Ohio Committee for Severe Weather Awareness StormReady

Severe Weather Emergency Preparedness

When Seconds Count , Communities are prepared.

Americans live in the most severe weather-prone country on Earth. Every year, Americans cope with an average of 10,000 thunderstorms, 2,500 floods, 1,000 tornadoes, and an average of six deadly hurricanes. Potentially deadly weather impacts everyone. Communities can now rely on the National Weather Service’s StormReady program to help them guard against the ravages of Mother Nature.

Approximately 90 percent of all presidentially declared disasters are weather related, causing nearly 500 deaths per year and nearly $14 billion in damage. StormReady, a program started in 1999 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, helps arm America’s communities with the communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property – before and during an event. StormReady helps community leaders and emergency managers strengthen local safety programs.

StormReady communities are better prepared to save lives from the onslaught of severe weather through better planning, education and awareness. No community is storm proof, but StormReady can help communities save lives.

Ohio currently has 15 StormReady communities located in the following counties: Allen, Auglaize, Clermont, Coshocton, Huron, Jackson, Lucas, Medina, Mercer, Richland, Sandusky, Scioto, Shelby, Union and Van Wert.

To be officially certified as StormReady, a county or community must:

• Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center;
• Have multiple ways to receive severe weather forecasts and warnings;
• Have multiple ways to alert the public;
• Create a system that monitors local weather conditions;
• Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars; and
• Develop a formal hazardous weather plan that includes training for severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.

Ohio has a StormReady committee that consists of representatives from the National Weather Service, the Emergency Management Association of Ohio and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. This committee processes all applications for StormReady designations within the state. The certification lasts three years, then must be reviewed for recognition of an additional term.

Van Wert County Proves It's StormReady

Van Wert, OH (November 2002) This was what remained of a movie theater in Van Wert after an F4 tornado ripped through the area, which was part of a November 10-11 storm outbreak that killed 35 people. The Van Wert Cinemas manager and staff got more than 50 people out of the theaters and into safer conditions in a hallway and restrooms after a warning alert system in the theater’s office sounded.

The system is called the “Informer,” a Federal Signal Corporation local warning alert system, which is activated via a digitally-encoded pager signal. That automatically turns on and sounds an alert. The theater’s unit was directly tied into the Van Wert County siren system that activates immediately when the Van Wert County Emergency Operations Center sounded the warning sirens.

Van Wert County became a StormReady community in January of 2002. “If we hadn’t gone through the StormReady process and got our warning system in place before the storm, a lot of people would not have gotten the warning and we could have lost many more lives,” said Rick McCoy, Van Wert County Emergency Management Agency director. “All communities across the country need to look at becoming StormReady, because at some point they are going to have severe weather of some kind.”

The tornado touched down in Van Wert County with 13 minutes lead time. The tornado struck the movie theater 28 minutes after the warning was issued.

Benefits When a Community Becomes StormReady:

• StormReady improves the timeliness and effectiveness of hazardous weather warnings for the public.
• StormReady provides detailed and clear recommendations that will help local emergency managers establish and improve effective hazardous weather operations.
• StormReady can help justify costs and purchases needed to support hazardous mitigation and emergency response plans.
• StormReady rewards local hazardous weather mitigation programs that have achieved a desired performance level.
• StormReady provides a means to possibly acquire additional community rating system points assigned by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
• StormReady can help ensure a community that it is prepared for other civil emergencies.

For more information about the StormReady program and guidelines specific to Ohio visit Stormready National Weather Service

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