What to Know About Thursday’s Statewide Tornado Drill

(KNSI) – It’s Severe Weather Awareness Week in Minnesota, and Wednesday and Thursday are focused on flooding and tornadoes, respectively. What will likely be the most noticeable part of the week is the outdoor sirens that will sound across the state Thursday. Stearns County Emergency Management Director Erin Tufte says those tornado drills will happen at 1:45 and 6:45 p.m.

“We would encourage people to practice what they would do for severe weather in whatever environment they’re in at that time,” Tufte said. “So if you work during the day, what do you do in your work environment? If you’re home in the evenings, what do you do at your home setting? Encourage others around you to participate as well.”

Tufte added that it can also be a good time to talk through and plan for other situations, like figuring out what the plan is if there’s a tornado warning while at the grocery store or a friend’s house. Stearns County Emergency Management advises that during a tornado warning, stay away from outside walls, doors and windows, go to the lowest level of the building and protect your head from any debris.

One part of planning for severe weather is knowing how you’ll be notified of it. Tufte says it’s important to have a good way to get weather information, like the county’s Smart911 alert and advisory notification system.

“I’d encourage people to sign up to that, make sure that they have a trusted source to get information,” Tufte said. “We have a lot of media partners and other providers that do alerts and advisories as well.”

As the weather warms up, flash flooding can also be a risk during bouts of severe weather. While Tufte says areas near creeks, rivers and lakes can be prone to flooding, urban areas can also flood quickly.

“In more urban areas where we have a lot of pavement and we have significant rainfall, we can see what we call overland or aerial flooding,” Tufte said. “We get water that’s up over the curb because it’s raining so quickly that the storm sewers are working to catch up and bring that through their process.”

Because it can be impossible to tell what is in floodwaters or what damage to the road might be underneath, Tufte says if you come upon standing water during a flash flooding event, don’t go through it.

“The campaign of ‘turn around, don’t drown’ is very applicable; if there’s ever standing water, make sure that you’re finding an alternate route whenever possible and that you don’t travel through by car or by foot,” Tufte said.

Learn more about severe weather preparedness on Stearns County’s website.

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