Tennessee severe weather awareness week begins February 17, 2013. The Campaign highlights preparedness activities to help individuals, families and businesses prevent injuries and deaths from weather threats.
A broadcaster’s ability to reach all Tennesseans gives local stations like WMSR a unique role in the distribution of emergency information. Together with live, on-the-spot news coverage providing in-depth emergency information, a dependable, functional EAS is an integral part of broadcasters’ efforts to safeguard the lives and property of their audiences as the backbone of the nation’s primary alerting system.
These alerts can include weather issued by the National Weather Service, AMBER notices from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, and other disaster information such as evacuation notices issued by a civil authority. Recent events, such as floods and tornadoes across Tennessee, and the snowstorms and Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast, all highlight the need for a reliable, robust Emergency Alerting System (EAS).
Throughout the week, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), the National Weather Service (NWS), the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters (TAB) and other supporting groups will conduct educational activities and drills to help people prepare for tornadoes, damaging winds, flash floods, lightning and hail.
The NWS and its Skywarn Storm Spotters Network will focus each day of the week on safety steps and warnings for specific weather threats, such as lightning and flash flooding. For Tennessee’s number one threat, tornadoes, NWS with conduct this year’s statewide tornado drill around 9 a.m., CST, on Wednesday, February 20.
