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.
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Tornado at Yankees Stadium July 23rd 2010by yankeesfreak21,978 views
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