Severe Weather Awareness Tip 4: How the City Prepares

So we've talked about about how you and your family will prepare, will be aware, and how to protect your home. Today we'll talk about the steps the city (specifically the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) coordination role) takes to ensure the safety of its citizens.

OEM is in constant coordination with the NWS regarding storm potential. We monitor all conference calls and get briefings constantly on days of heightened alert and we receive notification of any severe storms entering the counties bordering all sides of Potter and Randall. A 24/7 on call duty officer monitors the situation and activates our storm spotter group to stake out and spot the storm. As the severity level increases, our Emergency Operations Center is activated. OEM can activate 85 outdoor warning sirens and the cable-cut-in alerting system should threatning weather exist. Through the EOC we monitor any storm damage and coordinate all weather operations.

Additionally, OEM conducts exercises. We have many throughout the year, and this year we are focusing our efforts on an extensive tornado recovery exercise. We have had a series of tabletop exercises for most every department and even AISD, beginning in December that will help in building up the functional exercise mid April.

We also promote public awareness. We perform several weather safety talks throughout the year, setup booths and distribute our Citizen's Guide to Preparedness at several events, and host several conferences and meetings. With the NWS, we will be hosting the Severe Weather Workshop on March 21.

Hope you can join us on March 21! Here's the link for more info: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/ama/spotter_training/SVR_WX_CONF_2009.jpg

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Severe Weather Awareness Tip 3: Reduce Your Damage - Mitigate

These past couple of days we have talked about preparing your family, determining where you and your family will take shelter, and how you and your family will get warning information when a storm is approaching. Today we will talk about a few steps you can take to mitigate or reduce the damage to your property should severe weather hit.

Mitigating Wind Damage

• Bring Outdoor Items In – by bringing furniture, outdoor equipment, trash cans, toys, potted plants, etc.. in when strong weather threatens can keep these objects from becoming flying debris and damaging your home or vehicles when high winds hit.

• Secure Your Garage Door – Your home is one big sealed building envelope. Once the wind enters, it’s got to find a way out, causing damage to your home. Garage doors are often the first things to fail when strong winds hit due to the long span of opening they cover and the weak materials they are build with. Replace or reinforce your garage door with a more resistant material, ideally with steel bracing.

• Live in a Manufactured Home? - People in manufactured homes are vulnerable to high winds because winds flow under the home, often causing the home to overturn. Install a longitudinal tie-down system at the front and rear of your home. Check for loose straps, proper number of tie-downs, and more importantly proper installation. When severe thunderstorms threaten, be prepared to go to a nearby pre-identified safe structure.

• Choose the Right Trees – not all trees are right for the soil in our region. Strong winds can topple shallow rooted trees in soft soil. Also trim off dead branches or limbs because when it gets windy, these will be the first to come down.

Mitigating Actions Against Lightning

• Install Surge Protection – electrical surges due to a lightning strike can destroy electronic devices in your home. Install surge protection devices or even consider a whole house surge device.

Mitigating Actions Against Hail Damage

• Impact Resistant Roofing – Minimize hail damage by installing impact resistant roofing (Class 3 or 4 rating)

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Severe Weather Awareness Tip 2: How Will You Know?

Yesterday we talked about family preparedness and having a plan for when weather strikes. But how will you know when bad weather is on its way? A variety of means exist to obtain weather warnings. They include:

• All-Hazards NOAA Radio - The Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) All-Hazards Radio broadcasts warnings, watches, forecasts, and other emergency information for ALL hazards and disasters that require immediate notification. The radio operates on 162.550 MHz and is re-broadcasted in the local Amarillo area on 1610 AM.Once you purchase your radio, program in the SAME code for the counties you would like to receive emergency information. The SAME Codes for our two counties are: Potter County: 048375 Randall County: 048381. Radios can be bought at local stores and usual run for about $30.00.

• Warning Sirens - Amarillo/Potter/Randall Office of Emergency Management currently operates over 85 outdoor warning sirens that are designed to alert people who are outdoors of a potential emergency in the community. Outdoor Warning Sirens are NOT designed to be heard indoors. In the event of an emergency, the Office of Emergency Management will activate the Outdoor Warning Sirens on a steady tone for 5 minutes. When sounded, you should immediately move to shelter and listen to local radio or television stations for emergency warning information.

• Indoor Warning Systems - Our office has the ability to do Cable-Cut in alerts which is broadcasted over some cable TV channels in our area.

