Severe Weather Preparedness Week: Lightning Safety

 February 5th through 9th is the timetable Governor Nathan Deal has declared as ‘Severe Weather Preparedness Week’ this year to promote the importance of emergency awareness and to encourage all Georgia citizens to be ready for all severe weather-related events or other major emergencies.   

As in previous years, the State of Georgia has launched the ‘Ready Georgia’ campaign again this February to help provide all Georgia citizens with the tools and safety measures needed to prepare for casualty events and climate-related dangers and disasters. The ‘Ready Georgia’ app will show you how to custom-make three crucial safety preps for your family:

1.   "Be informed" about potential threats and protective measures for emergencies.

2.   "Make a plan" to communicate and reconnect with your family if you get separated. 

3.   "Build a kit" with enough emergency supplies to supply you and your family for at least 72 self-sufficient hours after a disaster.   

Previous severe weather events in Georgia have caused injuries and fatalities and resulted in substantial property damage, making it critical that Georgia families review their home preparedness plans and self-rescue procedures this week. It’s time to renew your familiarity and confidence in some basic measures for disaster survival away from home or for sheltering in place.

Next, Commissioner Avery D. Niles urges all DJJ staff to participate in Georgia’s Severe Weather Preparedness program, while launching the public education and preparation program schedule that begins Monday, February 5th with Family Preparedness Day. See the ‘Severe Weather Preparedness Week’ Daily Safety Event Calendar for details.

‘Severe Weather Preparedness Week’ at DJJ

Daily Safety Event Calendar - February 5-9, 2018     

Commissioner Avery D. Niles is personally committed to helping protect the DJJ Mission and dedicated to the success of Georgia’s at-risk youth through emergency awareness and agency readiness for all severe weather events and other major crises.

The Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice expresses its appreciation to GEMA, FEMA and the Red Cross for sharing lifesaving information for this Severe Weather Preparedness campaign.

Daily Safety Event Calendar – Thursday, February 8

            ‘Severe Weather Preparedness Week’ at DJJ

How to protect yourself and your family from Lightning

• If you can hear thunder, you are already at risk. If you are outside, get inside a building or vehicle. Stay indoors until 30 minutes after you hear the last clap of thunder. If you cannot find shelter, do not remain in the open or stand under a tree when lightning is near. Avoid open water, as well as tractors, motorcycles, bicycles, or golf carts. These will not provide protection and may actually attract lightning. 
• Enclosed vehicles are usually safe if you avoid contact with metal surfaces.
• If you are outside and feel your hair stand on end, it indicates lightning is about to strike. Do not lie flat on the ground. Drop to your knees and roll forward to the balls of your feet. Place your hands on your knees and tuck your head down.            
• If you are in a forest, move to a low area.
• If you are boating or swimming get to land as quickly as possible.
• Don't use a telephone or other electrical equipment while inside, unless for an emergency.
• Do not bathe or shower during a thunderstorm.

From 1995 to 2016, 30 people died from lightning strikes in Georgia. Lightning results from the buildup and release of electrical energy between positive and negative charges between the earth and a thunderstorm. A single lightning bolt can be as hot as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s hotter than the surface of our sun. This rapid heating and cooling of the atmosphere create a shockwave we hear as thunder. Lightning will usually strike the highest object in the area including trees, antennas, a boat on a lake, or a person standing in the open with a golf club, baseball bat or fishing rod.