Is it safer to stay in the van or get out during a tornado?

Neither is safe. Ready.gov says a car or truck caught in a tornado has only less dangerous options. Stay parked out of traffic with seat belts on and heads below the windows, or leave the van and lie flat in ground clearly lower than the road. With wheelchair riders or slow walkers aboard, staying belted in the van is usually the only realistic choice.

Can a driver shelter under a highway overpass?

No. On May 3, 1999, tornadoes in central Oklahoma crossed interstates at seven places. At the three where an overpass sat directly in the path, someone sheltering at the bridge died. The wind is stronger up under the deck and may speed up through the gap, debris flies through, and cars parked under the bridge block the lanes for everyone behind them.

How deep does water have to be to carry off a wheelchair van?

Less than most drivers think. The National Weather Service says 12 inches of water can float a car or small SUV and 18 inches can carry away large vehicles, and a road under water may already be washed out. A driver cannot judge depth or pavement from the seat, so the only safe rule is to turn back.

Should the run continue during a tornado watch?

Usually, yes. A watch means tornadoes are possible across a large area, often many counties. Keep running trips, but have the driver and dispatch agree on the sturdy buildings near each stop. Once a warning covers a pickup or the road to it, hold that trip until the warning ends.

Do drivers get tornado warnings on their phones automatically?

Usually. The FCC describes carrier participation as widespread but voluntary. Wireless Emergency Alerts need no signup, cost nothing, and reach compatible phones in the warned area, including phones that drive into it after the alert went out. The phone has to be on, out of airplane mode, and on a carrier that takes part. NWS sends them for tornado warnings, but not for every wind or thunderstorm warning.

Can we load a wheelchair rider while lightning is close?

Better to wait. The National Weather Service says no place outside is safe when thunderstorms are near, while a hard-topped metal vehicle with its windows closed protects the people inside. Running the lift puts the rider and driver outside. Keep riders in the van or the building until the storm moves on.

Tornado warning while driving passengers: what to do

A weather policy decides which trips run on a stormy day. It cannot make the call for a driver whose phone sounds a warning halfway down a rural highway with three riders aboard. This guide covers those calls. The company-level side, from service levels to broker notice, is in the bad weather policy guide.

The alerts that change the drive

The National Weather Service (NWS) speaks to drivers through a short list of alerts, and each one calls for a different move with riders in the van. A watch means a hazard is possible across a wide area. A warning means it is happening, or about to, where you are.

Alert	What NWS means	The driver’s move
Tornado Watch	Tornadoes are possible; the watch often spans many counties or several states	Know the sturdy buildings with step-free entrances near each stop
Tornado Warning	A tornado has been sighted or indicated on radar, in an area about the size of a city or small county	Head for the closest substantial shelter now
Tornado Emergency	A violent tornado is on the ground and catastrophic damage is confirmed	Shelter where you are; do not try to outrun it
Flash Flood Warning	A flash flood is happening or imminent, sometimes where no rain is falling	Keep to high ground and turn back from water on the road
Severe Thunderstorm Warning	Winds of 58 mph or more, or hail 1 inch or larger, now or imminent	Get riders into a sturdy building and hold off loading
High Wind Warning	Typically sustained winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or 58 mph or more for any length of time	Both hands on the wheel, slow down, keep clear of trucks and trailers
Dust Storm Warning	Visibility of half a mile or less in blowing dust or sand, with winds of 30 mph or more	Pull fully off the pavement, lights off, parking brake set

Tornado watches come from the Storm Prediction Center, while warnings come from your local forecast office. Local offices also set their own wind criteria, so the High Wind Warning figures are the typical values in the NWS instruction for these products. A Wind Advisory sits below it, typically at sustained winds of 30 to 39 mph for an hour or more.

The watch is when the planning happens. NWS asks people under a Tornado Watch to review their plans and be ready to act fast if a warning follows. For a van, that means the driver and dispatch agree on where riders could go near each stop: a hospital, clinic, school, or large store with an entrance a wheelchair can use.

