Tornado season is right around the corner.

NIU staff Meteorologist Gilbert Sebenste said he finds it extremely helpful to know what to do if there is a chance of a tornado in various situations.

“When you’re in a building you should get to the lowest possible floor, preferably the basement,” Sebenste said. “Also you want to put as many walls as you can between yourself
without any windows nearby.”

When driving in a car Sebenste said it’s best to drive south at a right angle toward the tornado that is moving from west to east. And if it’s going from east to west, it’s best to drive north at a right angle.

One thing Sebsente said not to do when driving while a tornado is nearby is staying below an underpass.

“One of the worst places to be is underneath an underpass on a highway,” he said. “The wind gets channeled under there causing the speed of it to increase.”

Sebenste said if you are on foot and are unable to seek shelter, as a last resort you should go to the nearest ditch or ravine and lay down flat.

People affected by tornadoes and other natural disasters have been receiving help for years from the American Red Cross.

Rochelle Cripe, marketing coordinator for the DeKalb County American Red Cross, said one of the most important things they try to do is ease a scary situation by providing prevention education material.

These are emergency kits which the Red Cross provides for people in the community in case a natural disaster were to affect them.

Cripe also said the Red Cross tries to help out in other ways.

“If a disaster should occur, we are getting people the tools they need in getting things back to normal after the first few days,” she said. “We provide food, shelter, clothing and comfort to people.”

“The last natural disasters where the Red Cross helped out the DeKalb area was the floods from back in 2007 and 2008,” she said.

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