NEWS FROM O’FALLON CITY HALL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
City of O’Fallon Prepared to Protect Residents from Severe Weather
O’Fallon, Illinois – January 15, 2008 – Mayor Gary L. Graham is pleased to announce that the City of O’Fallon will be recognized by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a StormReady® Community during the Tuesday, January 22, 2008 City Council Meeting.
“Residents and visitors in O’Fallon can feel more protected from severe weather now that the City has completed a set of rigorous warning criteria to earn the distinction of being StormReady®,” said Mayor Graham.
“StormReady® encourages communities to take a new, proactive approach to improving local hazardous weather operations and public awareness,” said Jim Kramper, warning coordination meteorologist at the St. Louis forecast office. “StormReady® arms communities with improved communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property, before and during severe weather and flood events.”
Kramper will present a recognition letter and special StormReady® signs to City Officials at the January 22 City Council Meeting. The StormReady® recognition will be in effect for three years, after which the City will go through a renewal process. To be recognized as StormReady®, a community must:
· Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center;
· Have redundant ways to receive weather forecasts and warnings and to alert the public;
· Create a system that monitors local weather conditions;
· Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars; and
· Develop a formal hazardous weather plan for training severe weather spotters and hold emergency exercises.
The NOAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
For more information on NOAA and their services, please visit:
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Additional Information Contact:
Pamala L. Funk
Assistant City Administrator
624-4500, Extension 9-1112
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