(KTEN) — We know that seeking shelter is the right thing to do during severe weather,  but it's what you do before, during, and after the storm hits that can be the difference between life… or death.

"My husband said, 'It's here! Get down!'" recalled Buncombe Creek tornado survivor Carol Kennedy. "Robert looked back and he could see it."

The Kennedys took shelter in March 2022 as an EF-2 tornado hit their home. Although they were injured, their choice to seek shelter saved both of their lives.  

In April 2020, an EF-3 tornado hit Holy Cross Catholic Church in Madill. Fr. Oby Zunmas took shelter.

"Thank God I'm alive," he said after his close call.

"We use the phrase get in, get down, cover up," said Rick Smith with the National Weather Service office in Norman, Oklahoma. "Get as far inside a sturdy building as you can; get on the lowest floor that you can; and get low to the ground. Then cover up with something."

Research and experience both show that mobile homes are not safe from any tornado or wind storm. If you live in a mobile home, planning and early action are the keys to survival.

The National Weather Service recommends that the day before severe weather occurs, make plans to go to a safer structure or have sheltering options — like staying at the home of a friend or family member — until the severe weather threat has cleared.

If your plan is to wait until storms are close or warnings are already issued, it's too late.

The bottom line: Your sheltering plans and decision to take action will dictate how well you survive the storm.

But how should we take shelter? And what do you do if you don't have a storm shelter or you live in an apartment?

"If you are in a home, the principle is to put as many walls between you and the tornado as you can, and then cover up as much as you can there," Smith said.

This often involves some planning and preparation, especially for people with open floor plans, limited space, or small bathrooms located on the outside walls of their home instead of further in.  

"People who live in apartments… you may live on the first floor, you may live on the second or third floor, and the principles are the same: Get as low as you can, get in as far inside as you can," Smith said.

While Hollywood has made being in cars during tornado events popular, a vehicle is the most dangerous place anyone can be.

"When tornadoes directly hit vehicles — especially strong tornadoes — they can do incredible damage, so that's not absolutely safe," Smith said. "The best thing to do is do whatever you possibly can to not get in that situation."

And doing whatever you possibly can doesn't just mean the preparation beforehand.

"Just a few minutes of planning in advance, practicing with your family maybe, can make a huge difference," Smith said.

But also taking the course of action you'll regret the least in the future.

"You have to act; you have to do something," Smith said. "You can have the best plans. You can have 15 different ways to get a warning. But if you don't take shelter when that warning is issued for your area... if you don't do something to protect yourself... then none of that means anything."