DeKalb County has been recognized by the National Weather Service as “StormReady.” The announcement was made last Monday night at the regular County Commission Meeting at the County Complex, when Meteorologist Caleb Cravens with the National Weather Service presented a plague to the county recognizing the achievement.

At the County Commission’s Meeting of the Whole the previous Thursday, DeKalb Emergency Management Agency Director Charlie Parker has announced that the county would be receiving the recognition.

Americans live in the most severe weather-prone country on Earth. Some 98 percent of all Presidentially declared disasters are weather related, leading to around 500 deaths per year and nearly $15 billion in damage. The StormReady program helps arm America's communities with the communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property - before, during and after the event. StormReady helps community leaders and emergency managers strengthen local safety programs.

StormReady communities, counties, Indian nations, universities and colleges, military bases, government sites, commercial enterprises and other groups are better prepared to save lives from the onslaught of severe weather through advanced planning, education and awareness. No community is storm proof, but StormReady can help communities save lives.

StormReady uses a grassroots approach to help communities develop plans to handle all types of extreme weather - from tornadoes to winter storms. The program encourages communities to take a new, proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations by providing emergency managers with clear-cut guidelines on how to improve their hazardous weather operations. Applying is easy. To be officially StormReady, a community must:

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

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

·         Create a system that monitors weather conditions locally

·         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.

“DeKalb County has been working through a process with 911 and EMA to get DeKalb County storm ready certified,” said Parker. “It shows we are working to protect citizens through our local emergency planning committee. We also have some of our factories, businesses, schools, and the hospital on board with this also to do more storm preparedness.”