Charleston County News Release

MEDIA CONTACT

Name:   Jennie Davis Flinn, Charleston County Public Information Officer

Phone: (843) 958-4012

Email:   jflinn@charlestoncounty.org

Release Number: 3075

Date: January 22, 2010

Images of signs (for media use): http://www.weather.gov/stormready/signs.htm

Charleston County Recertified as “TsunamiReady” and “StormReady” by NOAA’S National Weather Service

Charleston County Government has successfully completed a set of rigorous warning and evacuation criteria necessary to renew the County’s distinction of being certified as TsunamiReady and StormReady. The County has been certified as being StormReady since 2001 and TsunamiReady since 2006, when the certifications were first available.

The County’s Emergency Management Department received official notice from NOAA's National Weather Service about the recertification. The County had to go through a renewal process for its TsunamiReady and StormReady certification, which has been in effect for three years, to maintain the recognition.

“Through StormReady and TsunamiReady, Charleston County is better prepared to help protect the lives and property of its citizens and visitors during severe weather events, as well as for the rare, but potentially devastating, consequences of a tsunami,” said Ron Morales, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Charleston.

Charleston County officials are proud of the acknowledgement, as they recognize that this area is threatened by a number of potential natural disasters, including tsunamis. 

“Although the threat of a tsunami is considered to be low, such an event would be devastating, resulting in loss of life, massive damages to homes and businesses, and a large negative impact on the economy of not only Charleston but of the entire state,” said Cathy Haynes of the Charleston County’s Emergency Management Department, who worked on the County’s renewal process. “There is not a lot we can do to protect the real property or economy, but we can make an effort to protect the lives of our citizens, and that is what we hope to have done with this program.”

Both the StormReady and TsunamiReady community preparedness programs use a grassroots approach to help communities develop plans to handle tsunamis, local severe weather, wave impacts and flooding threats, and help communities inform citizens of threats associated with each of these dangers.

The StormReady and TsunamiReady programs are voluntary, and provide communities with clear-cut advice through a partnership between the local National Weather Service offices and state, county and local emergency managers. StormReady started in 1999 and has grown to more than 1,500 StormReady communities throughout the U.S. As of January 2010, there are 73 TsunamiReady communities in 10 states. For more information about the StormReady and TsunamiReady programs, visit: http://www.stormready.noaa.gov.

To be recognized as TsunamiReady and StormReady, a community must:

• Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center

• Have more than one way to receive tsunami and severe weather warnings and forecasts to alert the public

• Create a system that monitors local weather conditions

• Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars

• Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.

“TsunamiReady and StormReady recognize communities that take a proactive approach to improving public awareness and local response to hazardous situations,” Morales said. “Thanks to the efforts of our various partners, Charleston County has the means to help protect the public from tsunamis and severe weather threats and we have furthered our agency’s mission to protect lives and property.”

SIDEBAR ON NOAA

In 2007, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrated 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA. 

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

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Visit the Charleston County Web site at www.charlestoncounty.org for news, services and up-to-date information relating to Charleston County Government.