Could be a Week of Tornadoes, Severe Weather for Parts of US ─ Get Ready Now

Millions of people across the southern Plains, Gulf Coast and parts of the south face an almost weeklong threat of severe weather and tornadoes over the next several days. The American Red Cross is preparing to respond if necessary and urges anyone in the path of these storms to monitor their local weather and get ready now.

The weather system will bring severe storms, large hail, strong winds and possible flooding and tornadoes to the region. People should remain alert for any nighttime tornadoes.

PREPARE NOW Take these three steps to make sure you and your loved ones are ready for emergencies:

1. Build a kit in case you have to evacuate or lose power. An emergency kit should contain food, water and other basic supplies to last at least three days for each family member. Also, don’t forget to include essential medications, copies of important documents and special items for children and pets.

2. Make a plan. An emergency plan should include what to do in case you are separated from your family during an emergency and what to do if you have to evacuate. Make sure to coordinate your plan with your child’s school, your work and your community’s emergency plans. Include pets in your emergency plans. It’s important to plan in advance to know which pet-friendly hotels are in your area and where your pets can stay in an emergency situation.

3. Be informed. Know how Identify how local authorities will notify you during a disaster and how you will get information, whether through local radio, TV or NOAA Weather Radio stations or channels. Know the difference between different weather alerts such as watches and warnings and what actions to take in each.

TORNADO SAFETY Watch for tornado danger signs: dark and greenish clouds, a wall cloud or cloud of debris.

• During a tornado warning, go to your safe place immediately, whether it’s a basement, storm cellar or interior room on the lowest floor with no windows. A small, windowless interior room or hallway on the lowest level of a sturdy building is the safest alternative.

• If you live in a mobile home, find a safe place in a nearby sturdy building. No mobile home is safe in a tornado. If you have access to a sturdy shelter or vehicle, go there immediately.

• If you’re outside, seek shelter in a basement, shelter or sturdy building. If you cannot quickly walk to a shelter, immediately get in a vehicle and try to drive to the closest sturdy shelter. Remember to buckle your seat belt.

• Stay away from bridges or highway overpasses.

• If strong winds and flying debris occur while driving, pull over and park. Keep on your seat belt and the engine running. Put your head down below the windows and cover your head with your hands and a blanket.

FLOODING SAFETY Turn around, don’t drown. Stay off the roads. If you must drive and encounter a flooded roadway while driving, turn around and go another way.   

• If your neighborhood is prone to flooding, be prepared to evacuate quickly if necessary.   

• Follow evacuation orders and do not attempt to return until officials say it is safe to do so. Follow evacuation routes and do not try to take shortcuts because they may be blocked.  

• If you are caught on a flooded road and waters are rising rapidly around you, get out of the car quickly and move to higher ground. Most cars can be swept away by less than two feet of moving water.  

• Head for higher ground and stay there.  

• Be especially cautious at night when it’s harder to see flood danger.  

• Stay away from floodwaters. Beware of snakes, insects and other animals that may be in or around floodwaters and your home.   

• Keep children and pets away from hazardous sites and floodwaters.   

Download the free Red Cross First Aid app so you’ll know what to do if emergency help is delayed and the free Emergency app for weather alerts, open Red Cross shelter locations and safety steps for different emergencies. Choose whether you want to view the content in English or Spanish with an easy-to-find language selector. Find these and all of the Red Cross apps in smartphone app stores by searching for the American Red Cross or going to redcross.org/apps.

CLIMATE CRISIS The Red Cross is responding to nearly twice as many large disasters now compared to a decade ago and is enhancing its large-scale disaster response and recovery services, expanding financial assistance, strengthening local partner networks, and growing our disaster workforce as families and communities struggle with more frequent and intense disasters. Find out more about the Red Cross and its work on the climate crisis here.

Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) Through the generosity of our American Red Cross Annual Disaster Giving Program (ADGP) and Disaster Responder members, the American Red Cross is prepared before disaster strikes. ADGP and Disaster Responder members help secure a reliable funding base for disaster relief services that enables the Red Cross to respond immediately, meeting the needs of individuals and families affected by disaster, regardless of cost. 

ADGP $1M Members: Amazon; American Airlines; Anheuser-Busch Foundation; Bank of America; Caterpillar Foundation; CMA CGM Foundation; Costco Wholesale; Delta Air Lines; Elevance Health Foundation; Enterprise Mobility Foundation; FedEx; Lilly Endowment Inc.; Lowe's Companies, Inc.; McDonald’s Corporation; Merck; Microsoft; Nationwide Foundation; PayPal; The Pfizer Foundation; The Starbucks Foundation; State Farm; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited; Truist Foundation; VSP Vision; Walmart and the Walmart Foundation; Wells Fargo

ADGP $500k Members: Altria Group; American Express; Aon; Bread Financial; Capital One; Chick-fil-A; Citi Foundation; The Clorox Company; Danaher Foundation; Darden Foundation; Delta Dental; DHL Supply Chain; DraftKings; Edison International; Energy Transfer/Sunoco Foundation; Ford Motor Company Fund; Fox Corporation; General Motors; Google.org; HCA Healthcare; The Home Depot Foundation; The J.M. Smucker Company; Johnson Controls Foundation; Kaiser Permanente; The Kraft Heinz Company Foundation; The Kroger Co. Foundation; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Mastercard; Mondelēz International Foundation; New Balance Foundation; PepsiCo Foundation; PetSmart Charities; Salesforce; Southeastern Grocers Gives Foundation & Southeastern Grocers, home of Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket, and Winn-Dixie; Stryker; Target; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Toyota; United Airlines; UPS; USAA; U.S. Bank Foundation; Visa Foundation; The Walt Disney Company; The Wawa Foundation; Wesco.

Disaster Responder Members: 7-Eleven Cares Foundation; Adobe; The AES Corporation; Aldi; Ameriprise Financial; Assurant; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; Avangrid Foundation; Barclays; Bath & Body Works; Big 5 Sporting Goods; Build-A-Bear Foundation; CarMax; CDW; Charles Schwab Foundation; Choice Hotels International; Cisco Foundation; CNA Insurance; The Coca-Cola Foundation; The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation; Discover; Dollar General; Duke Energy; Dutch Bros Foundation; Equitable; FirstEnergy Corporation; Harbor Freight Tools Foundation, LLC; Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation; HP Foundation; International Paper; Keurig Dr Pepper; Kimberly-Clark Corporation; L’Oréal; The Labcorp Charitable Foundation; Lenovo Foundation; LHC Group; LKQ; Lockheed Martin Corporation; Macy’s, Inc.; Major League Baseball; Marathon Petroleum Company LP; Martin Marietta; Mattress Firm; McKesson Foundation; MetLife Foundation; The Middleby Corporation; Neiman Marcus Group; NextEra Energy, Inc.; Northrop Grumman Foundation; Northwestern Mutual; Old Dominion Freight Line; Pacific Life Foundation; Prudential; Raymond James; RBC Foundation USA; Reckitt; Reynolds American Inc.; RTX; Ryder System, Inc.; Santander; Security Finance’s Lending Hand Foundation; ServiceNow; Southwest Airlines; Stanley Black & Decker; Tata Consultancy Services; U-Haul International; U.S. Foods; Yum! Brands; Zurich.