WREG-TV meteorologist Austen Onek will be at the Student Union on Thursday (March 3) to talk about the importance of being prepared.
Severe Weather Preparedness Week begins Monday (Feb. 29) at the University of Mississippi with the goal of giving faculty, staff and students critical information about how to be ready in the face of a tornado, thunderstorm or other intense meteorological event.
An information table will be set up at the Ole Miss Student Union from noon to 2 p.m. each day this week. WREG-TV meteorologist Austen Onek will be on hand Thursday (March 3) to talk about the importance of being prepared.
Onek said he’s glad to help spread the word about the importance of severe weather safety to his station’s viewing area, which is vulnerable to tornados and other deadly weather events.
“I am glad to help with severe weather safety at the University of Mississippi in Oxford – or anywhere in the Mid-South – to make sure all of our viewers are informed and ready for severe storms.” Onek said. “The best way to stay safe where weather is concerned is to be prepared and knowledgeable before something happens. I’m looking forward to meeting Ole Miss students and friends on campus next week in Oxford.”
Graduate and undergraduate students from the university’s Clinical Disaster Research Center will also man the information table during the week. The center’s mission is to integrate service, training and research in disaster mental health. The center’s staff develops evidence-based disaster preparedness, mitigation and response practices to meet the needs of the university, local community and region.
The center’s students will pass out cell phone pockets that describe what to do during a tornado warning. They will also hand out detailed flyers about tornadoes and wallet-sized cards with instructions on what to do if an active shooter is present on campus.
The group’s research indicates that students often don’t know how to react to weather warnings, said Marci Weber, a doctoral student in clinical psychology who works with the center.
“Our research on disaster preparedness of UM students has found that 98 percent of students have experienced a disaster, 65 percent of which involved tornadoes, but less than half (46 percent) say they know what to do when a tornado occurs,” Weber said.
“With the goal of increasing preparedness of UM students, our center and the Incident Response Team have been developing informational materials for students, incorporating them onto products students would keep on hand.”
The area around the university has seen many dangerous storms, most recently in December.
A 3/4-mile-wide tornado with a path of more than 70 miles tore through north Mississippi on Dec. 23. One of only three EF-4 tornadoes to hit the United States in 2015, it inflicted heavy damage to homes in Ashland and nearby Holly Springs, killing two people there. Several others died in storms across the country that day, but locally, many university employees, students and their families were affected.
Carol Bennett Forsythe, a senior secretary in the UM Department of Legal Studies, was running errands with her husband, Terry, when the tornado struck Holly Springs. The couple took shelter at a local oil change business, hiding in the pit where employees work underneath cars until the tornado passed.
The couple’s two dogs survived because they were at the dog groomer before the storm struck, but the family lost its home, a car and a motorcycle. The Forsythes are living in a motor home but hope to have a permanent residence soon.
Many important documents and cherished photos, such as Carol Forsythe’s mother’s high school graduation picture, were lost in the storm. She said some of her documents were blown as far away as Nashville and were later found.
After going through the tornado, Forsythe encourages others to get a lock box.
“If you have anything, such as birth certificates, Social Security cards, car titles or other important documents, put them in a lock box,” she said. “It takes so long to replace those items. If you have pictures, if there is any way possible, put them on a jump drive on an external hard drive, or those memories could be something that you lose forever.”
She’s learned other lessons, too.
“Count your blessings every day,” Forsythe said. “We were truly blessed to make it out. Tell your loved ones every day that you love them because you are not promised tomorrow. They could be gone in an instant.
“Always pay close attention to the weather. Many people say, ‘Oh, this will never happen to me,’ but you don’t know that. Everything you have can be gone in a matter of seconds and if you don’t pay attention, you can be, too.”