StormReady Supporter Certification :

 

A National Weather Service Preparedness and Response Project for Kentucky CES Offices

How can we better prepare Cooperative Extension to respond to natural disaster?

• By preparing ourselves and our families
• By preparing Extension staff/offices
• By building partnerships in counties

A StormReady Supporter is a local business or organization that incorporates the principles and guidelines of the NWS StormReady program into their severe weather safety and awareness plans. The criteria to make your County Extension Office StormReady Supporter certified are: communication, office and staff preparedness.

Communication:

• Set up a "Designated Weather Watcher" in the office.
• Operation during office hours (including workshops and events in off-hours).
• NWS information reception: Must have a NOAA weather radio plus at least one of the following: local network
  or cable television, local radio, internet, pagers, and/or cell phone notification.
• Warning dissemination capability to office personnel. Once NWS warnings are received, or local conditions
  suggest an imminent weather threat, the staff will be informed (in the office and at special events) to "take cover".
• Meet with local emergency manager and extension committee to develop an Office Emergency Weather Action Plan.
  A sample of Breathitt County's Emergency Weather Action Plan can be viewed here.

Office and Staff Preparedness:

• Attend a NWS basic severe weather training session. Note: this could be a public meeting that you've set up and coordinated with the NWS and your local emergency manager.
• Put together an office disaster kit that includes basic items to survive a disaster that impacts your office, ie., non-perishable food, several gallons of water, etc (see KyEden: Preparedness resources).
• Currently scheduled trainings can be found by going to /EDEN/training.html and clicking on the "Basic
  Weather Training for Extension" link in your area.
• If no trainings are currently scheduled for your area, Tom Priddy can arrange a special training session to be conducted at your office.
• Perform severe weather or natural disaster exercises annually (i.e., a tornado drill).

================================================================================

Severe Weather Training for 2008:

For more info...Contact Tom Priddy at:
priddy@uky.edu