corresponds to about a mile. However, there is no distance from a thunderstorm that is absolutely safe! If you can see the lightning, then you are under some threat. CGs can occasionally jump out of a thunderstorm and strike the ground miles away, seemingly "out of the blue." What is currently being advocated is the "30-30" rule: take shelter if the time from seeing a flash to the time you hear thunder is 30 seconds or less, and don't resume activities until 30 minutes have elapsed from the last lightning and thunder.
------------------------------------------------------------
An extremely common way for people to die in flash floods is by driving into rising waters. There are some ways to prevent this from being a problem:
Never drive into water if you don't know exactly how deep the water is! Some low water crossings in the U.S. have signs showing how deep the water is ... if you aren't sure, don't drive into it. It only takes about 18-24 inches of water to float most motor vehicles. Once the vehicle is afloat, it is out of the driver's control and goes whichever way the water dictate.
Don't underestimate the power of moving water. Water moving in streams and rivers at high speeds, as it often does during flash flood events, can sweep a vehicle away far more easily than most people imagine. Also, rapidly-moving water often contains debris such as trees, propane tanks, and even boulders rolling along just under the surface. If you are struck by this debris, your vehicle can be knocked off a bridge or water crossing and swept away before you know it. Note also that it doesn't take very much "moving water power" to knock you off your feet when crossing a stream.
River floods, where the water rises relatively slowly over a period of several hours, are not as dangerous as flash flood. In flash floods, the water can rise several feet or more in just a few minutes. It may not come as a classic "wall of water" that you can see and hear coming, but rapidly-rising water can overtake a vehicle easily before the driver can react. If you have reason to believe that a flash flood may be in progress (see below), stay out of low water crossings and streams entirely.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tornadoes:
If you are caught during highway travel to or from camp, it may be possible simply to drive away from a tornado. If you are in open country and your road options let you drive at right angles to the direction the tornado is moving, the best strategy is to head off to the right of the tornado's movement: if it's moving east, drive south away from it, and so on. This strategy requires you to be able to assess accurately the direction of tornado movement ... sometimes tornadoes change direction and speed of movement, so be prepared to adjust your tactics!
It is almost always possible to outrun a tornado in a motor vehicle as long as the road and traffic permit free movement. Tornadoes occasionally move at 60+ miles per hour, but most of them don't go nearly that fast. If you are on a road that permits you to drive safely at speeds of 60 mph or faster, you probably can outrun any tornado ... however, I recommend that you only do so until you reach a road that allows you to travel at right angles to the tornado's path (see the preceding discussion). You get out of danger from a tornado most quickly (in just seconds, usually) by moving directly out of its path!
If your road options don't permit such maneuvers, abandon your vehicle and seek the best shelter nearby you can find (see below). Most injuries in tornadoes come from being struck by flying debris. Therefore, you want to get low and out of the wind. Vehicles are often picked up and tumbled, sometimes being smashed into something that looks like a "carball" such that no one would survive inside the vehicle.
Overpasses are not adequate shelter. In fact, they are essentially no shelter at all.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Given that many tornadoes develop from thunderstorms that are already severe in terms of ordinary wind and large hail, you should already be taking steps to protect yourself from a truly severe thunderstorm.
Find the best shelter from flying debris you can. Ditches, caves, and so on will work. Don't count on some flimsy outbuilding or mountain cabin to protect you ... a tornado can disintegrate flimsy buildings and turn the pieces into high-speed missles. Obviously, a tent is virtually the same as no shelter at all. Your best best is to get low and out of the wind. The majority of tornado casualties are from being struck by flying objects, so the idea is to get out of harm's way.
Cover your head with your hands (or some better protection if you have it) to give yourself the best protection from flying debris.
Find something to hang onto if your shelter from the wind is not complete. Becoming airborne is a distinct possibility, so you don't want the wind to get under you and lift you into the air.
Learn how to recognize a tornado. Not all tornadoes look the same. A tornado's funnel-shaped cloud, if it has one, does not have to touch the ground for it to be a true tornado. The tornado is the wind, not the cloud ... if there is debris beneath a funnel cloud, it is a tornado.. Some tornadoes appear as a dark, boiling mass of clouds on the ground. A tornado in the mountains might look very much like a dust devil ... except that the dust and debris at the surface is beneath a dark thunderstorm base, not occurring on a sunny, nearly cloudless afternoon. If you don't recognize a tornado coming until it's too late, all the knowledge in the world can't help you.
Don't depend on hearing a tornado ... not all tornadoes make a lot of noise until they are very close to you. Keep your eyes open in the wilderness, especially if there are thunderstorms about.
|
|
