PUBLIC / PRIVATE COORDINATION HELPS PROVIDE TIMELY WARNINGS OF
SEVERE WEATHER

May 8, 2003 — Years of cooperation and coordination among NOAA National Weather Service forecast offices, state and local public protection agencies, and the media paid dividends as waves of severe weather swept across parts of Kansas and Missouri this week. (Click NOAA image for larger view of NOAA Weather Radios from various manufacturers.)

Officials at the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency said that a long-standing partnership of SEMA, the NOAA National Weather Service and Missouri Rural Electrical Cooperatives helped provide early warnings. Through this partnership numerous NOAA Weather Radio transmitters were purchased by association members and donated to the Weather Service, each providing NOAA Weather Radio coverage to previously unserved areas.

“The transmitter partnership between Emergency Management, electrical cooperatives and the NOAA National Weather Service paid a huge dividend by saving Missourian’s lives with early severe warnings, especially since May 5,” said SEMA Public Information Officer Susie Stonner. “I would hate to think of the number of lives that might have been lost if the early warnings hadn’t given our citizens enough time to seek shelter.

“Additionally, the working relationship between the media and the NOAA National Weather Service was a major factor, telling citizens where severe weather cells were located and when those cells would be moving through communities in the path of a dangerous storm,” said Stonner.

Similar cooperation between public and private groups in Kansas and other states has helped the number of NOAA Weather Radio transmitters grow to more than 800 nationwide.

The on-going Project Community Alert sponsored by the Kansas City Metropolitan Emergency Management Community is another example of the cooperative effort of government and media to get critical information to the public, according to Meteorological Service Division Chief Mike Looney at Weather Service Central Region Headquarters. Organized by the MEMC and supported by Price Chopper Grocery Stores and Midland Radio, Project Community Alert has a goal of putting 100,000 NOAA Weather Radio receivers in the hands of area residents over a three-year period.

“With broadcasts coming directly from the NOAA Weather Service forecast offices, NOAA Weather Radio provides the fastest access possible to severe weather warnings,” Looney said.

“The more NOAA Weather Radio receivers we can place in people’s hands, the better we are able to disseminate warnings of tornadoes and other severe weather,” Looney said. “Since last Sunday, coordination between Weather Service forecasters, emergency management agencies and the media in several communities has literally saved lives by giving people advance notice to seek adequate shelter.”

The Unified Government of Kansas City, Kan., and Wyandotte County is doing all it can to put NOAA Weather Radio receivers with those who need them. In cooperation with The Kansas Speedway, Nebraska Furniture Mart, Price Chopper, Midland Radio and local labor unions #1290 and #31, local officials are providing 500 pre-programmed NOAA Weather Radio receivers to Wyandotte County residents whose homes were destroyed or damaged so they can stay abreast of weather threats while beginning the recovery and repair process.

Multi-agency coordination continued as Weather Service staff and local media began Wednesday urging residents to be ready for another round of severe weather Thursday, noting that atmospheric conditions would closely mirror those of May 4.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation’s coastal and marine resources. NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Relevant Web Sites
Fujita Tornado Damage Scale with Damage Photos

NOAA National Weather Service Central Region — Links to Photos, Graphics and Radar Images of Tornado Outbreak

NOAA Storm Prediction Center Roundup

NOAA Weather Radio: The Voice of the National Weather Service

NOAA Floods Page

NOAA Tornadoes Page

NOAA Storm Watch

NOAA National Weather Service

Media Contacts:
Patrick Slattery, NOAA Weather Service Central Region, (816) 891-8914; Ron Trumbla, NOAA Weather Service Southern Region, (817) 978-1111, ext. 140 or Keli Tarp, NOAA Storm Prediction Center, (405) 366-0451