Need for weather preparedness rolls in with spring
April falls in the middle of Alabama’s spring severe weather season, and for many, it will bring to mind the storms of April 2011.
With 62 tornadoes across the state and 29 confirmed in central Alabama, the two waves of severe weather resulted in nearly 2,000 injuries and 139 deaths, according to National Weather Service data.
Seven of those tornadoes passed through Shelby County, and all were categorized as EF-1 or EF-0.
Following the 2011 storms, a new term has been used in Alabama storm categorization.
“Now, we have a third element when dealing with tornadic events, that there is actually something called a ‘tornado emergency.’ That is that we have a large tornado on the ground, headed toward populated areas,” said Shelby County Emergency Management Agency Director Hub Harvey. “That is kind of a warning on top of a warning.”
While Shelby County has not experienced a tornado emergency since 2011, Shelby County EMA has remained vigilant. On March 19, when five tornadoes were confirmed in central Alabama, the five community shelters in Shelby County were opened, and the EMA worked to monitor the storms. Chelsea also opened its community for extended hours, so that residents could shelter there if needed.
And while it can be easy to compartmentalize severe weather season into a few months and a few threats — mainly tornadoes — Harvey said it is important to remember severe weather is a year-round occurrence in Alabama.
“One thing to keep in mind — you can have a tornado on every day of the year,” Harvey said. “The biggest thing that we try to remind people is that we spend so much time and effort between ourselves [Shelby EMA], the television stations, National Weather Service and others to go, ‘Severe weather season: March, April, May,’ but you can have a tornado every day.”
This February, six tornadoes were recorded in Central Alabama, according to data from the National Weather Service, which Harvey said is just one example of how they can hit at any time.
“We don’t want people to be lulled into a sense of safety [based on time of year],” Harvey said. “March through May is the traditional spring severe weather season. Then June, July, August, September, it’s hurricane season. Then October, we’re usually OK, but November/December, we roll back into the second severe weather season. Then it’s January, February, and it’s severe winter weather season.”
The best way to be prepared for the change in seasons and meteorological threats, Harvey said, is to simply be weather aware.
“I want them to have good information, multiple sources of information, to allow them to make wise choices,” Harvey said.
Taking notice
Thanks to technology, getting storm and weather updates has never been easier.
There are mobile apps and modern weather radios, in addition to local television stations and news organizations that consistently update in the face of severe weather, Harvey said.
“I want people to have a minimum of two — and preferably three or more — ways to get information,” said Harvey.
Those sources should be on top of outdoor warning sirens, Harvey said, which he emphasized are not intended to be a sole source of tornado warnings.
“The sirens are an outdoor warning device,” he said. “They were never designed to wake people up inside their home at night. It was designed for if you were out at a ball field, you were out doing something in the yard.”
Modern construction and new homes usually have better insulation in the walls and through the windows, Harvey said. While that’s a positive for keeping heating and cooling costs down, it is also keeps sound out.
“It makes it less likely that the outdoor warning siren that’s 2 miles away, that you’ll be able to hear it inside the house,” Harvey said. “We don’t want people to rely on that as their only source of life-saving information.”
Instead, the resources should be in your home and on your person.
With apps and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather radios, individuals can key in their county and get alerts for severe weather in their area.
In the past, weather radios would issue alerts for a multi-county area, even if a storm wasn’t a direct threat to a county, Harvey said. Thanks to the ability to program to a more specific area, those alerts will no longer wake you up in the middle of the night unnecessarily.
“Now, you can punch in [the county code], you can set it so that it only goes off for Shelby County,” Harvey said.
Programming for neighboring counties is also helpful, Harvey said, because it provides extra time on top of a storm alert.
“That might buy you the extra 45 minutes before it gets here, for you to be able to go, ‘It’s three o’clock in the morning, do we want to shelter here or go to the community storm shelter?’” Harvey said.
