by Kerry Lippold Jr
On Tuesday, Aug. 20, Parkland students had fortunate opportunity of exploring an unfamiliar area of the college campus. At 11:04 a.m., a message was delivered to the Parkland community reading, “This is a Parkland College Alerts WEATHER message: A thunderstorm warning exists in the area until 11:45a.m. Parkland College Public Safety will notify you if the conditions change.” To most students, this warning would seem to be of little significance. Thunderstorm warnings are very common to the area and most people would probably tell you that there is no need for concern in Parkland classes unless wind damage, hail damage or flooding would be coming into effect. That is, until a following statement was issued.
Just two minutes later, Parkland issued a statement saying, “This is a Parkland College Alerts EMERGENCY WEATHER message: Parkland College is NOW under a Tornado Warning and is in imminent danger. Proceed immediately to a basement or other ground floor tornado shelter away from windows. You will be notified when it is safe to resume normal activities.” By this time, students were evacuated from their classrooms and instructed to move towards the designated shelter locations.
One Parkland student, John Acklin, said, “I was in the M wing on the second floor when the alarm went off. I got notifications on my phone about the tornado warning, but this was after the initial warning from the alarms around the Parkland campus. Since I was on the second floor, we immediately went down to the first floor. We weren’t sure where to go at first, but then we were told to make our way to the X wing since it is the lowest central point on the campus. It probably would have been useful to have practiced this as a drill previously so we would have better known where to go.”
The disruption of classes and loud alarms would be enough to startle anyone, but the event was even more stressful for students since they did not know what they were supposed to do and where they were supposed to go. Upon reviewing Parkland’s policies and procedures, it was difficult to find documents or information related to the students’ responsibilities during an event such as a tornado or other severe weather. One resource located in the vestibule area of the Parkland Police Department states, “Tornado/Severe Weather – Evacuate to designated shelters, weather alert notification made via computer, follow instructions as delivered.”
For many students, it was the first-time exploring Parkland’s basement area which is where students are instructed to take shelter during severe storm warnings. According to Illinois State Climatologist, the entire state of Illinois averages around 64 tornadoes each year based on data taken between the years of 1998 and 2007. Recently in 2006 Illinois experienced a record high of 124 tornadoes which resulted in one death and 49 injuries. There have also been periods of time like 2013 when tornado recordings are much lower than the average of 64 where only 45 tornadoes across the state of Illinois resulted in 8 deaths and 189 injuries.
Although tornadoes may not be very common in the Champaign-Urbana area, it would be helpful for Parkland students to have resources of information available in case such an occasion were to arise. Many students were unaware the college had a designated tornado shelter and many more who were not present during the event on Tuesday are still uninformed. If you have questions regarding natural disaster or public safety emergencies on campus, we would encourage you to confirm you are receiving Parkland’s emergency alerts and contact public safety with your concerns.
