Where would you take cover if a tornado was about to strike andyou were unable to take shelter?

A culvert. Everybody knows that.

Well, not everybody. But most folks in Tornado Alley do. InKansas, where I grew up, all school-age kids are taught by parents,schools and public service campaigns how to find the safest shelterin any situation when a tornado hits.

Each spring, my school district executed a tornado drill at boththe junior/senior high school and the elementary school. Theyoung kids took shelter in the lunchroom, while the high schoolkids filed downstairs into the basement and tunnel. (Many smalltowns in Kansas have underground tunnel systems. And yes, of coursethe teenagers sneak down there to drink beer.)

Judging by the amazing storyof how 22 people survived the deadly May 20 tornado by taking shelter in thevault of the $3 billion Tinker FCU's Moore, Okla., branch, theytake tornado safety seriously in the Sooner State, too.

Of course they took shelter in the vault. Anybody would.

Or would they?

Credit union disaster plans usually include detailed informationon how to provide continued service to members and handle serviceinterruptions. But do they instruct employees what to do inthe event of every emergency? Does your credit union drill forthose emergencies?

I spoke with Phil Tschudy at CUNA Mutual about tornado procedures andwhether the vault is a common, or even a good, place to takeshelter. It turns out the employees at TFCU were lucky: hesaid vaults aren't often an option for branch employees, becausemany branches don't have safe deposit boxes, and therefore onlyhave safes, not vaults.

But more important than a vault is a written plan, Tschudysaid.

Whether your credit union is located in Tornado Alley or on theSan Andreas Fault, employees should not only know what proceduresto follow in the event of a natural disaster, they should betrained and drilled on it, too.

I spoke with a couple of credit union managers in Kansas, andthey said they have written tornado procedures for each branch,because some locations have basements while others do not. In somecases, the procedure calls for employees to leave the credit unionas soon as tornado sirenssound and seek shelter nearby.

Tschudy also said that sheltering members, or even employeesfrom the business next door, doesn't present a situation where acredit union would take on additional liability, provided everyonefollows a well-written plan. However, if there was not a plan, oremployees didn't follow it, the credit union could be liablebecause a victim could argue in court that the institution wasnegligent.

Many credit unions located in what has traditionally been dubbedTornado Alley – which includes parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado,Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa – probably already have a tornadoprocedure in place. However, deadly tornadoes have recently strucklocations outside those states, such as the devastating May 2011Joplin, Mo., tornado that killed 158 people and the March 2012tornado in West Liberty, Ky., that killed six.

According to the National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration, strong E3, E4 and E5 tornadoes primarily hit statesin the Great Plains, South and Midwest. However, these potentiallydeadly tornadoes have also struck in unlikely locations likeFlagstaff, Ariz., Albany, N.Y., and Miami.

That means most credit unions probably aren't prepared with awritten plan or procedure for employees.

Nobody wants one more to-do item on their compliance list. So ifyou need some motivation, just take a look at whatis left of Tinker's Moore branch.

Of course you'll write that procedure.

Who wouldn't?