McKenzie: Twisting through reality

I just struck falsetto to back Johnny Mathis blasting from the iPod when a slab of rain backed by howling wind percussed my car.

I slowed to 35 miles an hour and flipped on my flashers as trees bent and swirled and visibility dropped to nowhere, blissfully unaware that mere miles away a tornado was raising the roof at an historic Louisa County plantation and I was driving through it.

What you don’t know, it seems, could kill you.

“We’ve seen a lot of extreme weather conditions and natural disasters in the past couple of years, from ice storms and 2 feet of snow to earthquakes, hurricanes and tornados,” said Morris Peterson, of Ruckersville’s Ashbury International Group. “If you’re not prepared, if you’re not forewarned, you could be in trouble.”

Ashbury is a defense contractor. It’s also created a subsidiary, ICE PACK Emergency Preparedness Systems, that manufactures and markets a series of emergency products that provide companies and people the necessities to provide themselves shelter where they are.

The subsidiary began in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as people found themselves without everything from drinking water to roofs to police protection.

“When you consider that about 1 percent of the people in America, according to a recent study, are first-responders, you can get a better idea of what can happen in a serious emergency,” Mr. Peterson said. “With that ratio, you could be on your own for a long time before they can help you.”

ICE PACK doesn’t stop at producing and selling products. It also sponsors emergency preparedness seminars for local governments, companies and federal agencies. It’s a regular donor to the local Red Cross emergency units and its website includes a blog that provides useful news on keeping safe in unsure situations.

One idea is to buy and operate a radio that receives warning broadcasts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In fact, at an Oct. 27 seminar sponsored by ICE PACK, the company will host a discussion of the weather radio’s role with Bruce Thomas, chief meteorologist and spokesman for Midland Radio Corp., which makes weather radios.

At the end, one registrant will walk out with a radio in hand. The hope is that the radio will then be donated to “a preschool, elementary school, shelter or elderly care facility of [the winner’s] choice.”

“When you take your child to day care or visit someone in a nursing home, you expect them to concentrate on their job at hand,” Mr. Peterson said. “The all-hazard radio gives advance warning so that they can take safety precautions.”

They also make portable radios that can give you a heads up even if you’re hitting the highs with Johnny on the highway.

“It’s an important tool,” Mr. Peterson said. “If you don’t know extreme weather is coming, there’s a good chance you can become a victim.”