You don't need to be near a body of water to experience a Flash Flood... misconceptions like that get people killed.I turned my alerts off. I like the concept, but after unnecessary repeats of the same alarms (and the "flash flood" warning for a house that is miles from any body of water), I came to the conclusion that the implementation of this idea seems to be less than great.
I had one for a tornado warning. I'm glad it was during the day.
SERIOUSLY. I turn my phone on Airplane overnight so thankfully this stuff doesn't scare the hell out of me overnight, but I got one last year driving home from work trying to beat a tornadic storm home and it scared me half to death. I expect we're going to have a crazy season again so I am not looking forward to the beeps. I turned the Amber Alert one off.
You don't need to be near a body of water to experience a Flash Flood... misconceptions like that get people killed.
Granted, but until they fix the notifications to be more precise to my location and also fix the frequency with which they seem to repeat (when there is no change in the message), I do not want to be awoken at night 4 times for something that affects areas half a county away.
If you don't mind me asking...where are you located? I just took a project in Tulsa & I've been here a week. I have no idea what to expect:crying:
Sure! I am in St. Louis. How long will you be there?
Don't get yourself terrified, just be prepared. You're probably in a more "danger zone" area than me geographically, really, even though a lot of your storms come to us after you get them, but the best advice I have for you is to not ignore the alerts, don't ignore sirens, and generally be alert. Pay close attention to the weathermen, they've almost all been there a long time, they know how this stuff rolls in. OKC and Tulsa (along 44 really) get a lot of storms like this, and a lot of this weather tends to follow 44 up to my neck of the woods, or come in 70 to my neck of the woods. Then something about the Mississippi River just reinvigorates them again after STL wears them out and they get righteous for Illinois farmers again. Hurricanes and Tornadoes fascinate me.
These storms are usually on the front end of a big front, so like, it's been gross hot out, and a cold front is going to come through, that line where the hot and cold meet is usually the bad stuff. And when you are given the serious warnings and told to go in the basement if you have one, or the absolute lowest level, most interior room, DO IT immediately. These storms are no joke.
Also, get a little flashlight, an LED one if you can, for your keyring or to keep on you, just in case. Keep a few flashlights around your house/apartment/whatever, as well as bottled water and stuff like granola bars. And if you're worried about not having a charge, get one of those Mophie cases, so you have backup juice in case you lose power so you can get to news and reach people as needed. A lot of the news stations have apps, weather apps, and some will stream on your phone now too, so if you don't have a tv or power, you at least have that access. A weather radio might be good for you as well, so you get used to the alerts.
People here complain about how things get overblown and how the weather people are crazy about these storms. I'd rather they overblow the warnings than not. Normally my part of the burb gets missed, but on New Years Eve two years ago, a half mile from my house got levelled. And that was...scary. Our airport got nailed as well. All of this stuff is in heavily built up areas in the burbs of the city. No one takes this stuff seriously and they need to. I am somewhat guilty of that, I often sit in the living room or bedroom watching the weather report but not in the basement.
Yknow, I think when you grew up with this kind of stuff, you kind of underestimate how absolutely horrific these storms are. A lot of people do not take the warnings seriously, maybe because they've never had the storm actually hit them, or don't actually know anyone that lost everything or was killed. But they're big, they're sometimes instant, but the weather people warn you in advance that the conditions are ripe for them, and it's still easy to blow it off.
The Corn Patch is under the gun for tomorrow's round of severe storms. A lot of people here, myself included, are numb to the idea of warnings pretty much every other month and nothing ever comes from it. For that, I am thankful. The last time my area got hit by a bad, bad tornado was 1986. I had one hit my house a few years ago. Tore up my fence and took most of the shingles off my roof but that was the extent of the damage. Home owner's insurance took care of both thank God.
Another thing to add in, always make sure you have your ID on you. God forbid something happens to your neighborhood/town, but to keep looters out, cops and first responders won't let anyone by a certain point unless you can prove residence.
If you haven't downloaded iMap Weather Radio, download it. It's $10 but it's well worth the money. I have it on my phone as well as a dozen others but iMap is one of my two go to apps I love, love, love. The alerts are loud enough to wake even me up and I'm a sound sleeper. Even better you can set it to alert you after a certain time to severe storms and tornadoes only, not flood watches or flash flood warnings which usually don't pose much of a threat for me at least.
Thanks a bunch!! I don't live in Tulsa, I'm just here for business so my ID will do me no good LOL. I'm definitely going to download iMap Weather though. I've been interested in the weather for as long as I can remember. When I was younger I would watch the weather channel for hours on end and before I came here, I'm pretty sure I had at least 7 weather apps...now I have 10 & iMap will make 11. Its an addiction, don't judge me:nerd:
I have 17 weather apps. I got you beat. I'm a weather nerd also. I just hope I don't need all of them when the crap hits the cooling mechanism later on tonight. The sun is starting to come out which is a very, very bad thing.