!Tornado
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agk's diary
11 December 2021 @ 05:23
 --- 
written on Pinebook Pro
while Evy leaves for work
 --- 

We're hunkered in the bathroom. It's hot from our
bodies. We have water, snacks, a lantern, documents, 
and blankets. The CSEPP air raid klaxons sounded 
again. The loudspeakers thundered a warning again. 
We got another alert on our phones:

> An additional tornado warning was just issued for
> all of Madison County. Please go to the nearest 
> designated shelter immediately.

Power flickering but remains on. Baby's squalling.
I think my head's on roommate's foot. Evy called 
central staffing at the hospital to ask what to do. 
The lady said weather isn't an excused absence, 
same as the snow policy.

Evy went PRN when the baby was born. PRNs aren't 
allowed unexcused absences. She tried to impress
the situation on the lady: "We're sheltering in 
place right now. Tornados follow roadways. I'm 
afraid to spend an hour on the interstate before 
the warning is downgraded to a watch." 

The lady repeated the policy. Our inconsolable baby 
spit up. "I have a baby, ma'am," Evy pleaded. 

Before she left the bathroom to drive to work, Evy 
said, "If I die, take care of the baby." I said 
"Fuck them. You'll be ok. If you see a funnel, pull 
over and get in the ditch. You can't outrun it."

According to NOAA radar, thunderstorms spawning 
tornados are coming from Danville, heading north-
east, same way Evy's going. I don't see why they 
can't ask night staff for volunteers to stay an 
hour during lethal weather. Doesn't make you feel 
particularly essential.

 ---
Update
 ---
Thirty minutes after Evy left for work the tornado 
system petered out 20 miles west of us. Three hundred 
miles west, workers at the Mayfield candle factory 
asked, like Evy, to delay coming to work or leave 
early. Like Evy, management threatened to fire them 
for unexcused absence. The plant collapsed on 110 
workers. Evy found out and emailed her union rep. No 
one should be bullied into working in potentially 
fatal conditions other than conditions they collect-
ively agree are inseperable from the job.