LINCOLN -- A team of sixth-grade girls at Lincoln Middle School want local residents to stay safe during tornadoes and severe weather.
They are hosting a Tornado Town Hall meeting, a night of severe weather information, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, in the Lincoln Middle School auditorium.
The students -- Carli Huffaker, Randi Kistler, Zoe Shue and Sarah Remington -- have planned the Town Hall meeting as a project for their EAST class.
"We feel people should know what to do during severe weather so they can keep themselves safe," said Carli.
The program will include a presentation by the girls, meteorologist Chris Swaim and a representative of the Washington County Emergency Management Office. A video from the Cincinnati tornado also will be shown. Refreshments will be available after the meeting and weather radios will be given away as door prizes.
Carli said their presentation will have information about the different levels of tornadoes, conditions that are conducive for tornadoes to form and the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning.
Sarah said their idea for a group project started with wanting to help the community if a tornado comes through Lincoln.
"People need to get to safety really fast," Sarah said. "That's what it's all about."
All four girls have safe places designated in their own homes during severe weather.
Carli's family goes into a closet. Sarah said she goes into a hallway in her dad's home and they cover themselves with blankets. A bathtub is the safe place in her mom's house, she said.
Zoe and her family go into a hallway that doesn't have any windows. Randi said her family's safe room for possible tornadoes is a bathroom or closet.
"I hope people will learn whenever there's a tornado that you don't joke around and you get in your safe place," Sarah said.
Randi said she's learned a lot about tornadoes while researching the subject for their team presentation.
"I didn't know about the different levels and that it could be so bad," Randi said, adding their research included photos and videos from tornadoes in the country.
The Town Hall meeting is open to the public and the girls hope residents will come to learn more about tornadoes.
General News on 02/22/2017