Severe Weather Safety

You can try to move out of harm's way, though.

What's the appropriate reaction in a situation like this ? Do you stay outside and risk falling trees, buildings and electrocution ? Or do you go inside the nearest building and find something to hide under ?

Unfortunate :-|Move to a safer area.

I've seen some people get killed after leaving their homes. Better stay inside all the time.

Live somewhere that will take the measures necessary to survive the upheavel.

Tornados are pretty scary but ultimately the likelihood of ever being struck by one directly is not very high. That said, a reinforced cellar could hardly to amiss if planning for extremities. And building on high ground should go without saying. Wouldn't do to have your fortress of solitude flooded out by a heavy rain storm. Not too high though: mud slides.

Everyone is citing the "2.5 hours of warning" - if I was in the middle of working a 12-hour shift, I would just stay put.Leaving the building to race home is probably the most dangerous thing you can do.Source: I grew up in a moderate tornado zone.

Ignorant question: What are your options as far as staying safe as it hits?

Stay outside. Try to find an area that has minimal falling objects. If possible, find something sturdy to shelter inside like a bus stop. Knell down to prevent yourself from losing your balance and be observant of your surroundings. Try to remain in place but move if you see the situation rapidly deteriorating like puffs of dust being spewed from concrete building columns.

Five hours of driving from the ocean is nothing. I have lived on opposite sides of the world and prepared for both hurricanes and typhoons plenty of times while being further from shore. I have prepared for two recently. These aren’t natural disasters without warning (unlike say earthquakes), and while you can hardly mitigate the damage, there’s no excuse being stranded unless you simply live alone. Maybe people in your area collectively have no preparedness at all, if they all think moving away