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