A friend of mine was saying how a recent tornado warning (not in a tornado hotspot) had all the kids gathered in the gym. While I am sure this is a common practise, is this smart?
First, is the gym (IMHO) really as structurally sound as the rest of the building? From my basic knowledge of structures, a gym lacks suppor beams because the walls are not really built to be major load bearing walls. The roof is supported by weak trusses, much like a warehouse, enough to hold a (typically) “bivowac”, corrogated, or other thin roofing. Other parts of the building are (periodically)braced by I-beams, piping, and such.
Also, is it wise to put all the kids in one spot? Wouldn’t you beat the odds by leaving them spread out through the building? - Jinx
I just heard on the radio yesterday that you should avoid rooms or buildings with large expanses of unsupported roof, so I think all the kids in the gym is not a good idea. What I’ve usually seen is that they stay in an inside hallway, away from the windows, or even in the washrooms. I know of grades or classes whose assigned tornado spot was the nearest bathroom.
Unless it was one hella unusually well built gym, you definitely don’t want to pack the kids in there. Our schools send the kids into the central hallways where they hunker down near the walls. (Which have a lot of metal in the form of lockers.)
In particular, the first tornado that struck near where I was, in Portland OR/Vancouver WA April 5, 1972 hit a school in Vancouver and took the roof right off the gymnasium just as the last kids were leaving an assembly. 5 minutes earlier and a lot of kids would have died.
Maybe the locker rooms under the grandstands would be a good place but out on the b-ball court would not be a good place.
Why, when I was a child we went out to the hallway and knelt on the floor along the wall and put our heads down by our knees with our hands over our heads.
And we liked it! Because we got out of class to do it.
“Stay away from outside walls and windows. Go to a central location, like a hallway, closet, or bathroom. Get as low as you can, and use a blanket to cover yourself. Make sure your head and face are protected.” I think I could recite it in my sleep.
Also, if you hear a roaring noise like a freight train, or sudden silence that could mean a tornado is about to strike your location.
In school we were told to leave a window cracked open when leaving the classroom for tornado drills. It was believed that pressure differences caused by an approaching tornado could cause them to break or pop out of their frames.
[QUOTE=AveDementiaIn school we were told to leave a window cracked open when leaving the classroom for tornado drills. It was believed that pressure differences caused by an approaching tornado could cause them to break or pop out of their frames.[/QUOTE]
I believe this is not advised anymore – they want people to get away from the windows, not go towards them. The pressure differentials aren’t going to make a damn bit of difference if a tornado hits. Windows are replaceable, people aren’t.
The gym sounds like a really, really bad idea. We always (this was central Texas) were herded into the hallways, or if there wasn’t time, to get under our desks, in a drill. Thankfully I never had to do this for real.
Opening a window is definitely not recommended anymore, for the reasons already stated above.
From what I remember growing up, we were told that the gym was one of the worst places you could be. When I was in school, each classroom was assigned a designated safe spot, depending on their location in the building. I specifically remember going into the locker rooms or bathrooms.
If I were your friend, Jinx, I’d check into the school’s tornado safety areas a little more closely.
At my elementary school in central Oklahoma, during a drill we’d all go into the hallway (no windows at all) and do the “duck and cover” with our heads toward the wall. If we had a jacket or sweater we were supposed to cover our heads with it. I don’t recall ever having an actual tornado during school hours, though.