• Reverse 911 Systems - A variety of services exist where you can register your home phone and/or cell phone (usually you can between 2-4 phones numbers per address) so that when a warning is issued, it will call you. Most of us carry our cell phones with us everywhere so it's a convenient way to stay informed of bad weather on its way. In our area there are a few that offer this service for free and others may charge you ~$7/month to ~$36/year.

• Local Media - The NWS, our office, and the local media are in constant communication when severe weather threatens. Local TV stations provide the public information of where storms are developing, warnings issued, and visual feedback of what is going on.

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Severe Weather Awareness Week Tip 1: Is Your Family Prepared?

Good family communication requires some degree of advanced preparation, basic steps, and logical thinking. On a normal day, think about where you and your family go, how often you are separated, and how you use phones, text messaging, or email to communicate where you are and what you are doing. When severe weather strikes, your family may not be together and if land lines or cell phone towers are un-operational, how will your family meet up and make sure everyone is safe? Families need to plan now on what they will do in different situations.
Consider the structure of your family. Do you have a traditional family structure with two parents, or are you a single parent? Is one of your parents out-of-town or are both here? Do you have extended family members that need to be included in your plan? Do you have pets that are considered family members?

#1: HAVE A FAMILY MEETING
Discuss the dangers of severe weather.
Identify where to go should a tornado strike - will it be a basement, a saferoom, or a closet or hallway towards the center of the home?
What if you are caught driving, what will you do then?
Mobile homes and vehicles offer little protection in a tornado. Wind flows underneath vehicles, causing them to overturn or become airborne. Wind speeds of less than 100 mph can easily flip a car and there have been numerous cases of vehicles being carried up, dropped, and more commonly penetrated by flying debris. Over a third of the people killed by the Mid-May 2008 tornado outbreak died in a vehicle. If a tornado is approaching, leave your vehicle and seek shelter in a sturdy building. If a building is not available, get away from the vehicle and lie flat in a ditch and cover your head. DO NOT get under bridges or overpasses as a tornado passing over will create a wind-tunnel effect that can cause HIGHER wind speeds, driving debris towards you and possibly carry you out from under the overpass.
Establish a meeting place - where is a place somewhere in town that you all will meet if you can't make it to your house in the event of an emergency. Will be a friend's house, a relative's house, a church? Make sure everyone knows where it is and knows how to get there.

#2: Prepare Contact Cards & A Family Plan
It may be easier to dial out on a long distance line rather than local telephone lines during or after an emergency event. Identify an out-of-town contact so that each family member can call and tell them where they are and get information on the location and condition of other family members.

Have your family fill out a Family Communication Plan and Contact Cards. You can find some online ones here that you can fill out and print.


#3 PRACTICE & MAINTAIN YOUR PLANQuiz your family every now and then on your plan and make sure you keep telephone numbers up-to-date.

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Strong Cold Front Barrels Through...

The wind really howled last night as a cold front entered the area around midnight causing a few power lines to snap, alarms to go off, and difficulty driving conditions. The winds got as high as tropical force winds, reaching upwards into the 60s mph. Here are a few peak windspeeds around the Tx Panhandle (via NWS):

LOCATION SPEED /MPH/
SAMNORWOOD TX 70.03 E
BUSHLAND TX 68.05
NW AMARILLO TX 66.0
HARDESTY OK 65.0
CLAUDE TX 62.017
SSE CLAUDE TX 62.04
W ALANREED TX 62.06
ENE AMARILLO TX 61.02
W GUYMON OK 61.0
VEGA TX 60.05
ENE HEREFORD TX 60.03
SW DALHART TX 60.017
NNW AMARILLO TX 58.08
NW MIAMI TX 58.0

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It's gonna be windy...

