Emergency Plan

[msoeagle]

Its sure reassuring to know that the ride operators don't know what to do in an emergency. Its like a flight attendant not knowing how to use aircraft safety equipment.

[tp41190]

I was there on June 1, 2007 and at 7:15 (ish) they made an announcement in vipers station that there was severe weather coming. I wasn't worried about it because i thought that the park had a plan. So we were going to ride Bull when we saw the line closed off and people leaving. We then went to River Rocker. And when we were on it, these HUGE black clouds came rolling in. And we were on it and these huge bolts of lightning were shooting across the park as it started to down pour. Then during the ride the op was like "River Rocker is now a water ride", as he was in his little hut protected by the downpour. When we walked off the ride no one was in the midway...it was kind of eerie with the southwest music playing during a thunderstorm.

As we walked to Chubasco, it looked like the RR Op was getting yelled at for not shutting down the ride.

I wasn't really afraid them, but I am afraid now!

[cycamps]

That is a neat story. That day a tornado ripped through some sheds by my house. (I live on a farm) Also, that's the day after I went. When I went, there were only sprinkles off and on throghout the day. I just dodged the bullet.

Does anyone else have more GAm storm stories?

[tp41190]

I have a picture of Bull that day. Half of the park was covered in clouds and the other had sun. So it seemed like Bulls track was glowing.

The pic is on my phone and I don't have a cable. If I could send the pic to someone who can put it on here that would be cool. Just send me your phone number in a PM so I can send you the picture.

It is really neat, and I wish I could share it with everyone.

[BullInDaBack4Life]

Does anyone else have more GAm storm stories?

Well, this is sort of a storm story, actually it's just a story of a great day I had that happened to be on a day with a high chance of rain. It was about three years ago, I think. I arrived at the park and there apparently weren't that many people there because I heard there was a very high chance of rain, but I had my MVP and it was the second day and I stayed at a nearby hotel (yeah, I live in Milwaukee but I like hotels, OK?) and I was going to go back the next day no matter what. So yeah, it was very hot, but the lines were pretty short and stuff. And yeah, it did rain twice. But each time, it came on fast and about 10-15 minutes later, it stopped. The first time, I went inside an arcade waiting it out. The second time, it came while I was riding on the train and the weird thing is (I took the round trip), it actually stopped before I got off the train. Great timing, huh? Anyway, it was so hot that about 20 minutes after the rain stopped each time, you couldn't even tell that it rained that day.

[rctfan1556]

A couple years ago when I worked at SFGAM, I was working at Columbia Carousel. It started to get really dark out and started raining. It then got almost nightime dark out and started pouring with the winds howling. Probably gusts at 30ish. I looked to my right above the store near the Carousel and saw rotating clouds that were pitch black. They ended up dissipating and it continued to be dark out till the storm passed. I can say for 100% certainty, that I had a blast that day when that weather rolled in.

[cycamps]

That's neat. (SFGAm storm stories are awesome!!!)

[ttd rox]

I remember that my teacher told me that when she was young she was hanging out with her friend at SFGAm. There was a tornado watch in gurnee. There was some funnels and they told some people to hide in the pictorium. Most of the people left the park, but for those you lived far away stayed and seeked shelter. Some people stood under the little roof thing in Shockwave's line entrance. That was kind of stupid because if a tornado comes hits Shockwave the debris would hit them most likely if not the tornado its self. But that was a whild ago I'm sure they've change the plan by then.

[Danhockey04]

In a tornado, well in most, the coasters can withstand the speeds. The coasters have to be built with at least a safety factor of about 4 if not more. So the steel ones for sure might sustain damage from other flying debris, but the ride itself should be going nowhere, unless we get a powerful F5 coming through again.

[cycamps]

And the poor woodies.....(I mean coasters, not something else )

[Aero737]

I know Plainfield was F5, dont think there have been any others in this area in the recent past. F5's are fairly rare with 1 per year on average if that in the US

Once per 5 years on average (Last one before this year was 1999 and that was a long time).

As for in the park, and sort of a ditch/low lying area, a brick building (I think a lot of the bathrooms are brick?), or under a bench.

