Weather and pandemic lead to tough sheltering choices
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — As each day brings the United States closer to peak severe weather season, Tornado Alley residents face a difficult question: Is it better to take on a twister outside a community shelter or to face the possibility of contracting the new coronavirus inside one?
So far, sheltering from deadly weather appears to be taking precedent over staying away from a potentially deadly disease, but not for everyone.
In north Alabama, where powerful tornadoes killed dozens in recent years, just over 700 people showed up at three shelters — a turnout that was actually larger than usual, due to especially dire storm predictions — when potentially dangerous weather threatened the Tennessee Valley in late March.
Two shelters were located in schools, where workers urged people to stay 6 feet apart in accordance with pandemic rules about social distancing, said Decatur Police Chief Nate Allen. They also asked whether anyone felt ill, and people who said they did were directed to an isolation room near an exterior door.
“They were pretty honest about it,” Allen said. One elderly couple who were concerned about both disease and twisters locked themselves in a teachers lounge, he said.
But the need for shelters and people’s concerns about going to them during a historic pandemic will surely arise again soon.
April through June is peak tornado season in the United States, which averaged about 1,250 tornadoes annually in the decade ending in 2010, according to statistics from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
Emergency planners, health officials and forecasters are generally advising people to take their chances with the virus when a tornado is headed their way.
“We should not let fear of the coronavirus blind us to the danger of an imminent tornado,” Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly said in a statement. “If you have to seek refuge in a community shelter, try to practice social distancing and other precautions as much as possible to minimize your risk.”
The National Weather Service and the Alabama
Department of Public Health put it more bluntly in a joint statement as severe weather approached last month while virus worries were growing.
“If a warning is issued for your area, you are more likely to be affected by the tornado than the virus,” it said.
Tornado season eventually gives way to hurricane season, which begins June 1, and officials along the East Coast already are considering what to do should a tropical storm system draw near while the region is still under lockdown because of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
In Panama City, Florida, which was devastated by Hurricane Michael in October 2018, emergency services director Frankie Lumm said he plans to open more shelters than usual and have more rooms in each than he typically does, to allow for social distancing
But even that won’t be simple: The area is still low on shelters because schools are still being rebuilt after Michael, he said, and providing staffing for additional shelters could be a challenge during a pandemic.