Topic: tornadoes

II. Are you ready for disaster? Plan to survive!

August 5, 2008 |

Editors Note: This is Chapter 2 in a reprint of this five-part series, published on Daily Kos and originally published online by AlphaGeek {9.9.05}. From the diaries — Plutonium Page. The series offers a practical way to assess risk and prepare a variety of disaster scenarios. The series will appear chapter by chapter at 3 p.m. through Friday.

Chance favors the prepared mind. - Louis Pasteur

In any given disaster situation, you will find a group of people who maximize their chances for survival by making the correct choices before, during, and after the crisis. These folks have a few things in common:

• Each of them personally decided that he/she was going to survive
• They accurately assessed their immediate and near-term risks and needs
• They made the best plan they could based on available resources
• They executed that plan in a flexible, adaptive manner
• They kept going until they had reached safety, and did not give up

The single most important thing you can do to survive a disaster is to be mentally prepared.

Being prepared for disaster does not have to be time-consuming or expensive. In this multi-part series of DailyKos Diaries, I will share with you, dear reader, many of the lessons I’ve learned regarding the most effective ways to prepare for an emergency.

This is the second installment in a multi-part series on personal disaster preparedness. Your humble correspondent is a Silicon Valley technical executive with both professional and personal experience in risk assessment and disaster-readiness planning. «Read the rest of this article»

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City offers storm damage debris pick-up

May 4, 2008 |

Across the southern half of Montgomery County, the sounds of chain saws, raking, and the groans of aching backs has been the music of the day as residents clean up and clear out debris left behind by the four twisters that touched down shortly after midnight Friday.

Curbside piles of brush, branches, and chunks of chain-sawed trees are piling up with each passing hour.

In an effort to assist residents with the clean-up efforts, the City of Clarksville will pick up yard debris from the recent storms beginning Monday, May 5th. Citizens are asked to put the items that they would like to have picked-up close to the road.

If you have yard debris that you would like to have picked up, or for further information, please call the Clarksville Street Department at 645-7464.

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Supercells for Super Tuesday? Maybe!

By Christine Anne Piesyk | February 5, 2008 |

New England’s “old timers” used to say “if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute…”

It’s a thought that is holding true in middle Tennessee, which saw a mix of bone-chilling cold, snow, icy and icy rain — and a snow day for school age children — just last week. With those winter storms still fresh in our minds, we will be shedding our winter gear today as temperatures climb into the 70s by midday, and a summery dewpoint of 60+ is forecast. Tornadoes may on the agenda as well. Supercells for Super Tuesday.

As voters mass to the polls to cast votes in the state’s presidential primary, one of 24 primaries held nationwide today, clouds will be massing to the west, ready to roll through faster than bus on the campaign trail.

The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement for an area including western and middle Tennessee through Tuesday night that calls for high winds, wind shear, and a fast moving cold front that “will be favorable for supercell tornadoes to form during the evening.” That cold front is expected to hit the Mississippi River by midnight, will push potentially severe storms well ahead of the actual front. Which means that late day voters should keep an eye on the sky. An an ear tuned to possible tornado sirens. «Read the rest of this article»

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