Aumsville is the first Marion County city to be StormReady, a certification from the National Weather Service.
“Our flood planner at Marion County was working on the Community Rating System and mentioned that being a StormReady community would earn us points,” said Ron Harding, city administrator. “Marion County can’t be StormReady until all of the cities have those processes in place first. Since we have a great working relationship
with the National Weather Service, I contacted them and asked how to put this into place.”
Aumsville was chosen in part because of the tornado that raced through town in December 2010, causing significant damage, according to Krista Carter from Marion County Emergency Management.
“You all had been doing some great planning with your emergency preparedness procedures, besides being easy to work with,” Carter said.
At the Nov. 25 Aumsville City Council meeting, Marion County commissioners along with a representative from the National Weather Service presented the city with its StormReady recognition.
According to the NWS, StormReady uses a grassroots approach to help communities develop plans to handle all types of extreme weather, from tornadoes to winter storms. The program encourages communities to take a new, proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations by providing emergency managers with clear-cut guidelines. To be officially StormReady, a community must:
• Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center;
• Have more than one way 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 emergency
exercises.
“This effort is part of a larger goal Aumsville has set to be at a higher level of preparedness for a disaster,” Harding said. “A couple of years ago, we formed an emergency management board made up of members from the community, the city council, fire district, police department and city administrator. Our police chief leads this effort as the city’s emergency management director.
“We also use this committee to engage surrounding communities in regional efforts when that makes sense,” he added. “We have used this process to look for ways to be better prepared, and to coordinate and plan for futures events… This designation is one piece in a list of efforts the city would like to take, in order to make sure we are able to respond to future events to the best of our ability.”
Chief Richard Schmitz also cited that the designation could reduce the insurance rates of residents.
“The City of Aumsville’s goal is to make sure that the citizens are prepared for extreme weather events,” said Schmitz, the emergency management coordinator.
According to NWS, some 98 percent of all presidentially declared disasters are weather related, leading to around 500 deaths per year and nearly $15 billion in damage. The StormReady program helps arm America’s communities with the communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property before, during and after the event. The certification is good for three years, after which time the city will have to re-certify, according to city officials.
“If any citizens are interested in becoming involved in the process, we always need ‘weather spotters’ throughout the area,” Schmitz said. “Training for this can be found at Marion County Emergency Management, or you can call the Aumsville Police Department.”
For more information, call the Aumsville Police Department at 503-749-2188.
