Do you have a weather radio?

On February 2, 2007, several counties in Central Florida experienced deadly tornadoes. At that time, I did not have a weather radio because for some reason I didn't think that I needed one. STUPID!!! Thank god my mom and dad were up early and watching the Weather Channel because they called me and told me that there was a Tornado Warning for Volusia County. I was very lucky that the tornado did not come through, but other people in the New Smyrna Beach area were not so lucky. After the bad weather had passed, I made a mental note to get a Weather Radio. Well, I have had my weather radio now for over a year and it has gone off several times. The great thing about it is that it always gives me advance notice that there is dangerous weather on the way. I guess the only way that it wouldn't work would be if a tornado came down really close to my house. Last night, the radio went off around midnight and I immediately got up and turned on the TV to find that there was in fact a tornado warning for Volusia County and it was headed for Ponce Inlet. That is very close to me, so I was a little nervous but so thankful for that radio. Luckily, the tornado did not cause much damage but it was still very scary because you just never know.

I say all of this because last week, over 50 people were killed in the southern states and I would guess that most of them probably didn't have weather radios. Please, please, please get a weather radio! It could save your life or the life of a loved one. There are many kinds out there but I have the Midland weather radio with programmable SAME codes. You can program it with your county or surrounding counties so that it only goes off when bad weather is headed your way. I will say that one of the reasons that I did not get a weather radio before was that I was under the impression that it just goes off all of the time. That is not true.. If you take the time to program it, it only goes off when there is a Watch or Warning for Severe Weather in your county.