Residents Urged to Particpate in Tuesday's State Tornado Drill

Manassas Park government, school and emergency officials are preparing to participate in a major tornado drill Tuesday and are urging all city residents to do the same.

A statewide tornado drill is scheduled for Tuesday at 9:45 a.m.

Residents are not only encouraged to participate, but to register online at Vaemergency.com for the event.  The site also provides directions on how to conduct a tornado drill.

The drill is ideally timed, as the likelihood of tornadoes increases with warmer weather.

“For the Manassas area, the peak time for tornadoes is spring and summer, but they are most common in the spring when the atmosphere is more unstable,” Manassas Park Fire Chief and Emergency Manager John O’Neal said in an earlier report.

But tornadoes can strike anywhere, anytime.

Last year was the most successful tornado drill in history, with more than 1.2 million Virginia residents participating.

This year, several hundred thousand Northern Virginia residents say they plan to participate.

In addition to participating in the drill, O’Neal asks that residents consider taking additional steps of preparedness.

“I personally encourage people to invest in the weather radios, to have a family disaster plan and to be constantly aware of the threats of severe weather by paying attention to local media and planning ahead,” O’Neal said.

Detail instructions on how to plan for an weather emergency are outlined at readyvirginia.gov.