Northwest encourages community to prepare for severe weather, tornado drill

Northwest Missouri State University, along with the National Weather Service, the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and local emergency management offices, are organizing tornado drills during March in preparation for severe weather.

Northwest will test its indoor emergency operations, including the Bearcat Alert texting system, during a tornado drill at 11 am, Wednesday, March 6. In case of actual inclement weather on the day of the scheduled drill, the tornado drill will occur at 11 am, Friday, March 8.

Severe weather procedures are posted prominently in campus offices and throughout each building on the Northwest campus, and they are accessible on the Crisis Manager app. The university encourages campus-wide participation in the drill.

“Preparation is key in order for us to understand the opportunities we have to improve our emergency response plans,” University Police Chief Dr. Clarence Green said. “It is not often that you have a chance to observe and critique your plans with the entire campus prior to deployment in an actual event.”

When Northwest students and employees hear broadcast drill messages or outdoor warning sirens, they should know where to seek shelter. In areas where a tornado shelter does not exist, the safest shelter location is an interior room without windows on the lowest level of a building.

The tornado drill at Northwest will occur in alignment with a statewide drill and Missouri Severe Weather Preparedness Week, March 4-8. The annual effort by the National Weather Service, SEMA and Missouri’s local emergency managers helps Missourians prepare for dangerous tornadoes, severe storms, lightning and flooding.

In addition to severe weather preparedness tips below, Missouri’s Storm Aware website includes detailed videos showing how to take shelter in specific types of buildings, such as houses with and without basements, mobile homes and schools, as well as important information about tornado sirens and weather alert radios.

Additionally, Northwest tests its warning system at 11 am, each Wednesday, weather permitting. Any deployment of the warning system outside of that time should be considered an actual emergency and immediate action should be taken.