KANSAS CITY, Kan. — There’s a chance of getting stuck in a tornado while you’re on the road during storm season in the Midwest. Now, the Kansas Turnpike Authority is reminding drivers in Kansas that there’s a safe place for you to go in case of an emergency.
Skies can turn an ominous shade of dark green and tornado sirens begin to moan through the air. Shilogh Tinsley says she hopes she’s never on the road in those conditions.
“You’re kinda stuck on the Turnpike,” she said. “There’s not a lot of places you can get off easily anyways.”
Tinsley, like many other drivers thought the best place to be in a tornado is under an overpass.
“We were told to go under underpasses,” she said. “That’s all I was told to do, like I said, I’m not from this area, but it’s where my husband told us to go.”
Kansas State Master Trooper Mike Gruber says that’s not a good idea.
“That can create like a vacuum if you will, when you’re under the overpass,” Gruber said.
Instead, the KTA wants to let drivers know the place you pay is the place that will keep you safe. Under many of the toll plazas along the Kansas turnpike are long tunnels. The shelters are mainly for turnpike employees but for the public as well.
Some gas stations are also designated as storm shelters. No one will be turned away from these shelters in a storm.
The shelters aren’t advertised or marked, so you’ll have to know which places are safe places to stop. Click here for a list of shelters along the Kansas turnpike.
