IU students weather storm with early morning sirens

Junior Dave Rooda was sitting outside on the balcony of his fraternity around 3:30 a.m. Sunday when a friend from Bloomfield, a town about a half-hour south of Bloomington, called him to tell him to be careful and seek shelter immediately if he was out. Rooda's friend had been out on the roads fighting to get home through the storms that hit most of southern Indiana and had seen a tree completely uprooted by strong winds, he said. \nA few minutes later, Rooda watched as strong winds and blowing rain caused cars on Third Street to slow to a crawl. \nLike many, Rooda was surprised by the tornado that hit Evansville. The tornado and the storms that followed caused IU's campus, along with much of the surrounding area, to take special safety precautions.\nStudents at McNutt, Briscoe and Foster quads followed the standard tornado safety procedure of going into interior areas of the building to avoid flying glass.\n"The protocol during tornadoes is to get away from windows," said Marge Schrag, one of Residential Programs and Services' associate directors of Residential Operations Administration. "The actual buildings should be able to withstand tornadoes. We make them go into interior quarters and shut their doors."\nThough the residence halls don't have actual tornado drills, all residence center staff members are trained in the safety measures that should be taken in the event of a tornado, Schrag said. She said they have access to weather radios and are told to instruct residents to go to the designated "safe areas" in each dorm any time there is a tornado warning.\nA residential assistant on freshman Kyle Mitchell's floor awakened the residents and ushered them to safety in the bathrooms until the tornado warning expired. Mitchell, a resident of McNutt, said the RA "seemed to do a good job alerting everyone as quickly as possible ... and took the situation seriously."\nMitchell said the only disorienting factor in the situation was that the tornado hit around 2 a.m. Sunday.\n"It was a complete shock because I never really thought about dealing with a tornado in the middle of the night at the dorms," he said. "The fact that it was during the night really threw everyone off."\nNo matter what the situation, students can find safety information located in all campus buildings, said Ken Long, an assistant director for IU's Office of Risk Management.\nLong said the office makes Emergency Action Plans for each area on campus. Each plan is designed with a certain building in mind, and maps showing exits and "safe areas" are posted in each campus building. The safety procedures are also available on the Office of Risk Management's Web site, along with sound clips of the different siren wails used by the county. \nLong advises students to know the building they're in, meaning they should look at the signs and learn the "safe areas" and exits. \n"I would always recommend everyone should play the 'What if?' game," he said. "Ask yourself what you're going to do if something occurs, whether it's at home, in class buildings or when you're out. Learn the plans of the buildings you're in"