Yes it'll be windy again today. The NWS issued a Red Flag Warning from 11: AM to 7 PM. With it being so dry, it's important to keep these fire prevention tips in mind:

• Use caution when lighting open barbecue grills and try not to do any burning during these times of heightened concern
• Don't toss cigarettes out car windows
• Avoid driving through tall grass and never park you vehicle on dry grass.
• Carry a shovel and fire extinguisher in your vehicle or OHV/ATV.
• Refrain from yard work on dry, hot days when a spark from a lawnmower hitting a rock could ignite a grassfire
• Keep a watch out for arsonists and others being careless with fire
• Report any smoke or fire immediately to 9-1-1

Remember, both Potter and Randall Counties have burn bans in effect. Actually most of the counties in the entire state of Texas have burn bans in effect. Check out those bans in place as of Feb. 18 shown in red:

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Severe Weather Awareness Week

Governor Perry of Texas and Governor Henry of Oklahoma have proclaimed the week of Feb 22 through Feb 28 as Severe Weather Awareness Week. Governor Perry reminds Texans of the life threatening nature of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes...and urges Texans to stay informed and to take time now to prepare for severe weather. Spring marks the time of year when severe storms and tornadoes increase in frequency and reach their maximum in Texas. They bring all the devastating elements...tornadoes... lightning...large hail...damaging winds and flash flooding. This is also a time when Texans increase their outdoor activities...placing them at an even greater risk. Severe weather awareness week is an excellent time for schools... hospitals... churches... businesses...and civic organizations to review and practice severe weather safety plans. This should also be done at home by all families to insure that each family member knows how to be safe when severe weather threatens. The best way to insure that plans are adequate and can be activated is to test them with drills.

Some events going on next week:

Storm Spotter Training
Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009
7 PM – 9 PM
Amarillo AES, 1900 Line St (open to the public)

Monthly Indoor & Outdoor Warning System Test
Friday, Feb 27, 2009 @ 11:30 AM

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The DTV Transition & Disasters...

Yesterday was the deadline date set out for the Digital TV Transition but that date has now been pushed to June 12, 2009. The transition will effect those using analog televisions to receive free, over-the-air programming. Cable or satellite subscribers aren't likely to be affected. Users using the analog televisions will need to buy convertor boxes to change digital broadcasts back into old analog format and the government is providing coupons that can be applied towards the purchase of these digital-to-analog converter boxes.

If you have a Disaster Kit that contains one of these small battery operated, usually black & white TVs, you'll need to throw in a converter box to your Disaster Kit as well. You will have to make sure the TV has the proper inputs to connect to the converter box and you would need a power source to the converter box, either a generator, battery pack, or plug-in from your car. You can buy portable TV sets with digital tuners, but they are hard to find and can cost a couple hundred dollars.

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AES Appreciation Banquet

This past Tuesday night was the 48th Annual Amarillo Emergency Services (AES) Appreciation & Award Banquet. AES members are a big help in our community as they volunteer their time to direct traffic after accidents, do traffic control at large events, and relay reports to our office in the event of a wildfire or severe storms. There are currently 9 active members and 3 auxiliary members with a total of 174 years of service. Jose Garcia, Meteorologist-In-Charge of the Amarillo National Weather Service, was the guest speaker with AES, Emergency Management, Amarillo Fire Department, and Amarillo Police Department all in attendance. Congratulations to all award receipiants and to the AES Member of the Year Jay McCoy.

Thank you AES for your service to Amarillo!

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Spotter Training...

As we look forward to the spring season, it is that time again to prepare for those storms that often threaten our area. The city and various response organizations are constantly preparing should a tornado strike our area. We rely on our city spotters, the NWS, media, HAM radio operators, and our volunteer spotters to make sure we have accurate information in the event we have to activate our warning systems in place.

Would you like to become a certified storm spotter? The Amarillo NWS is offering several courses throughout the Texas Panhandle to let you do just that. Check out their current schedule to see which courses are open to the public at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ama/spotter_training_sched/index.htm

If you live in the Amarillo area, the Amarillo/Potter/Randall Office of Emergency Management (OEM) oversees a volunteer auxiliary to the Amarillo Emergency Service (AES) created in January 2000 due to a need for more spotters in the field before potential severe weather events. AES auxiliary and regular members are deployed to locations around the area and relay storm and damage reports to our EOC during Weather Watch. If you would like to become a part of the AES group, please contact our OEM office for an application and additional training opportunities.

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Fires Break Out

There were a few fires out in the counties on Saturday, as the area saw it's 3rd NWS Red Flag Warning of the season. The EOC monitored the situation throughout the day. The larger of the fires for our counties was located in Potter County near the 2381 & 1061 split and burned an estimated 500 acres. Remember that burn bans are in place in Randall and Potter County issued a seven-day emergency burn ban today while the commisioners formally implement the prior scheduled ban on Feb. 9.

If you would like to view updated wildfire location, size and containment information for fires across the state in Google Earth, check out this site: http://tfsfrp.tamu.edu/wildfires/FireActivity.kml

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