Preparedness and Communications

As FEMA works out new NFIP rules, residents and officials look forward to more accurate mapping, but worry that the price of flood insurance for some property owners may significantly increase.

The CodeRED system is used to distribute information about emergencies such as evacuation notices, utility outages, water main breaks, fires, floods and chemical spills, according to information on Somerset County’s website.

The action came after a report about hydrant connection problems and a failed hydrant near the site in Valley View, Pa.

Sauk County Emergency Management Director Jeff Jelinek said the county’s current hazard mitigation plan was prepared in 2005. An advisory committee has been looking at potential updates, and stakeholders, such as villages, towns and cities, are seeking feedback from citizens.

To join the ranks, a candidate must have a high school diploma, a clean background check and an active driver's license. Then they must complete several hundred hours of training on their own time, which takes at least several months to accomplish.

Federal, state and county emergency officials urge West Virginia families, businesses, hospitals, nursing homes, schools and government agencies to use the test alert to simulate what actions would be taken in the event of a real tornado emergency, and to update emergency plans as needed.

The checklist should include three emergency contacts, two of whom should be located nearby and the third far enough away to be unaffected if the whole region is engulfed by disaster.

The free app, which was once banned as the Vigilante app by the Apple App Store, now calls a former foe its spokesman and boasts citizen heroics as evidence of its viability.

In this worst-case scenario, an EF-5 tornado like the one that struck El Reno, Okla., in 2013 would have 94,500 people and buildings worth more than $4 billion in its path. Some storm experts think it’s inevitable.

Pima County, Ariz., Valley Emergency Communication Center prepares to introduce its Computer Aided Dispatch system to the cloud in a pilot project this spring.

Eddy County Emergency Manager Jennifer Armendariz said video footage confirmed that the tornado touched down at about 5 p.m. in Loving in southern Eddy County. She said no damage was reported.

'The Emergency Outdoor Warning Sirens have malfunctioned and are automatically sounding. We are currently working to address the concern …' read a post on the city of Lancaster’s Nextdoor page.

A team of U.S. Geological Survey scientists concluded that even a modest amount of sea level rise — often dismissed as a creeping, slow-moving disaster — could overwhelm communities when a storm hits at the same time.

'Recruitment and retention there is a problem for us and it’s a problem nation-wide. It’s not unique to Oskaloosa. It is a commitment.'

The Massachusetts Task Force Report on School Safety and Security’s recommendations to the governor state that the lockdown method, which includes students hiding under desks or against walls, is no longer a stand-alone strategy to secure in place during an active shooter threat.