Caught by a tornado warning with riders aboard

Ready.gov is blunt about vehicles: a car or truck caught in a tornado has no safe option, only less dangerous ones. The National Severe Storms Laboratory puts the average time a tornado stays on the ground at about five minutes, so the choice has to be made quickly. Work down this list.

Reach a sturdy building before the storm does. NWS says the best course for anyone in a vehicle is to drive to the closest shelter. Once inside, move everyone to an interior room on the lowest floor, away from windows.
Drive away only in narrow conditions. Ready.gov allows driving out of the tornado’s path, at right angles to its track, when the tornado is visible, far away, and traffic is light. The NWS office in Norman warns that heavier city traffic can jam and trap you, and says to find a nearby building instead.
If wind or debris catches you, park out of the travel lanes. Keep every seat belt fastened. Riders and driver put their heads below the windows and cover them with their hands, a blanket, a coat, or a cushion.
Use low ground only if it is clearly lower than the road. NWS and Ready.gov both allow leaving the vehicle to lie flat in a ditch or ravine with heads covered. That works for a driver and riders who can move quickly, and rarely for anyone else.

Keep two or three blankets in every van through tornado season. They cost little, and they are what a belted rider can pull over their head.

Never stop under an overpass

The bridge looks like cover, and it is one of the worst places to be. The NWS office in Norman, Oklahoma, studied the outbreak of May 3, 1999. Tornadoes crossed interstate highways at seven places in central Oklahoma. At three of them an overpass stood directly in the path, and at all three someone sheltering at the bridge was killed.

The study gives the reasons:

Wind and debris get worse up under the deck. Climbing the embankment raises a person into stronger wind, the gap under the bridge may speed it up, and most overpasses have no girders to hold or ledges to crawl into.
The wind reverses. As a tornado passes, the wind can swing nearly 180 degrees, so the side that felt sheltered on the way in takes the full blast on the way out.
Staying in the car is no fix. One of the three victims stayed in his car under a bridge on Interstate 35. The tornado threw the car about 30 yards, and it landed upside down.
Parked cars trap everyone else. At the Shields Boulevard overpass in Moore, drivers began stopping under the bridge 10 to 15 minutes before the tornado arrived. They filled the shoulder, then each lane, until a quarter-mile line of vehicles sat in the tornado’s path with no way out.

Ready.gov gives the same instruction: do not seek shelter under bridges. A van stopped at an overpass also blocks the ambulances that come after the storm.

Riders in wheelchairs narrow the choices

Most tornado advice assumes people can crouch, run, or climb into a ditch. A rider secured in a wheelchair can do none of those, so the driver has fewer options and needs more time.

Unloading is the slow part. BraunAbility’s operator’s manual for its Century 2 public-use lift tells operators to park on a level surface away from traffic, shift into park, set the parking brake, and keep the engine running before the lift moves. Doing that at a strange building in rising wind takes minutes, with the driver and rider outside the whole time.

That changes the timing:

Decide at the watch, not the warning. On a wheelchair run, pick shelter points while the sky is still quiet, and favor buildings where the van can pull up to a level, step-free entrance.
Go early. If a warning is issued for a nearby county and the storm is moving your way, get to the building then. Waiting for a warning on your own area may leave no time to unload.
If you are caught, leave the chair secured. Ready.gov’s advice for anyone caught in a vehicle is to stay belted with heads down, and for a wheelchair rider that means the chair stays in its tie-downs with the occupant belt fastened. Cover the rider’s head with a blanket or coat, and have walking riders get as low as their belts allow.

Release securements only when staying in the van is the bigger danger, such as rising water or fire. The steps for that are in the wheelchair van evacuation guide.

Flood water: the depth that floats a van

Flooding kills more people than any other thunderstorm hazard, and NWS cites the CDC finding that more than half of flood-related drownings happen when someone drives into hazardous flood water. The numbers are small. NWS says 12 inches of water can float a car or small SUV, and 18 inches can carry away large vehicles. A wheelchair van counts as a large vehicle, and its height does not keep it on the road.

