Mississippi College Bar Tornado Panic Proves Need For People To Plan For Scary Weather

 The building housing Bin 612 in Starksville, Mississippi. The
bar came under controversy this month when it ordered
patrons out when a tornado warning was issued. 

If you're out and about and a tornado warning is issued, you should seek shelter in a sturdy building if at all possible.

One good idea if you have time is to run into a business in a substantial building.

People do that all the time during warnings. Business owners are pretty much always happy to rescue people caught out in their cars or on foot when a tornado is bearing down.

However, you can't always count on a business being accommodating, or even capable of helping people out in dangerous weather.  

This was the case earlier this month in Mississippi. It highlights how people should be prepared in advance for scary, dangerous weather. And how businesses and municipalities can develop or improve severe weather emergency plans.  

Controversy erupted in Starksville, Mississippi during a recent tornado outbreak in the South, when a pub called Bin 612 near Mississippi State University.

Bin 612, and other nearby restaurants, shut their doors when a tornado warning was issued.  Some people were outraged that the bar would kick people out in a tornado warning. Others wondered why people were out at bars in the first place when forecasts had called for severe weather all day.

According to Al.com:

"Bin 612 - and nearly half a dozen nearby restaurants in the area's Cotton District - shut their doors as soon as the tornado warning was issued. Those already inside were asked to leave. And it didn't go over well.

Video posted to social media Saturday night showed a cacophony of dumbstruck students as chaos ensued following the evacuation notice. 'Get the (expletive out!' a voice can be heard shouting - later revealed to be a third-party security guard."

In the jumpy video, you can also hear a young woman pleading, "Where do we go for shelter?"

Dire warnings probably unintentionally helped lead to the panic. Often, if a tornado is confirmed or if signs point to a particularly bad one, tornado warnings often have enhanced working. Shortly before 10 p.m. that Saturday, the National Weather Service in Jackson, Mississippi issued a tornado warnint for the Starksville area.

A few minutes later, that warning was upgraded to include the message that "a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado was located....nine miles southwest of Starksville" and moving right toward the town. People had less than 10 minutes to take cover.

This enhanced wording from the National Weather Service is meant to tell complacent people that this one is serious, take it seriously.

The dire warning panicked people in Bin 612 and surrounding bars. Bin 612 has a basement, but it can only hold about 50 people. Close to 300 people were in Bin 612 that night. Video of the moment is at the bottom of this post.

Staying in the bar would have been dangerous, Ty Thames, the owner of Bin 612 told Al.com

"'People were too intoxicated to understand they were in danger there,' explained Thames. 'It's basically wall to wall glass on the front and back of the building. The only non-glass walls we have are interior room-to-room walls. And those are lined with glass racks to hold glasses, over 300 liquor bottles and tons of serving glasses."

Thames said security guards tried to guide people to a nearby underground parking garage. But the crowd was panicked, the guards were frantic and yelling expletives. So any sense of a reasonable process to take cover was lost

Thankfully, the tornado lifted before it reached town.  So, death and disaster averted.

That's not always the case. There have been deaths over the years at outdoor concert venues and other events when severe weather rolled in and organizers didn't have a good enough plan to get people to shelter in time.

All this points to lessons that should have been learned. Bin 612 and other businesses should think through a plan to evacuate people in an orderly fashion during an emergency. No ad hoc security guards shoving people out through doors, please. To his credit, Thames said he would review and upgrade his severe weather plan

And people out for an evening when severe weather is forecast should have looked at their surroundings and figured out where they would go if a tornado warning was issued, or another emergency cropped up. Better yet, since they'd been forecasting rough weather all day, people maybe should have stayed home, and go out another night when the weather was calmer.

I know this is paranoid, but when I go to a crowded public venue, I always take note of where the exit  signs are, and think for a moment how I would leave if I had to get out in a hurry.

Here's the video of security guards yelling, scared, drunk patrons and people not knowing what to do. Not the best moment in severe weather prep: