Be Warned, Be Safe
The bad news is: we’re entering another season where sudden severe weather can wreak significant damage on property and cause injury or death to the unwary and unprepared.
The good news is: there are increasingly accurate and varied ways of quickly warning the people of Kosciusko County of those dangers.
“I want them to have situation awareness,” said Ed Rock, director of Kosciusko County Emergency Management. The term, unfamiliar to some, means, “knowing what’s going on around you by scanning your environment.”
“You have to know what is coming at you,” said Rock. “Awareness of your surroundings is the most protective thing you can do.”
The traditional warning method, tornado sirens, “are geared for people outside and they do a great job depending on wind conditions and other factors,” said Rock, who estimated a siren’s effective range at two miles in ideal conditions.
There are several drawbacks to the system, however. Kosciusko County has about 25 sirens in place, none of them under the county’s jurisdiction. Municipalities such as Warsaw, Syracuse, North Webster and Mentone independently maintain and operate their own sirens.
That isn’t nearly enough to cover the county’s population, however. Rock cited a recent study the county needs 136 sirens to fully cover the county’s 536 square miles.
Another disadvantage involves human error. “When people hear a tornado siren the first instinct is to go outside,” exactly the wrong — and sometimes tragic — response.
Fortunately, other technologies have been developed to alert residents of coming storms.
“The warning on your personal cellphone comes out as fast or faster than we can set off the sirens,” said Rock. Weather alert phone apps are “freebies,” he said, and can be acquired from local radio and television stations.
“Most people can pull up radar on their phones,” he said.
In addition, residents should equip themselves with weather radios, widely available for $25 to $40. “Weather radios do the best job of waking you up in the evening,” according to Rock, because “people turn their phone down or off at night. Just make sure you have fresh batteries, have the radio programmed correctly and don’t mute it down.” He recommended changing the battery twice a year, at the same time you change the batteries in your smoke detectors. “These are life-saving devices,” he said.
Twice this spring, the emergency management department set up at the Warsaw Walgreens with a group of ham radio operators to check and program residents’ weather radios. They programmed more than 70 radios on a recent Saturday.
“If I have a clamoring of people, we’ll set up a third one.” Anyone interested should leave Rock a message at (574) 371-2602.
Rock counseled keeping a three-day supply of clean water for emergencies, “a minimum of one gallon per person per day, and at least two gallons in the hot weather.”
An adequate food supply is also essential, but Rock said, “Most people have a pantry or storage cabinet where they have a supply of food. As long as they have a good supply and work out of the refrigerator, most people have three days of food in their house.”
Rock’s formula for severe weather survival: “One, put yourself in a safe location and two, start doing your own research to find out what is happening.”