RICHMOND, Va - If you are around a radio or television at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, you will hear an emergency alert blast out. It's only a drill, but one emergency managers hope you take seriously. The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) said more than 900,000 are expected to participate in Tuesday morning's statewide Tornado Drill.
"When the test tornado warning is sounded, people should move as quickly as possible to a safe area in a sturdy building. Safe areas are basements and interior rooms on the lowest level of a building such as bathrooms, closets or hallways," said VDEM in a press release.
Twelve tornadoes hit Virginia last year doing approximately $700, 000 in damage, according to VDEM. A tornado that ripped through a campground on the Eastern Shore killed two people last August.
"A lot of people assume because we're not in the Midwest, we don't see tornadoes," Dawn Eischen, a VDEM spokeswoman, said. "It only takes one tornado to cause death and damage."
Since there is no such thing as "tornado season," VDEM said Virginians should be prepared year-round for nature's most violent storm.
