Indiana University East will participate in a statewide tornado drill on Wednesday, March 27, as part of Indiana’s Severe Weather Awareness Week, March 24 to 30.

During “Operation Stormy Weather” all Indiana University campuses will activate a Tornado Warning Test Drill using IU-Notify, the university’s emergency notification system, between 10 and 10:30 a.m. for the first test and between 7:15 and 7:45 p.m. for the second, both coinciding with the statewide drill. Test messages will be sent to IU East faculty, staff and students via email, text message (SMS), social media, digital signage and website updates. In the event of real severe weather conditions, the drill will be postponed until Thursday, March 28, at the same times.

The campaign is to raise awareness of preparedness and safety procedures during severe weather season. “Operation Stormy Weather” is designed to encourage faculty, staff and students to be prepared for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms, which can include damaging winds, hail, lightning and flooding.

What to do before the drills:

• All members of the IU community are expected to follow tornado procedures as if this were a real tornado warning by seeking shelter when notification is received, whether that is via sirens or IU-Notify alerts.
• Locate tornado-safe locations in all the buildings you typically use. They will be building-specific. Tornado shelters are indicated by a tornado funnel cloud symbol.
• If you have access or functional needs, please determine the best solution for your situation in order to get to an appropriate tornado-safe location.

During the drills:

• Remain in the shelter location until you or others in the location receive the IU-Notify All Clear alert.
• When IU-Notify messages are delivered, recipients should be sure those around them are aware of the message in case they are not subscribed to IU-Notify. They should check to see whether anyone in their vicinity needs assistance in following severe weather procedure.
• Please note the time you receive the alerts from IU-Notify, including whether you saw them on digital signs or campus websites. Your feedback is important and helps the university better protect you should the system need to be activated in an emergency. You will have the opportunity to share your feedback through a short survey linked to the IU-Notify test email.
• Lab procedures: If you’re working in a lab or conducting another critical function that cannot be interrupted and can’t seek shelter during this drill, the people who cannot seek shelter should take a few minutes to review building procedures. Know where you would have gone to seek shelter, and discuss those procedures with anyone else in the vicinity. However, if this were a real tornado warning, you would be expected to proceed to a designated tornado shelter location.