Escambia County Is Storm Ready

January 10, 2009

Escambia County is officially storm ready.

Escambia County received its recertification as a “StormReady” community as of Jan. 1, 2009. To be certified as StormReady, communities must meet guidelines established by the National Weather Service (NWS) in partnership with federal, state and local emergency management professionals.

stormready.jpgIf the community passes its evaluation, it is designated StormReady for three years. The recertification provides points toward the Community Rating System (CRS) and thus reduces its flood insurance premiums. This qualifies Escambia County as a StormReady community through December 2012.

Nearly 90 percent of all presidentially declared disasters are weather-related and responsible for an annual average of 500 deaths and $14 billion in damages. To help Americans prepare for the ravages of severe weather, the NWS designed the StormReady program to equip communities with the communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property. The program provides emergency managers with guidelines on improving hazardous weather operations and encourages communities to take a proactive approach to disaster readiness.

Many laws and regulations exist to help local emergency managers deal with hazardous material spills, search and rescue operations, medical crises and more. However, there are few guidelines available on the specifics of hazardous weather response. The NWS addressed this need through the StormReady program to help communities of all sizes: towns, cities, counties, tribal nations, universities and industrial complexes implement procedures to reduce the potential for disastrous, weather-related consequences.

For more information on the Escambia County Bureau of Public Safety, visit www.escambiaemergency.com.

Comments

5 Responses to “Escambia County Is Storm Ready”

  1. juanita watson on January 13th, 2009 2:00 pm

    I agree with Chuck for the most part. I grew up in Century, but am really ashamed of what it has become. It makes me sick to have to come home to visit and see the way it looks now. I know that some people there do care because my mother is a council member and has fought hard for change, and met resistance every step of the way. I now live in a suburb of D.C. in North Potomac. I could never come back to live in Century. The north end of the county has always been neglected, but with time it only seems worse. Maybe I just grew up wearing blinders . h-m-m-m-m
    No , it was mayberrish. Now only a few people acutally work and care about what they have. As far as shelters or disaster plans being in place, I can’t say since I don’t live there anymore. Good luck

  2. Chuck on January 12th, 2009 4:57 pm

    Century should change their sign “welcome to the dawning of a new century” to Century…abandon hope all ye who enter here. And yes ,not having a shelter for people in Century is short-sighted if not criminal considering most of the homes are sub-standard housing.

  3. Century girl on January 12th, 2009 2:45 pm

    Yes, it is ashame what is happening to the town. What little time there was Code Enforcement, the enforcement officer would only respond to “reported” claims. Therefore there was no anonymity and those who tried to report places for clean up faced retaliation. A code enforcement person should have been able to ride around and easily see what needed cleaning up and give warnings, citations, etc without BIAS and without depending on a disgruntled neighbor to do the reporting. Then the personalities would have been left out of it. That would have been fair.
    Now here we are…coming up on another very cold week toward the end of the week and NO SHELTER for the needy to go to in our area! Santa Rosa continually opens shelters during cold nights this past winter but not in North Escambia County. Where are our people to go?
    How storm ready are we, really?

  4. Chuck on January 11th, 2009 8:49 pm

    Jack….You can’t be surprised by this news. Century is neither proactive nor reactive, it just is. Century has degraded in the last twenty years to the eyesore of a town that it undeniably is partly because of short-sighted town leaders and partly because of poverty stricken people that can’t see light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a sorry shame because I grew up in Century and back then it had a Mayberryish feel to it. Now it more like “Junkyard Wars”. When you run code enforcement out of town on a rail because of so called selective enforcement and don’t put anything in place in it’s stead you get Century. When the Mayor and Council don’t care about the plight of it’s citizens you get Century. I took my wife through town last week to show her where I grew up and was ashamed of what I was driving through and quickly left. I hope someday Century will once again be like it was when I lived there but I wont hold my breath.

  5. Jack Moran on January 10th, 2009 9:15 am

    Hmmmmmm??? Century does not have and never has had a functional disaster plan; listing properly equipped and manned shelters; test public alert & communications system, a plan that tells the people where the shelters are, and how to get to them, where relief, where supply & feeding stations will be set up – NADDA – NONE – Just like pre-Opal, pre-Ivan, pre-Dennis, pre-Katrina, and THERE IS ANOTHER ONE COMING (likely sometime soon).

    Who’s responsibility is Century’s Disaster Plan?

    Where will the shelters be?

    Where is the “special needs” or medical shelter?

    What local churchs or organizations are authorized and organized to distribute water medicine, & food to the elderly, sick, & shut-ins?

    Is there now an interlocal agreement with the county to provide law enforcement?
    (as I remember ECSO Deputies were pulled out and down to Pensacola after Ivan, to prevent looting there)

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News