With tornado season fast approaching many areas and already having approached some areas, how prepared are you for such an emergency? How prepared are you for high winds that may take out electricity for a few days or weeks?

We are at the beginning of our hurricane season. I'm 45 miles from the coast so our biggest threat here is the tornadoes hurricanes so often spawn. I was in the glass business for years so was always at the damaged areas shortly afterwards and have seen the many odd things a tornado can do. Our only real way to protect ourselves is to try to clear the yard of things that will be turned into flying missiles, stay on top of the weather (doppler radar is a miracle), use a weather alert radio at night, and be ready to get out and into the nearby elementary school's shelter, at a moments notice. It's a scary thought.
For the aftermath I am well prepared and stocked up. We went 10 days without power during Hurricane Alicia" in 83, my daughter was just a baby so thank God I was a camper and had everything I needed. Alicia spawned 23 tornadoes, and although they were not big ones, we had received soaking rains during the previous week and the soil was so saturated that the trees were easily blown down by the high winds, power outages were massive. They said that the trees and limbs blown down by the storm would have covered a football field to a height of 1,200'. It was the worst damage I have ever seen.

We have a small basement under our kitchen. It houses our water tank, hot water heater and water conditioner. It's not that big, maybe 9x9, but it would make an excellent shelter. I have my emergency water supply down there and canned goods.

At our home up north, we had a root celler. It was above ground, but pretty strong. It probably would have made a good one.

Susie in MN

I need to review my forest fire plans again. I had my "bug out" quick packing list last summer, and I need to update everything. People in nearby communities had to leave with 5 minutes notice in some places.

We get some high winds but topographically we aren't prone to tornadoes. Forest fires yes.

It's important to review plans, and keep an emergency kit near the door for quick getaways.

KEEP YOUR GAS TANK FULL!!!! FILL UP WHEN IT HITS 3/4!!!! I've taught that to my kids, about when it hits half, fill up. Well since the fires I've revised that. We fill up at 3/4! Some stations lose power when fires hit, and I would imagine tornadoes, the owners close up the stations.

You can't waste time looking for a gas fillup in an emergency. When you gotta boogy you gotta really move and it's not going to happen if the car isn't filled up with gas.

There were people in the town of Barriere who couldn't leave right away because they didn't have enough gas to get out of town and the power was off to the gas pumps in town because of the fires. The neighbors helped each other out but it sure made an impression on me and my family and my kids now believe me.

Keep some bottled water bottles filled and frozen in the freezer. SO handy for grocery shopping but there ready for use in an emergency. Just thaw and drink, and they can be used in the cooler to keep things cold if you need to head out with some perishables for a time.