Responding to Severe Weather Warnings

Mon, 03 Jun 2019 15:07:07 -0400

Dear Members of the UMBC Community,

In light of the spate of severe weather in our area over the past two weeks, we wanted to take this opportunity to remind the community how best to safely respond to severe weather warnings.

Please know that due to the nature of these storms, there is often little warning before severe weather strikes. When you hear local emergency sirens, please immediately seek shelter and follow the tips below. We will also alert the community through text and email alerts.

In the event of a severe weather alert, seek shelter immediately in the nearest building and, if available, follow signs to designated shelter areas. Move to the lowest level of the building and shelter in place in interior rooms, corridors, or stairways. Stay away from windows. If you are in a vehicle and unable to safely leave to seek shelter, keep your head below window level and leave the vehicle running so that safety systems such as airbags remain active. Wait for the all clear before returning to normal activity.

UMBC receives real-time warnings from a national weather information and monitoring system that detail critical weather events in our area. We use this system to alert the campus immediately through our emergency alert text-messaging system, as well as issue the all clear when danger has passed. If you have not yet done so, we strongly encourage all members of the campus community to sign up. More information about our emergency operations and alert systems can be found here.

Paul Dillon, Chief of Police