Places I would not want to be.. Anywhere near a wooden rollercoaster (So many boards to go flying), Under anything tall, inside the IMAX/any other large-span roofed building, and the parking lot. Then again, I generally try not to get myself into situations like that to begin with.

In a tornado, well in most, the coasters can withstand the speeds. The coasters have to be built with at least a safety factor of about 4 if not more. So the steel ones for sure might sustain damage from other flying debris, but the ride itself should be going nowhere, unless we get a powerful F5 coming through again.

I'm just curious as to what speeds you're thinking of? An F5 is going to take anything in it's path down (they destroy the concrete barriers in highway medians/peel up asphalt off roads) and winds reach speeds of close to 300 mph. An F4 tornado can have winds of about 210-260 mph, and I think that that is more than enough to topple a rollercoaster (if it can take down radio towers / water towers).

[greatamerica2003]

There is no real severe weather evacuation or shelter plan.

Your best bet for shelter is in the cement-block restrooms, or in the Demon railroad tunnel.

It's not very likely that the employees will instruct you to safe shelter, as its not part of the training. They have their own shelters at their rides, and those are places guests are not allowed under any circumstances.

The park used to try and make people leave, that way they were not responsible for injuries. I don't think they do that anymore.

[zjohn1988]

^the only time guests can access those areas is if they follow you there. Employees cant tell a guest they cant follow you to your shelter.

[greatamerica2003]

What I mean was that the employees are trained not to ever let people into those areas, and its so burned into their brains that even a situation such as this they won't let them into those areas

[Galvan316]

The Plainfield Tornado of 1990 remains the only F-5 Tornado ever to hit the Chicagoland Area.

However, It should be noted that recent changes to the Fujitia Scale means that devastating tornadoes of the past most notable the Oak Lawn tornado of the late 60s and the Utica tornado of a few years back could be considered a higher F scale then now because of the new enhanced Fujita Scale, but it is too difficult to reclassify 50 years of tornado data.

between 1 and 2% of all US Tornadoes in a given year are F-5 tornadoes. And the August 1990 Plainfield Tornado remains the most powerful August tornado ever to strike the United States.

As for Today, there is a slight risk of Severe Weather over the Chicago Land area today. A weak cold front is approching from the west and should bring about some strong to severe storms late this afternoon and early evening. Id say about 30% coverage if that.

As always if Severe Weather is forecast check out the Off topic forum for the latest updates.

[demon boy]

If it were me in that situation, the very first place i would go would be under Sky Trek. Its underground, surrounded by concrete, and not too much electricity. And i wouldnt care wtf the ride ops said, i would go anyway. I'd rather have my pass revoked than my life.

[Galvan316]

There is no real severe weather evacuation or shelter plan.

Your best bet for shelter is in the cement-block restrooms, or in the Demon railroad tunnel.
The park used to try and make people leave, that way they were not responsible for injuries. I don't think they do that anymore.

This is a very disturbing story, especially given the fact that large venues of people like sports stadiums and amusement parks are very vulnerable
to severe weather and tornadoes.

If the 2005 Roanoke IL Tornado shows us anything, a large venue must have a tornado plan in place. In this case, a factory of 100s of workers where saved because a tornado plan that the companies management put into place. The F4 Tornado levelled the companies warehouse and factory opperations but all the workers survived.

[yeti_cat]

I love when it rains in Gurnee, because it rarely rains -all- day in the summers. So people will go to the park, it'll rain, they'll leave. I, living only five minutes away, wait until the rain stops, and then go to the park and enjoy more rides than one would get even on off days.

Like a couple weeks ago when it rained until 6 or 7 every night for a few nights.

We are so far north in tornado alley that I'm never really worried about a tornado hitting us. I've lived all over chicago's suburbia and I've only had actual tornado experiences on the south edge of cook county.

What -I- wanna know, is the Emergency Plan for Godzilla attacks, it just sounds more realistic to me.

[BullInDaBack4Life]

I love when it rains in Gurnee, because it rarely rains -all- day in the summers. So people will go to the park, it'll rain, they'll leave. I, living only five minutes away, wait until the rain stops, and then go to the park and enjoy more rides than one would get even on off days.

