St. Charles County Earns StormReady Distinction

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 13, 2013     
Press Contact: Colene McEntee, Public Affairs Coordinator
(636) 949-1864, cmcentee@sccmo.org  

ST. CHARLES COUNTY, MO – At the St. Charles County Council meeting on Sept. 9, Meteorologist Wes Browning of the National Weather Service St. Louis Forecast Office honored St. Charles County for completing rigorous criteria necessary to become a StormReady® community. Browning presented a recognition letter and materials to Steve Ehlmann, St. Charles County Executive; Tom Neer, St. Charles County Sheriff; and Ina McCaine-Obenland, training and exercise officer for the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department - Division of Emergency Management.

“The Division of Emergency Management has gone above and beyond in making our community StormReady. Their work definitely contributed to the fact that there were no deaths or severe injuries resulting from the tornado and flood this spring. I am proud of them and this honor,” said Ehlmann.

StormReady® is a nationwide community preparedness program that 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 local National Weather Service forecast offices and state and local emergency managers. StormReady® started in 1999 with seven communities in the Tulsa, Okla., area. There are now more than 2,100 StormReady® communities across the country.

To be recognized as StormReady®, a community must:

•  Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center;

•  Have more than one way to receive severe weather forecasts and warnings and to alert the public;

•  Create a system that monitors local weather conditions;

•  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.

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