Jim,
I have a comment to add to the Tornado Survival and Recovery article by J.M. The information was great, but one vital item was not mentioned as part of J.M.’s tornado kit. That item would be a sturdy pair of boots. A good pair of boots is important to have when you emerge from your area of safety and have to walk through debris (nails, glass, splintered wood, metal). – R.
o o o
Hugh,
I can make a quick suggestion for those who have to drive after a tornado or hurricane. When roofs get ripped off of buildings, the roofing nails litter the roads. Their wide, flat heads or the fact they are still stuck in shingles makes them likely to stand up and get into tires. They cause a lot of flats.
There are a number of products that can be sprayed into the tire through the valve stem. They can get you going in a jam. They usually only partially inflate the tire though, which can be hazardous and shorten the life of the tire. A little compressor that runs off the car battery can completely fill it. When I was doing my tour of hurricanes, we issued these to everyone we sent in, and they were well worth it.
The one caveat is that when you get the tired fixed for real afterwards, you have to tell the repairman about using the spray. It should be cleaned out of the tire. The current products are not supposed to be flammable which was an issue years ago. There are conflicting reports that it may damage the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) sensors in the valve stem. A tire patch kit could also come in handy. If the spray in stuff won’t work (and sometimes it doesn’t), there are kits that allow you to remove the nail and then glue in a patch. – Scot Frank Eire SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor.