City, IU to take part in tornado practice

Imagine if an EF4 tornado ripped through campus the way it did in southern Indiana in
early March.

The Jordan Hall Greenhouse would be a pile of twisted metal, destroyed plants and shards of glass. Dunn’s Woods would be reduced to a pile of toothpicks. The Light Totem at the IU Art Museum would be crumpled like aluminum foil.

If such a killer storm were to hit Bloomington, campus, city and state officials want you to be prepared.

“There could have been a much different situation if people were just anywhere when the tornado hit,” said Deborah Fletcher, director of IU Emergency Management and Continuity.

That’s why Gov. Mitch Daniels proclaimed this week to be Severe Weather Preparedness Week for Indiana.

“We do a lot of planning before so people know what to do in case something happens,” she said. “For instance, Ballantine Hall has a person on each floor to make sure people get off the floor and to shelter.”

On Wednesday, the entire state of Indiana will be on alert from 10 to 10:30 a.m. and from 7 to 7:30 p.m. as part of a massive test of its emergency systems.

The emergency alert system will send messages across the airwaves statewide.

Fletcher said the alert will trigger community sirens to sound, including the six on the Bloomington campus.

The sirens are tested the first Friday of every month and are electronically checked daily, but Monroe County Emergency Management Director James Comerford said this is the one time during a year when officials physically visit each siren to make sure it is working properly.

“They will test that system, and that will also push communities to sound alert systems,” Fletcher said. “We have then decided to use that to test our internal systems.”

The University will send updates through IU-Notify text messages and emails on all eight campuses. Hundreds of digital signs from Bloomington to Kokomo to Gary to New Albany will also be illuminated with safety messages.

“This gives us a chance to test our system at full capacity,” she said. “We normally have a campus here, a campus there, but rarely all at once.”

While the local system is tested on the first Friday of every month, citizens are rarely asked to do much more.

“We have not used this as a reason for people to do something. This time, we are asking people to do something,” Fletcher said. “Get up, go to the tornado shelter. A lot of times, this means go to the lower level.”

Unlike a real emergency situation, there will be no all-clear sign. Fletcher said they are simply asking people to get to a secure location, stay there for five minutes and then go about their normal daily activities.

“We don’t want it to be an inconvenience or too invasive in the day,” she said.

Monroe County will conduct similar drills with communities across the state. Schools and businesses are encouraged to participate, as well.

“It’s a real good chance that if everyone gets the message and takes shelter in their home or apartment or wherever, people will think about where to go if something actually hits,” Comerford said.

Fletcher said that, along with the drills this week, the key to being safe during a storm is to pay attention to surroundings and keep an eye on severe weather reports.

“The number one step to being prepared is being aware of what’s going on,” Fletcher said. “This is a weird, weird year. I mean, it’s summer already, and it’s only March. People need to be aware of what’s going on.”