Count on it. The Midwest and South's trials by horrendous weather so far this year will provide scientists with great and important research projects for years to come; hopefully leading to a better understanding of why, how, and when such destructive weather forms.
But some things we suspect already.
Severe weather warnings have gotten better and faster. We get more lead time to take cover, but are we doing so? Some people believe we have so many warnings, and so many voices warning us, that the net effect is to dull our senses and lead us to fatal indecision. I doubt this, but that too will be studied.
Already, as the Associated Press has reported, we know this: the people most at risk for injury or death are those who live in mobile homes, or houses without basements. Storm cellars work, but fewer are being built. I have always lived in a home with a basement and I feel even better about it now.
And yes, I saw a mobile home on the news that had been strapped down and was just kindling. What I don't know is whether the kindling would have been smaller with no straps; I suspect so,and I know, short of an EF4, which is rare, that straps can't hurt and may help. I continue to believe our state should require mobile homes to be sold with straps and a legal requirement they be installed.
Also, we already know that families who have a plan in place before bad weather strikes have a greater chance of living. As if such family plans haven't been drummed into our heads for years. They work, folks. They work. And you...live.
Compared to many other states, so far this year we in Kentucky have been fortunate. If it takes straps, and cellars, and advance plans to continue to keep us so fortunate, that seems a very little price to pay to make our families safe.
I'm just sayin'...
No comments:
Post a Comment