I have watched with interest the answers to the poll ques­tion from the newspaper last week. The question was: What are you most likely to do if you see a tornado? Possible responses included: Watch as it passes; run for shelter; and, call someone else and warn them, then run for shelter.

I was watching the news Friday morning and most of the channels were covering the tornado's destruction of a Lowe's parking lot at Tupelo, Miss. The Lowe's building itself was not hit, I understand, but the items in the parking lot, including trees, suffered damage.

Several people were interviewed and each one said he simply looked up and, in an instant; the tornado dropped from the sky, did its thing, and then disappeared. Each person interviewed said there was simply no time to do anything -- no time to do any­thing but watch!

The one time I saw a tornado, there was no time to do anything but watch either. I awakened at about 2 a. m. to this terribly loud sound. I had not heard any warnings of any kind. I looked out my bedroom window, and there it was!

Thankfully, it was not on the ground but in the air and passed right above the house.

Missouri has a "Ready In Three" program that is attempt­ing to help families prepare for the unexpected. The pro­gram focuses on creating a family emergency plan, prepar­ing an emergency kit, and getting timely and accurate infor­mation from state and media sources.

Locally, we have committed people in the police and fire departments, paid and volunteers, who make every effort to warn us of impending danger.

I guess, however, there is only One who we can work with to be completely prepared for the unthinkable or the unex­pected, and with all due respect, it is no one locally!

Given all the weather- related events that are happening, talking with that One would be wise to do soon, I think.

Jack Rollins is the managing editor of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.