McDonald County receives Storm Ready award
The National Weather Service presented McDonald County with a Storm Ready award at the McDonald County Courthouse on Feb. 15.
Steve Runnels, of the National Weather Service in Springfield, said he had worked with McDonald County emergency management director Gregg Sweeten and that the Storm Ready program is all about preparing the community.
In order for a community to become Storm Ready, it has to meet certain criteria, he said. Only 1,500 counties and 1,164 cities and communities are Storm Ready in the U.S. In Missouri, there are 38 counties and 47 communities that are Storm Ready.
Runnels said the criteria include: 1) The ability to get information from the National Weather Service in redundant ways. 2) The ability to share that information with the community in redundant ways. 3) The ability to work within the community to promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars.
He said that, unfortunately, McDonald County leads the state in tornadoes and also has its share of flash floods, winter storms and ice storms.
“Mother Nature has her eye on McDonald County,” he said.
Sweeten said, “This is a partnership.” He recognized the McDonald County commissioners for years of giving funds to provide updated equipment for the agency. He also thanked his family for waiting through the long nights with him during weather events.
“It’s McDonald County’s award. It’s the community’s award,” he said. “We’re not going to stop Mother Nature from doing anything, but hopefully, we can mitigate that.”
Runnels presented Sweeten and the commissioners with a certificate and a road sign stating the county is Storm Ready.
Sweeten said, “It’s not just me, it’s everybody. I couldn’t do what I do without the volunteers and the community to provide the option to be able to do this.”
Runnels said, “We like to say thank you to the community. We know (storms) are going to occur, but if you have a plan in place when they occur, you’re going to save lives.”
Sweeten said, “If we can save lives, if we can prevent someone from getting hurt, that’s what it’s all about. We can’t change what causes it, but maybe we can change the outcome.”