NOAA National Weather Service recognizes Lewisville, Texas as StormReady®
By NOAA National Weather Service
Sep 13, 2009
Print this page
Email this article

NOAA National Weather Service officials have recognized Lewisville, Texas as a StormReady® community.  

“StormReady encourages communities to take a proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations and public awareness in partnership with their local National Weather Service office," said Bill Bunting, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service forecast office in Fort Worth, Texas.  Bunting will present city officials with a recognition letter and special StormReady® signs during a ceremony at the Lewisville City Council meeting on Monday, September 14. 

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 the local National Weather Service forecast office and state and local emergency managers. The program began in 1999 with seven communities in the Tulsa, Okla. area. Today, there are more than 1,400 StormReady communities.

“The program is designed to help StormReady communities improve communication and safety skills needed to save lives — before, during and after a severe weather event,” said Mark Fox, warning coordination meteorologist for the Fort Worth forecast office.

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; and, develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.

“We are very pleased to be recognized as a StormReady® community. This designation is part of our ongoing effort to ensure that our community and residents are as prepared as possible for severe weather,” said Lewisville Emergency Management Coordinator Summer Wilhelm.  “We also strive to promote residents obtaining NOAA All Hazard Weather Radios as another warning tool for their homes and businesses.”

 

The TsunamiReadyTM and StormReady® programs are part of NOAA National Weather Service's working partnership with the International Association of Emergency Managers, the National Emergency Management Association, and the National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program. The TsunamiReadyTM and StormReady® recognitions expire in three years, after which the city will go through a renewal process. 

 

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.

On the internet:

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

National Weather Service: http://www.weather.gov/fortworth

StormReady® program: http://www.stormready.noaa.gov

StormReady® is a registered trademark used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

TsunamiReadyTM is a trademark used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.