County designated as ready to withstand heavy weather

By Sam Blackwell

Southeast Missourian

When an unusual January tornado with winds of more than 120 mph touched down in McLean County in western Kentucky last Wednesday, the area had been under a tornado watch for more than an hour and had been under a severe thunderstorm warning for 19 minutes. More than $1 million in damage was done, but no one was injured.

"That's a true statement of being prepared personally," said Beverly Poole, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky.

Helping communities take responsibility for their own safety from weather-related threats is the goal of a national emergency preparedness program called StormReady. Last week, Cape Girardeau County became the first county in Southeast Missouri to be certified under the StormReady program. The county is only the fifth certified community in the 58-county, four-state area the Paducah Weather Forecast Office serves.

Highest level of readiness

StormReady certification means a community has a preparedness and warning system in place recognized as sound by the National Weather Service. It is the highest level of readiness. "This is what you aspire to," Poole said.

Also StormReady in the weather service's forecast area are Daviess County in Kentucky, Johnson County in Illinois and the cities of Evansville, Ind., and Carbondale, Ill. Cape Girardeau County became the 10th StormReady county in Missouri.

Certification means that a community or county has met certain requirements of preparedness, including heightened monitoring of hydrometeorological data and dissemination of warnings. Cape Girardeau County already satisfied most of the requirements for StormReady certification going in.

Radios to schools

David Hitt, Cape Girardeau County's director of emergency operations, just had to distribute some more National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather radios around the schools and tailor the county's hazardous weather plan to qualify for the program.

All Jackson School District schools had the radios. The Cape Girardeau School District has one at the superintendent's office; the district then notifies the schools in the system.

Oak Ridge schools, Notre Dame Regional High School, Nell Holcomb School and the Delta schools did not have weather radios. Hitt's office bought them for the schools and will be reimbursed by Project Impact, a Federal Emergency Management Administration program.

"That's what we had to do to get county certified," Hitt said.

New transmitter

Project Impact eventually plans to distribute radios to all the elementary schools in the county and at nursing homes, he said. A new transmitter north of Cape already is transmitting in an attempt by NOAA to provide better coverage for Southeast Missouri.

County and city government buildings already were equipped with the radios as required to be StormReady. He said the radios can be used to broadcast an alert about any major emergency, not just weather.

Hitt hopes the Missouri Department of Transportation will allow road signs proclaiming the county StormReady to be erected on Interstate 55 at the north and south county lines.

"This is recognition for the expenditures and efforts of the schools and community on NOAA radios," he said. "Over the years, NOAA weather radio is going to become more valuable."

The county's hazardous weather plan also was primarily in place. As many as 150 severe weather spotters are part of the county's network of people who alert the EOC office about approaching weather. Many are volunteer firemen in the county who can contact the office by radio.

"When something moves into area, they let us know," he said.

Some insurance companies reduce homeowners insurance premiums by 10 percent if a county is StormReady. Poole said the decision of whether to do so is up to the companies' local jurisdictions.

But StormReady primarily should give residents some peace of mind, she said. "There's certainly the secure feeling you get of making you feel safer, of having all the lines of communication in place during a severe weather event."

The weather service's definition of a severe weather event includes hail three-quarters of an inch in diameter or larger or winds in excess of 58 mph.

Cape Girardeau County has done everything considered necessary to protect its citizens from weather disasters even though it has only one outdoor warning system, at Southeast Missouri State University. A recent test of the system on the campus pointed out the fallacy of thinking these systems provide a foolproof answer, says Mark Winkler, area coordinator for the State Emergency Management Agency.

"If you're indoors and the warning sirens sound, the probability of hearing them is only about 50 percent."

He is a bigger proponent of weather radios, which receive broadcasts from the National Weather Service 24 hours a day and sound an alert when severe weather threatens.

"It would be great if every home had weather radio," he said.

Words mean a lot of work

The Southeast Missouri StormReady Advisory Board, which includes Poole, meteorologist Rick Shanklin, Winkler and Jack Lakenan, director of emergency management for Perry County, assesses the preparedness of counties trying to get certification. The team visited Cape Girardeau County Dec. 10 to make sure the requirements had been met.

"What may seem only a few sentences to us on paper is a lot of work," Poole said.

Scott County and the city of Kennett are working on certification, according to Winkler.

The certification is good for three years and can be extended in three-year intervals if the county applies again.

"It is not a goal that you have reached and walk away from," Poole said. "It will require continuing commitment to keep. Communication will have to continue to flow."

Preparedness ultimately is a matter of personal responsibility, Poole says, and everyone should give themselves a test by answering a simple question: "Would I feel safe living in this county?"

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182