Severe weather guidelines
Since the university would like you to remain safe, the Dean of Students office has prepared these guidelines to assist you in planning for severe weather.
While every emergency is different and you may receive specific instructions, you should always take the following actions:
In advance:
- Take note of your building's floor plan and exit routes.
- Participate in fire drills and safety training programs.
- Designate a meeting place outside of the building for your house or apartment, or make note of an existing meeting place.
- Prepare and disseminate telephone trees and contact information for your roommates and residents or floor, and be sure you have the most recent contact information.
- Identify tornado shelter areas in basements or interior hallways or corridors.
- Keep a flashlight and battery-operated radio nearby.
- Locate the nearest fire extinguisher and fire alarm. Learn to use a fire extinguisher.
- Know where to find University and city emergency information and basic first aid materials.
- Familiarize yourself with the UNT Homepage for closing information http://www.unt.edu/
- Prepare yourself and your family at home so they know what to do if you are involved in an emergency, including where to go and how to cope until you're able to get home.
During a severe weather event:
- Dial 911 to report an emergency on or off campus.
- Take action immediately if there are fire alarms, warning sirens or any other alert to evacuate or seek shelter.
- Help others, especially those who may need physical assistance.
What to do in the event of a power outage
In the event of a major outage, UNT has emergency generators that restore power to some areas of campus. In the event of a major outage:
- Remain calm.
- Do not light candles or other flames as they could ignite an explosion.
- Turn off lights and unplug all electrical equipment, including computers until power is returned.
- Tune a battery powered radio to a news station.
What to do in the event of a tornado or high winds
- If you are inside, go to your safe place to protect yourself from glass and other flying objects.
- Get under a piece of sturdy furniture, such as a workbench or heavy table, and hold on to it. Sturdy furniture will help protect you from falling debris. If tornado wind enters the room and the object moves, holding on with one hand will help you move with it, keeping you protected.
- Use your other arm and hand to protect your head and neck from falling or flying objects. Your head and neck are more easily injured than other parts of your body. Protect them as much as you can.
- Stay away from windows. Opening windows allows damaging winds to enter the structure. Leave the windows alone; instead, immediately go to a safe place. Flying debris can shatter glass. Violent winds and debris slamming into buildings cause most structural damage.
- If you're outside in a car or in a mobile home, go immediately to the basement of a nearby sturdy building. Sturdy buildings are the safest place to be. Winds can blow large objects, including cars and mobile homes, hundreds of feet away. Winds/Tornados can change direction quickly and can lift up a car or truck and toss it through the air; never try to out-drive a tornado. Mobile homes are particularly vulnerable. A mobile home can overturn very easily even if precautions have been taken to tie down the unit.
- If there is no building nearby, lie flat in a low spot. Use your arms and hands to protect your head. Tornadoes/Winds cause a lot of debris to be blown at very high speeds, and you can be hurt by this debris if it hits you. Dangerous flying debris can be blown under highway overpasses and bridges, or weaker overpasses and bridges could be destroyed. You will be safer lying flat in a low-lying area where wind and debris will blow above you. Tornadoes come from severe thunderstorms, which can produce a lot of rain. If you see quickly rising water or flood water coming towards you, move to another spot.
- Avoid places with wide-span roofs, such as auditoriums, cafeterias, large hallways, or shopping malls. Wide-span roofs are frequently damaged or destroyed in tornado winds, providing less protection and more risk of injury, than roofs over smaller rooms.
