When severe weather threatens, citizens want to know. Now, thanks to a Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation grant of $58,500, Volusia County citizens can sign up to receive severe weather warning notifications issued by the National Weather Service over their phones, said Volusia County spokeswoman Shelley Szafraniec
The grant will pay for an unlimited number of countywide severe weather notifications for one year.
“We applied for the grant following the Christmas Day and Ground Hog day tornados in 2006 and 2007,” said Charlie Craig, Volusia County Emergency Management director. “There will be a one-year trial of the system, and if it works as advertised, we will consider continuing the service, budget permitting,” he added “We’re always looking for better ways to alert the public when severe weather threatens, and this system should help do that.”
The severe weather notification system is an enhancement of the emergency telephone notification system the county currently uses - CodeRED. The new system is designed to deliver automatically targeted weather notifications for the immediate threat of severe thunderstorm, flash flood and tornado warnings within moments of being issued by the National Weather Service.
“Using the same warning methodologies as the weather service, a pre-recorded alert message goes directly to the citizen’s phone in the projected path of the severe weather,” Craig said. “By eliminating the need for human intervention, the notification for fast-moving storms is immediate, allowing citizens more time to take protective actions.”
The severe weather warning system requires registration; the county’s current emergency alert telephone notification system does not, Szafraniec said.
In 2001, Volusia County began using the emergency telephone notification system to send a recorded message in response to emergencies in a localized area. The system has been used numerous times to alert the public of immediate threats to life and safety.
For more information about the notifications and other disaster preparedness information, or to sign up for the services via phone, please call Volusia County Emergency Management at (386) 254-1500.