Missouri Touts Severe-Weather Awareness
March 03--WARRENSBURG -- Johnson County, Warrensburg and the University of Central Missouri will test sirens at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 4, in conjunction with a statewide drill during Severe Weather Awareness Week.
If severe weather is in the March 4 forecast, the drill will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, March 6.
Johnson County Emergency Management Director Gloria Michalski said the week is designed to encourage families, schools and businesses to plan and prepare to respond to a severe weather emergency.
People have several days to prepare for winter storms, Michalski said.
"The public has been very good," she said, in preparing for ice and snow storms. "They planned and got food and medicine and stayed off the roads. They're starting to plan and pull everything together."
Summer storms may strike without notice.
"It could be just a few minutes," she said, before people need to take shelter. "People need to stay aware of their surroundings. It could happen at any time."
She encourages residents to buy weather radios that can be programmed to just receive tornado warnings, rather than flood and other alerts.
People sometimes turn their weather radios off because they do not want to be awakened with flood alerts in the middle of the night, she said.
"That's when these things happen. It's not safe to turn them off," she said.
Michalski said her office can help program the radios.
Local and Kansas City media provide weather information, and telephone apps are available that provide weather alerts "even if you're outside at a ballgame," she said. The Nixel alert system for telephones is available free from Central Dispatch.
"We're trying to push the most updated information out to the public so they can make the correct plans," she said.
Johnson County has been hit with several tornadoes, Michalski said, including some "that wiped out houses."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency website at FEMA.gov, the Red Cross website at redcross.org and the National Weather Service website in Pleasant Hill all provide information on preparing for weather emergencies, Michalski said.
Missouri's Stormaware.mo.gov website includes videos showing how to take shelter in specific types of buildings and information about tornado sirens and weather alert radios. The site has links to free severe weather texting services.
The Emergency Management Office, 122 Hout St., has pamphlets and brochures available, Michalski said, and personnel can help businesses and families make plans, including site surveys for businesses.
"Our goal is 'Everybody safe and everybody makes it through,'" Michalski said.
Copyright 2014 - The Daily Star-Journal, Warrensburg, Mo.
