Severe Weather Awareness Week 2021

Spring is nearly upon us. I’m looking forward to warmer temperatures, longer days, and camping with the family. But spring also brings the possibility of severe weather. Whether it is heavy storms, flooding, or even tornadoes, the Midwest is impacted each year by spring weather.

The most impactful events are floods and tornados. For much of the Midwest, we witnessed the destructive power of floods as recently as 2019.

Though I’ve wondered if anywhere else cared.

But you cannot bury the possible impact of a tornado in the back of your mind either. An average of 60 people are killed every year by the 1,200 tornadoes that are spawned, while 1,500 others suffer injuries. Additionally, tornadoes cause roughly $400 million in damages putting them comparable to hurricanes in financial impact.

The best way for individuals to protect their loved ones and properties from these unpredictable and devastating storms is through early education and preparedness training.

On an annual basis, most states hold Severe Weather Preparedness / Awareness Weeks to increase the awareness and our response to severe weather hazards. Although this week is not standardized across the United States, most states hold Severe Weather Weeks in early spring. This is about the same time as severe storms are likely going to start to develop. Hence, this is a good time to hold community-wide tornado drills and other activities that help to provide information to your residents about what to do in the event of a severe weather impact.

The National Weather Service website has a wide array of information, videos, and images for social media and other applications. This is information that they WANT you to re-use for your own community. It is a good source for videos, posters, and other information that can be useful in your efforts.

National Weather Service – Awareness Weeks Page

Remember, when severe weather strikes, it is rarely an individual-based impact. These disasters often impact significant parts or even an entire community. So your community should learn together, train together, to ensure a comprehensive response that will save lives and property. And there’s never a better time to start preparing for severe weather than right now.

Here are a few ways to help your community prepare:

• Encourage residents to prepare and maintain disaster kits in their homes and advise them to re-stock their shelves with sufficient supplies to support them in trying times.
• Bring in experienced individuals to hold storm spotter and weather safety training sessions in your community. Have them teach your citizens how to spot incoming storms and how to monitor storm notifications.
• Hold regular tornado drills to prepare your residents with the necessary steps for tornado safety protocol. Most of the time this is only witnessed through siren testing and schools running through the process with the children under their care. However, places of business should also be encouraged to conduct drills as well.
• Designate safe shelters within the community and advertise these locations to residents so they know ahead of time where to go if danger strikes.
• Develop an Emergency Communications Plan. Your community’s staff should know what to do in the event of major storm, flood, or tornado through effective training by your community’s or county’s Emergency Management Director. But you need to remember to communicate to your residents what to do before, during, and after an event. It is important to have something prepared in order to quickly share the life-saving information to keep your residents safe.

Spring, though, is not a time for paranoia about damaging storms. It’s a time to celebrate warmer temperatures, getting outside, and enjoying the potential of the year ahead. If you’re prepared ahead of an event, you can put your worries aside and enjoy this time of year.