Understanding knowledge of tornado protective actions in a tornado-prone community

As new research is released that informs us of resident decision-making concerning how residents respond to tornado warnings, government and non-government agencies have been challenged to determine how to update the public's knowledge of effective responses. Acceptance of updated guidance can be particularly challenging among long-term residents of tornado-prone communities whose personal experiences and mass media exposure may build unwarranted overconfidence in their own prior knowledge. The present study was designed to lay a foundation for improvements in effective communication of tornado warning responses by establishing a baseline of the current responses of residents and protective actions in one tornado-prone community.

 

To accomplish this task, we first gathered knowledge of these protective actions from representative members of community: residents in a tornado-prone area in the Southeastern U.S.  We individually interviewed sixty participants: 30 aged 18-43; and 30 aged 60-75, who had lived in the Southeast for at least four years. Younger adults were recruited from introductory psychology classes at a state university; none were majoring in atmospheric or earth system science. Older adults were recruited from the community using libraries, churches, senior centers, and university lifelong learning center postings. During the interview participants were asked specifically to describe what they would tell a distant college-aged cousin, from outside of the region, to do in five situations:

·         how to prepare their house or apartment for a tornado;

·         how to respond to a tornado warning at home;

·         how to respond to a tornado warning while driving; 

·         how to respond to a tornado warning if they were in a public place such as a store;

·         how to determine when it was safe to leave shelter after a warning expiration.

To determine a scoring system for their responses, we examined websites for government and non-government organizations that assist residents in preparing for and responding to severe weather. Figure 1 shows the websites and the information each site provided that was relevant to our questions. We found that most of the websites contained information for all five of the situations, but some websites contained only a few of the situations. All but two of the websites informed site visitors how to respond to a warning while driving, the scenario in which there were some discrepant recommendations between sites. For example, most sites specifically recommended that the best option if available was sheltering in a sturdy building, but approximately 25% of the sites also included the option of driving away at 90 degree angles from the path of the storm.

Figure 1. Table showing websites examined and information provided by each.

Evaluation of participant responses showed the same general pattern of high commonality in their suggested option for this “tornado while driving” scenario, though different emphases for different age groups were observed. Younger adults were more likely to propose finding a sturdy building, whereas older adults were more likely to suggest taking cover in a ditch or other low-lying area. Several different unsafe options were suggested by participants in each age group, indicating relevant misunderstandings of tornado behavior and likely influences on possible protective actions.

Considering that we found that a high percentage of respondents in each age category held at least two significant misconceptions that would could jeopardize their safety in a tornado warning scenario, we will present participant responses for each scenario by age group.  We will also discuss the implications of these responses on the development of effective risk communications for authoritative websites and other channels.