Storm Ready Community

Definition of "Storm ready community"

Written by

Pat Heath

Keller Williams Realty

The definition of a storm ready community is any community across the country that demonstrates it has the means to prepare and educate the population for severe weather conditions. However, in order to be considered a storm ready community, you need formal recognition from the United States National Weather Service, through a program called StormReady. The occurrence of a natural disaster is a major thing in real estate, therefore, insurance companies provide means to ensure your home against events that are considered an “Act of God”.

StormReady is a program sponsored by the National Weather Service, and it was initiated in Tulsa, Oklahoma back in 1999. The fact that this area was experiencing at least one tornado each year since 1950, and several of them were devastating, the need for such a program was necessary. As you probably already know, some cities are facing devastating natural disasters and other cities are known for being safe from natural disasters, but here are some statistics. The US is experiencing on average about 10,000 thunderstorms, 1,000 tornadoes, 5,000 floods, and about 2 deadly hurricanes each year.

Although the program was initially called StormWise, in 2002 the official name and logo came out and StormReady is now a registered trademark of the National Weather Service. By the month of June 2011, there were about 870 counties, 720 communities, 37 commercial sites, 36 government sites and 72 universities that received the recognition. Later on, a TsunamiReady program was instituted as well and communities started getting recognition in that regard as well.

Did you know that Walt Disney World received its recognition in 2006 and that Indian Harbour Beach was one of the first StormReady cities on the East Coast of Florida? But in order to be officially StormReady, a community must:

• Create a functional 24-hour warning point and operation center for emergency;
• Have a system that monitors the local weather conditions at all times;
• Hold community seminars that have the purpose of promoting the importance of public readiness in this type of situations;
• Develop a formal plan for hazardous weather that also includes training sessions for severe weather condition spotters and simulating emergency situations;
• Have a communication system that alerts the public when it receives severe weather forecasts.