Fayette EMS team praised
Officials from NOAA’s National Weather Service on Thursday praised Fayette County’s emergency management team for completing a set of rigorous criteria necessary to earn the distinction of being declared Storm Ready. NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“StormReady encourages communities to take a new, proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations and public awareness,” said Rodney Smith, senior forecaster at the Weather Service’s forecast office in Pittsburgh. “Storm Ready arms communities with improved communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property, before and during the event.”
The nationwide community preparedness program uses a grassroots approach to help communities develop plans to handle local severe weather and flooding threats. The program is voluntary and provides communities with clear-cut advice from a partnership between the local NWS weather forecast office and state and local emergency managers. Storm Ready started in 1999 with seven communities in the Tulsa, Okla., area. There now are more than 940 Storm Ready communities in 47 states.
Theresa Rossi, meteorologist-in-charge in Pittsburgh’s weather forecast office, presented a certificate and special Storm Ready signs to county officials Thursday morning at the Emergency Operations center in Uniontown. The Storm Ready recognition will be in effect for three years, at which time the county will go through a renewal process.
“Every year, around 500 Americans lose their lives to severe weather and floods,” said David L. Johnson, director of the NOAA National Weather Service. “More than 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 2,500 floods and 1,000 tornadoes impact the United States annually.”
To be recognized as Storm Ready, a community must:
– Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center.
– Have multiple ways to receive severe weather warnings and forecasts and to alert the public.
– Create a system that monitors weather conditions locally.
– Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars.
– Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.
According to Rich Kane, warning coordination meteorologist for the NWS in Pittsburgh, “Fayette County has a history of severe weather, which includes at least 15 tornadoes since 1882. Among these were the devastating F4 tornado that occurred on June 23, 1944, and an F3 that occurred on June 28, 1929.”
Also, since 1950, the county has experienced nearly 80 floods and flash floods. The Monongahela River serves as the county’s western border. As a result, Fayette County has seen its share of river flooding as well, including severe flooding on Nov. 5, 1985, which produced a river crest in Charleroi of 42.7 feet. Flood stage is 28 feet.”
NOAA’s National Weather Service is the primary source of weather data, forecasts and warnings for the United States and its territories. The NWS operates the most advanced weather and flood warning and forecast system in the world, helping to protect lives and property and enhance the national economy.