Red Cross Warns Marylanders To Be Ready for Severe Weather
  

Baltimore-- The American Red Cross of Central Maryland urges Marylanders to take tornado, thunderstorm and other severe storm warnings seriously. Take steps now to stay safer when storms threaten.

The Red Cross recommends that individuals and families prepare by:

• Creating and practicing a Home Tornado Plan: Pick a “safe room” or uncluttered area without windows where family members and pets could seek shelter on the lowest floor possible: a basement, a center hallway, a bathroom or a closet.  Putting as many walls between you and the outside provides additional protection.

• Assembling an Emergency Preparedness Kit: Kits should contain a first aid kit and essential medications, foods that don’t require cooking or refrigeration and manual can opener, bottled water, flashlights and a battery-powered radio with extra batteries and other emergency items for the whole family.

• Heeding Storm Warnings: Listen to your local radio and TV stations for updated storm information.  A tornado WATCH means a tornado is possible in your area. When a tornado WARNING is issued, go to the safe room you picked to protect yourself from glass and other flying objects. If you are outside, hurry to the basement of a nearby sturdy building. If you are in a car or mobile home, get out immediately and head to the nearest building for safety.  If you are outside and there are no buildings, lie flat in a low lying area or ditch and cover your head with your arms and hands.

• Preparing for High Winds: Make trees more wind resistant by removing diseased and damaged limbs, then strategically removing branches so that wind can blow through. Install permanent shutters on your windows and add protection to the outside areas of sliding glass doors. Strengthen garage doors and unreinforced masonry. Move or secure lawn furniture, outdoor decorations or ornaments, trash cans, hanging plants and anything else that can be picked up by wind and become a projectile.

• Get Trained in First Aid and CPR: Know how to administer help if a family member or neighbor is injured. Register for a Red Cross First Aid and CPR training at www.redcross-cmd.org or call 410/624-2060.

The American Red Cross of Central Maryland shelters, feeds and counsels victims of disasters; provides lifesaving blood to area hospitals; teaches lifesaving skills; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its humanitarian mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross-cmd.org or Twitter us at www.twitter.com/RedCrossCntrlMD.

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