It received that designation from the National Weather Service.
Frederick, Md (KM) The National Weather Service has recognized Frederick County as “Storm Ready.” That announcement was made on Tuesday by County Executive Jan Gardner during her public information briefing. “Storm Ready is a voluntary nationwide program designed to help communities take a pro-active approach to the kinds of severe weather that affects them by improving hazardous weather operations and heightening awareness,” says Gardner.
She cites the county’s work with local, state and federal agencies in preparing for and handling weather emergencies, and keeping its citizens up to date.
Under the Storm Ready designation, the county must a solid communications network and a comprehensive emergency operations plan. The efforts undertaken by the county and other jurisdictions would be monitoring weather and water conditions, and keeping the public informed through multiple channels. This makes sure that people who live here are prepared.
Gardner gave a lot of praise to the Division of Emergency Management headed up by Director Jack Markey, and the work he and his team do when weather disasters strike, such as last spring’s floods. She said at that time, many places in Frederick County which had not been known for flooding in the past were underwater. In addition, the County Executive gave a lot of credit to letting residents receive emergency alerts through text messages, e-mails and phone calls. To sign up, go to www.FrederickCountyMD.gov’READY. The Service is free of charge. .
“When bad weather comes, certainly we’re not going to be able to stop it from coming. But if everybody is aware, and everyone is prepared as much as we can be, certainly the impact will be a lot less, and we’ll have a lot better resiliency for bouncing back from those weather disasters,” says Chris Strong with the National Weather Service, who was on hand for the recognition.
Part of this ‘Storm Ready’ program, which is a close partnership with the county and the National Weather Service to ensure that weather warnings and other related information flows freely, also includes the training of weather spotters. “We had a packed house for our spotter training earlier this year,” says Gardner. “We are planning another course next spring, and certainly local ham {radio} operators are interested in the training. And our Senior Services Division has asked about hosting a session.”
By Kevin McManus