I know. A few years ago, I bought tickets online and I knew a specific date that I was planning to go. And I got an MVP for the next day and came back. Turns out there was a "high" chance of rain that second day and because of it, not that many people were at the park. So I got some decent ride counts and yeah, it rained. It rained twice, but each time it only lasted about 10-15 minutes tops and because it was so hot, about 20 minutes after it rained, it didn't even look like it. One time it actually started raining when I was on the train and actually stopped before I got off the train. Talk about great timing!

[cycamps]

If the 2005 Roanoke IL Tornado shows us anything, a large venue must have a tornado plan in place. In this case, a factory of 100s of workers where saved because a tornado plan that the companies management put into place. The F4 Tornado levelled the companies warehouse and factory opperations but all the workers survived.

Since that worked so well, a plan for GAm might help...

[derek300anderson]

When I worked at Cedar Point we were told to get as many guests to safety as possible when the weather called for it. That included back rooms and anywhere safe (away from hazards like hot oil, machines, etc). While I've never heard of this being done. I was trained on it (it was mentioned a couple times). I hope it never needs to be done!!

[BullInDaBack4Life]

I just realized I posted the same basic story twice in the same thread. Oops. Sorry.

[cycamps]

Man... doing that for Cedar Point would be horrible. It is such a huge park with so many people....

[rcoaster]

Sorry for bringing up an old topic but there have been many weather emergencies at Great America recently, and I found this one video on youtube showing the action of Six Flags in a Tornadic weather emergency! They should cook up some plan soon.
June 7 Tornado Scare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hatZnnGd_fQ
Around 8:10pm on June 7, Six Flags Great America was issued a tornado warning!
That caused mass panic in the park. We were waiting it out in line for V2 when they told us. So they took us down to get to shelter. We rain in the pouring rain, but had no clue where we were going. We ran toward a gift shop, then we went back to the underpass underneath the V2 station, then they said to Batman: The Ride. So we ran to Batman telling people along the way there was a tornado warning. People were running everywhere confused of where to go. There were lots of people screaming. I got to Batman where people waiting it out under the faux highway had no clue what was going on. Since our employee leader fell behind somewhere, I had to ask the security gaurd there what to do. He just kind of looked at me, then I asked if we can seek shelter inside the line, and he just shrugged his shoulders.
Finally, more people followed me inside and we waited. Distraught parents were on their cell phones YELLING for their kids to run from across the park to Batman: The Ride (which was a dumb idea for them to say). Them yelling, caused other teens in line to get scared and started crying, including one of my friends who isn't used to tornado warnings.
Staff still didn't know what was going on. First they told us we were safe and to calm down, then they told us that we needed to evacuate the park and seek shelter outside the park! (That couldn't have been the plan!) So, we left the line and started running toward the gate, when just outside the Batman line, an employee told us to go to the restrooms for shelter. So we headed to the adjacent men's restroom and waited it out there. 5 mins later, we were in the clear, but with no direction of what to do after that. Did we need to leave or what? We ended up leaving.
So, we found out first hand that any plans Six Flags Great America had for situations like this had failed. No one knew what to do.
The storm that promted the warning had possibly put down a tornado a good couple miles southwest of the park in another town, where there was no damage there. The storm was moving northeast toward the park. The warning was supposedly canceled quite quickly by the National Weather Service, but park annoucements kept saying there was a tornado warning from the time it happened until we left.
The park I guess was never in any real danger. No one got hurt, just shaken up a bit, and there was no damage in the park, except the abundance of trash people dropped when they started running for cover.
Now, please keep in mind that, I knew staff wouldn't know what to do at first, since situations like this don't happen very often, but plans should have fallen into place. For those angry, my only suggestion is to KINDLY write a letter to Six Flags/Six Flags Great America describing your story and your concerns without using harsh language or an angry tone. They need to learn from this rather than take it as a complaint.

[Coasternut17]

You know, I've heard many people say safe places like Demon's tunnel. Now, in a tornado warning, does the park care if you go where you are normally not permitted?

^It looks like MASS chaos! Wow. Just wow.