Shelter from the Storm

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By KSStorm Media

The ever-popular Trooper Ben posted a reminder this morning that there are a number of public shelters along the Kansas Turnpike:

 

Here’s a map of the locations — if you’d like to see the particulars of any shelter location, click or tap the map and you’ll be taken to the KTA website, where you can tap on any shelter location to find out the details.

Community Shelters

Most communities in Kansas have partnerships with a venue or more than one where you can take shelter if needed. These are often in churches or other large public buildings. The easiest way to find out where your community shelters are is to call your non-emergency dispatch number. You can find this with a Google search for “non-emergency dispatch (???, ks)”. Here’s an example, using Hoisington:

Another option is to call your county’s Emergency Management office. Search “Emergency Management (??? county, ks)”. Here’s an example using Pratt County:

Schools

I’m unsure what the policies are at various schools across the state in regards to public use of the school’s shelter. I’m sure policies also vary regarding whether students will be released from school if a warning is in effect at the normal release time. This is hopefully something school officials will distribute to parents by their notification systems — if not, I’d suggest calling your district office or the school no later than Wednesday morning.

If it’s time for your kids to get out of school and the district is not releasing them, please do not go to the school and try to pick up your child. While the school will have to release the child if you’re insistent, unless you have an underground shelter your child is safer at school than at home or (especially) in your car.

Mark Bogner talked about school shelters two springs ago:

Under Bridges: Not only NO, but **** NO!

The Andover Tornado day is responsible for the single worst piece of false shelter “wisdom” — the infamous video of Gregg Jarrett sheltering under a KTA bridge while a tornado missed him. Here is an intensive look at why a bridge is a bad shelter choice.

NWS Shelter Advice

Although I’ve given AccuWeather grief earlier today for their hype train on the upcoming week, they did recently produce a resource that takes a deep dive into selecting shelters, and there’s some good stuff linked in the post, too. Read it Here.

Bottom Line: the time to think about shelter is BEFORE the storm!

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