Depth is only half the danger. NWS warns that flood water is often deeper than it looks and can hide a road that has washed away. A flash flood can also arrive where little or no rain is falling. Never drive around a barricade, and never trust that the van ahead made it through.

If water rises around the van, NWS says to get to the highest point you can and call 911. With riders who cannot climb, make the 911 call the moment water reaches the wheels. Then call dispatch so no other van is routed down the same road, and so the office can tell the next pickup why you are late.

Wind, dust, and lightning at the curb

Wind, dust, and lightning each call for their own moves at the wheel and at the curb.

High wind. NWS tells drivers in strong wind to hold the wheel with both hands, slow down, and keep their distance from trucks, buses, and vehicles towing trailers, since a single gust can tip a trailer over. FHWA notes that high wind threatens the stability of high-profile vehicles in particular, and a high-roof wheelchair van is one of them. Before you lower a lift or ramp in a strong crosswind, park so the van shields the rider.
Severe thunderstorms. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning means 58 mph winds or 1-inch hail, and NWS says to get inside a sturdy building away from windows. If the van is at a clinic when one is issued, the riders wait inside the clinic.
Dust storms. NWS advice for a driver caught in blowing dust is specific: pull the vehicle as far off the pavement as you can, stop, turn off the lights, set the parking brake, and take your foot off the brake so following drivers do not aim for your tail lights. Never stop in a travel lane.
Lightning. NWS says no place outside is safe when a thunderstorm is near, while the metal shell of a hard-topped vehicle protects the people inside if the windows are closed. Running the lift or walking a rider in puts both of you outside. Hold the loading until the storm passes. The NWS rule is to wait 30 minutes after the last lightning or thunder before going back outside.

What reaches the driver’s phone, and what does not

Wireless Emergency Alerts reach most drivers without any setup. Government agencies send them through participating wireless carriers to compatible phones in the warned area, with no signup and no charge. The FCC says the alert arrives with a unique sound and vibration, and NWS says both repeat twice. A phone that drives into the area after the alert went out still receives it, and network congestion does not stop it.

Three limits matter for a fleet:

Not every warning sends one. NWS uses these alerts for tornado, hurricane, storm surge, extreme wind, dust storm, and snow squall warnings. It sends them for severe thunderstorm warnings only when the damage threat is destructive, and for flash flood warnings only when the threat is considerable or catastrophic. NWS does not send one for a High Wind Warning.
The phone has to be ready. The FCC says it must be switched on, out of airplane mode, and served by a carrier that takes part. Carriers may let users block imminent-threat alerts, so make it a rule that work phones keep them on.
The office does not get the van’s alerts. The alert goes to phones in the warned area. A dispatcher 40 miles away will not see the warning that just hit a driver’s phone, so dispatch needs its own watch on the warnings for every county where vans are running.

Drivers still should not read a screen while moving. Pull over somewhere safe, read the alert, and then call dispatch.

Check in once the storm passes

The first message to dispatch after the danger passes should answer the questions the office will ask anyway. Ready.gov advises keeping phone calls for emergencies after a tornado and using text messages to reach others, so a short text works if calls are not going through.

Where the van is: an address, cross streets, or a mile marker
Which riders are aboard and how each one is doing
Any injury, after calling 911 first
Damage to the van, and whether it can still run safely
Roads that are blocked, flooded, or covered with debris

Stay clear of downed power lines, which Ready.gov warns about after any tornado. If a rider is hurt or shaken, follow the medical emergency steps before thinking about the schedule. Dispatch then tells families and facilities, reroutes the vans still running, and gives the broker the notice the weather policy calls for. Before the shift ends, write up any injury or damage on an incident report, with the times and the place you sheltered.

Keeping track of vans when the weather turns

HealthRide’s live map shows where each driver is right now, so dispatch can check which vans are in a warned county without calling anyone. An announcement in team chat reaches every driver at once, with read receipts showing who has seen it. The driver app keeps working without cell service, and what a driver records during an outage syncs when the signal returns.

Tornado warning while driving passengers: flash floods, high winds, and NEMT riders aboard