Schaumburg Designated StormReady by National Weather Service
After an extensive application and evaluation process, the Village of Schaumburg was recently designated a StormReady® Community by the National Weather Service (NWS).
StormReady® is a National Weather Service program designed to recognize communities that have reached a high level of severe weather preparedness.
"The Village of Schaumburg prides itself on creating a community of safety and preparedness," said Schaumburg Fire Department Chief Jim Walters.
"We have a number of plans and procedures already in place to ensure public safety when disaster strikes and we train regularly for emergency situations so that we can best serve the public should inclement weather strike," said Walters.
The StormReady® application process involves documenting and demonstrating the municipality's ability to monitor weather, receive alerts, coordinate with stakeholders, and disseminate warnings. To be recognized as StormReady®, a community must meet criteria established jointly between the NWS and state and local emergency management officials. This criteria includes:
- Establishing a local 24-hour warning point and an Emergency Operations Center
- Having multiple ways of receiving NWS warnings
- Creating a system to monitor local weather/river conditions
- Having multiple ways of alerting the public
- Promoting public readiness through community seminars and presentations
- Developing a formal hazardous weather plan
- Having trained spotters
- Conducting periodic drills/exercises
- Interacting with their local NWS office
The essence of the StormReady® program is to ensure the entire warning system performs properly when severe weather strikes.
The Village of Schaumburg is one of 10 Illinois communities that comprise the Northwest Central Joint Emergency Management System (JEMS). All 10 communities, which include Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Mount Prospect, Schaumburg and Streamwood, are now StormReady® certified.
For more information about the National Weather Service's StormReady® designation, visit https://bit.ly/2olNWvq.