WINNEMUCCA - Humboldt County will soon be designated Storm Ready through a program from the National Weather Service Office in Elko that ensures communication, infrastructure, and emergency planning is in place to protect life and property from severe weather and other disasters.
Senior Meteorologist Brian Boyd pointed out the importance of having communication and emergency procedures firmly in place to handle weather-related emergencies, saying 90 percent of all presidential declarations have to do with weather-related emergencies. "There are about 500 weather related deaths each year and more than 5,000 Americans are injured each year in such incidents." he added that about $14 billion in damage is assessed to weather-related disasters in the U.S.
$2 billion in damage is done each year in damage from lightning, which kills an average of 53 people a year. "It's consistently one of the top three causes of weather-related deaths each year," said Boyd. The nation's weather service program works to put out the message, "When thunder roars, go indoors."
"Knowing this, we try to put the communication system in place to help minimize the threat to the residents of each county by giving them early warning. We work closely with the emergency management representatives in the county," Boyd said.
In Humboldt County, a weather warning communication system has a huge area to cover, 55,000 square miles and 90,000 residents.
Undersheriff Curtiss Kull has been assisting in getting the systems in place and moving the application to become a Storm Ready community into its final stages, according to Fitzsimmons.
Fitzsimmons said there should be no cost to the county to achieve the Storm Ready designation as long as the infrastructure is in place, and added that his work in the county so far has indicated that it is. He has already met with the Local Emergency Planning Committee whose members were enthusiastic about the program.
Elko, Eureka and Lander Counties have already completed the work and planning necessary to be "Storm Ready." Fitzsimmons explained, "We want to include the entire county, not just the cities; McDermitt, Denio, and Orovada would be included." Paradise Valley is already a "Storm Ready" cooperator, as is French Ford Middle School, thanks to the work of principal Rob Lindsay.
As an example of a weather-related incident locally, Fitzsimmons mentioned the 27-car pile-up in Winnemucca last June, caused by a severe dust storm. He said the dust storm that caused that accident was at least 3,000 feet thick as it approached the community. "We could see it on satellite and on radar," he said. He also showed a slide of a severe hail storm in Orovada from 2009, and a tornado that was photographed 10 miles from Winnemucca on Easter Sunday in 2011.
"We work closely with the Nevada Department of Transportation to get our watches, warnings and advisories onto the freeway message boards in the area that's being affected," he said. The weather service, through Storm Ready communities, can even be the communication hub for warnings and information related to other disasters such as train derailments or other sources of hazardous materials spills. The weather service can help with information on the speed and spread of hazardous materials "plumes" in the air in the event of an incident.
The "Storm Ready" designation will make NOAA weather radios available for officials in Humboldt County. The radios, combined with NWS website monitoring puts the latest weather information in the hands of those responsible for protection of the community. NWS will look over the internal emergency management procedures, and Humboldt County's emergency action plan as a final step for acceptance into the Storm Ready program.
One of the requirements for the storm ready program is to hold periodic storm spotter training that is open to the public. That training was held Jan.7 in Winnemucca, but will be scheduled again in the future.
When everything is in place to designate Humboldt County "Storm Ready" metal signs will be placed around the county and at the entrances to Winnemucca to proclaim the area "Storm Ready." Boyd said, "The signs show that people can have a level of comfort that you have done the most that can be done to protect lives and property and the county is well-equipped to handle any storm or natural disaster that could happen in this area."
Humboldt County Commissioners gave their blessing to whatever final steps are needed to complete the Storm Ready program. "I think we'd be crazy not to," said Commissioner Jim French, to which Fitzsimmons answered, "So do we!"
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