Recently, the Northwest Herald published a look back at the Palm Sunday tornado that wreaked havoc on Crystal Lake in 1965.
Those images of devastation, even though they took place before I was born, continue to haunt me. Then again, I’ve always been a bit of a weather wimp.
Sometimes it’s easy to look at news reports of natural disasters and think that things like that happen in other places. We don’t live in Tornado Alley, so we’re good. Except that we’re not.
The F-4 Palm Sunday tornado struck Crystal Lake around 3:30 p.m. April 11, 1965. Five residents died, and at least 95 more were hurt. More than 100 homes were destroyed.
In my own lifetime, I’ve seen the aftermath of a tornado that destroyed the downtown of a small town in Kentucky where some dear friends used to live. It took years for the town to fully recover.
I suppose that’s why I find that I need to take a refresher course each spring so that I’m ready if anything were to happen here. This becomes even more critical since I’m the caregiver for my husband, who has Alzheimer’s disease and cannot help me with these preparations.
We’ve been lucky so far and the worst of the storms this spring have struck elsewhere. But with the crazy weather the entire country has been seeing in recent years, the rules about storm seasons seem not to apply.
So, what should we do? Like the Boy Scouts, we need to be prepared.
A lot of information about getting prepared is available on the McHenry County Emergency Management’s website at McHenryAware.com. There you’ll find information on how to get text alerts, how to use the county’s 211 system and help for putting together an emergency kit.
The National Weather Service (spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/safety.html) also offers these helpful tips:
• At home, practice a family tornado drill at least once a year.
• Store protective coverings (mattress, sleeping bags, heavy blankets, etc.) in or next to your shelter space.
• Avoid windows.
• Get in the basement or under some kind of sturdy protection (heavy table or work bench) or cover yourself with a mattress or sleeping bag.
• Know where very heavy objects (pianos, refrigerators, waterbeds, etc.) rest on the floor above and do not go under them.
• If you do not have a basement, go to the lowest floor and into an interior room. A closet or a bathroom is recommended.
• If you’re in a vehicle, remember that they are easily tossed and destroyed by tornadoes. Take shelter in a sturdy building. If that’s not possible, lie flat in a low spot or ditch as far from the road as possible to avoid flying vehicles. Do not park under a bridge or underpass.
The McHenry County Office of Emergency Management also encourages everyone to be “Tech Ready:
- Download the FEMA app to get real-time alerts, safety tips, and locate open shelters.
- Sign up to receive text or email alerts about emergencies from your local Office of Emergency Management.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency suggests that families have enough food, water and supplies on hand to go for at least 72 hours.
A number of websites provide useful information about how to build a “go kit”:
• FEMA: ready.gov
• American Red Cross: redcross.org
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: noaa.gov
Historically, most of the tornadoes in Illinois occur from March to June. However, we all know they can happen at any time.
So, it’s always better to be ready … just in case.
• Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.
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