Outdoor Safety
Lightning:
- Remember, you are in the lightning strike zone if you hear thunder five seconds or less after seeing lightning.
- Lightning is attracted to metal and water, and tends to strike the highest or tallest objects in an area.
- Avoid wide open areas such as fields and golf courses
- Stay off hilltops and other high points of land
- Don't stand near trees or tall poles
- Stay at least seven feet away from tall objects
- Avoid metal objects such as golf carts and golf clubs, lawn mowers and pipes
If you are caught in the open:
- Get to the lowest point of ground you can, and kneel or squat to minimize your contact points with the ground
- Don't lie flat. This will make you a bigger target.
- Don't huddle with others. Spread out at least 15 feet apart.
- Remove golf shoes or steel-toed boots
If you encounter a downed power line:
- Stay at least 100 feet away
- If the power line has fallen on your car while you're in it, don't touch anything metal in the car and stay inside until emergency personnel arrive.
- Never try to help someone trapped by a power line. You will endanger your own safety. Instead, call 9-1-1 immediately.
If you are in or on the water:
Indoor Safety
Although you are safer indoors than outside, wind and lightning are still forces to be reckoned with.
- Turn off all utilities at the main switch and close the main gas valve.
- Stay away from windows during strong winds. Tree limbs and other wind-borne objects can be a hazard.
- Electrical wiring attracts lightning. Avoid using a landline telephone, except in emergencies.
- Lightning can move through a home's plumbing. Avoid using sinks and showers.
- Disconnect computers, televisions and other sensitive electrical equipment that is not surge protected.
- Secure outdoor furniture and other objects that can become missiles in strong winds. Keep trees trimmed and weak trees staked.
Driving Safety
Use common sense when driving. During a storm, slow down and put more space between you and the car ahead.
In dust:
- Don't enter a dust storm if you can avoid it.
- Turn headlights on and slow down to a prudent speed.
- If you pull off the road, get as far away from the road surface as possible. Turn off the car and headlights, and set the parking brake. Keep your foot off the brake pedal — other drivers may think your car is in motion if they see taillights.
In rain:
- Don't drive across a flooded wash. A flash flood can easily sweep you and your vehicle away.
- Water on a roadway reduces traction and standing water causes tires to hydroplane. Slow your speed accordingly. Control of a vehicle is lost in six inches of water. Many vehicles begin to float in two feet of water.
- Standing water on roads may be deeper than it looks. Stay clear of vehicles traveling too fast as they can throw up blinding sheets of water.
- Pay attention to hazard signs and roadblocks. Ignoring them threatens life and property. Bypassing a roadblock and entering a flooded wash is against state law. The driver will be fined for the cost of a rescue by emergency personnel if the driver is stranded in a vehicle stalled in a wash.
Stuck in a wash:
- Call 9-1-1.
- Climb onto the roof of the vehicle and wait to be rescued by emergency personnel.
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