The National Weather Service’s Storm Ready designation is part of the Weather-Ready Nation program, designed to prepare communities for increasing vulnerability to extreme weather and water events.
For Allison Farole, Grand Rapid’s Emergency Management Administrator, the requirements of the award served as a checklist to be sure the existing system was as ready as it could be.
“We obviously already had a 911 center; we already had an emergency operations center, but we were missing a few key pieces to be considered storm ready.”
One key element – more focus on public outreach and education. Farole got a grant to create a position to highlight that aspect, including a push to encourage citizens not to rely only on warning sirens but to sign up for the city’s emergency alert system.
“Folks can register their cell phone, landline if they have one and email address to receive weather alerts for any of the addresses that might have been in the impact zone.”
She says residents should back that up in case technology fails by purchasing an all-weather radio that connects to National Weather Service warnings through AM radio frequencies.
“It’s a great mechanism especially for anything happening at night. It makes a loud sound, wakes you up and gets your attention to take action.”
Farole says every individual has a responsibility to do their part to be ready for disaster situations and she’ll keep focusing on making sure the city of Grand Rapids is too.
“We have not accomplished everything, and we never will, right? The world of emergency management and being ready for disaster is ever- evolving so we’re constantly learning and growing and finding out what we need to do here in Grand Rapids.”
