Storm Ready

StormReady is a nationwide program that began in the summer of 2000. It is a voluntary program designed to help counties and communities take a proactive approach to the kinds of severe weather that affect their areas by improving local hazardous weather operations and heightening public awareness. Counties and communities work with the National Weather Service (NWS), State Emergency Management, and the media to become StormReady. By participating in this program, local agencies can earn recognition for their jurisdiction by meeting the guidelines established by the NWS in partnership with federal, state, and local emergency management professionals. In South Carolina, the NWS has partnered with the S.C. Emergency Management Division and the S.C. Emergency Management Association to ensure successful implementation and ongoing improvement of the StormReady program. A community interested in becoming recognized as StormReady must meet the following objectives:

  • 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 to severe weather warnings;
  • Create a system that monitors local weather conditions;
  • Promote the importance of public readiness through community outreach seminars; and
  • Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe-weather spotters and conducting emergency exercises.

In addition, there are several advantages to becoming a StormReady community.

  • Emergency managers can use the StormReady initiative to justify the costs and purchases related to supporting their hazardous-weather-related program;
  • Communities gain the skills, education, and communication capabilities necessary to survive and respond to severe weather events;
  • StormReady recognition serves as a reward for local hazardous-weather mitigation programs that have achieved a desired performance level;
  • StormReady certification provides a means of reducing insurance premiums by acquiring Community Rating System points assigned by the Insurance Services Organization; and
  • Local government can show citizens that it is taking a proactive stance in protecting them against severe- weather events.

Below is a list of SC communities that have been recognized as StormReady.

Horry County

Charleston County

Orangeburg County

Sumter County

City of Chesterfield

Clarendon County

Dillon County

Beaufort County

Greenwood County

McCormick County

Lee County

 

To learn more about the StormReady program you may go to the National Weather Service's wesite at: www.nws.noaa.gov/stormready or contact your regional Warning Coordination Meteorologist.

Jerry Harrison, Charleston region -(843) 744-1436
Steve Naglic, Columbia region - (803) 765-5501
Vince DiCarlo, Greenville/Spartanburg region - (864) 879-1085
Tom Mathison, Wilmington office (North Eastern S.C.) - (910) 762-8043

You may also contact the SCEMD at (803) 737-8500.