Taking cover
There are five community storm shelters in Shelby County: in Columbiana, Vincent, Westover, Calera and West Shelby, which hold 75 to 150 people each. Their purpose, Harvey said, is to serve residents who don’t feel that their location or residence would be safe in a tornado.
“The shelters are intended for us by any member of the public who feels they would be better served by being in a safer location than their current home, but especially those who are in manufactured housing,” Harvey said.
When considering whether or not to go to a storm Shelter, Harvey said, the main question is “What’s safer than where I currently am?”
Storm shelters are opened when a tornado watch is issued. All of the shelters were purchased with grants through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Harvey said, and are maintained and opened by local fire or police departments. Once the shelter is opened, the local entities will notify Shelby EMA, and an alert will be put up on the county website.
“They’ll usually keep those [shelters] open through that storm or through that situation, until the risk of severe weather has passed,” Harvey said.
There’s no hard and fast rule on timing as far as taking shelter at home or in a community storm shelter, Harvey said, but once a tornado watch is issued, he encourages individuals to look outside.
If the sky is blue, “you’re probably OK for a while,” Harvey said.
“If you feel the wind is blowing, if you see the sky is completely dark,” Harvey said, that’s a different story. “You have to be your own best judge when it’s time [to take shelter].”
For individuals not headed to a storm shelter, there are best practices for staying safe at home.
“The latest guidance from the National Weather Service is we ask you to put as many walls between yourself and the outside of whatever structure you’re in,” Harvey said.
Based on the type of storms that typically hit Alabama, Harvey said, the “deadly factor” is flying debris — tree branches, parts of houses or other objects — rather than the storm itself. By placing multiple walls between yourself and the outside, he said, it minimizes the risk of that debris causing bodily harm.
Taking action
In the face of severe weather, Harvey said, Shelby County is a StormReady County. This designation comes through NOAA and the National Weather Service, and is based on the county’s emergency services.
“There is a laundry list of things we have to do to show that we as a county are prepared and try to make sure our citizens are as prepared as possible,” Harvey said.
In addition to disseminating information for awareness and preparedness, Harvey said they also maintain partnerships with local municipalities and first responders, as well as statewide organizations.
“Anytime there is a threat of severe weather, the Birmingham National Weather Service does a very good job of holding briefings for us, and those will be held one to two times a day,” Harvey said. In those situations, the emergency operations center will be opened, and agencies including the county highway department, Alabama Department of Transportation, school systems and others will send representatives.
“We will discuss [the briefing], we will see if there’s anything we need to know specifically, as Shelby County, and we’ll call the National Weather Service after the briefing, directly, and say, ‘Here’s three questions we have for Shelby County,’” Harvey said.
Having information specific to the county, rather than an idea of what’s occurring across a region of the state, helps them plan out timing and the best steps to take, Harvey said.
The county is also on its way to implement a new radio system, which will allow for more efficient communication across the state and across organizations.
The system is set to roll out this year, and it will provide new frequencies to municipalities and their first responders in addition to interoperability, meaning a channel where everyone can convene in emergency events.
“For the first time ever, we can literally say we can all talk to each other regardless of which public safety discipline we’re in,” Harvey said. “Regardless of the hat or the badge, we can talk to each other.”
Staying on top of emergency preparedness can be a challenge for growing counties, Harvey said, but new technologies and consistent evaluation helps stay ahead of the curve.
“Shelby County is still the fastest, one of the fastest growing counties population-wise in the state, so it is a challenge [to spread severe weather information], but we have a lot of opportunities to get that word out on a lot of different bases,” Harvey said.
For emergency preparedness information, go to shelbyal.com.
Storm shelters in Shelby County
► 1: Columbiana Storm Shelter, 107 Mildred St., Columbiana
► 2: Vincent Storm Shelter,5384 Shelby 62, Vincent
► 3: Westover City Shelter, 3312 Westover Road, Westover
► 4: West Shelby Storm Shelter, 4175 Shelby 22, Montevallo
► 5: Calera Community Storm Shelter, 790 Eighth Ave., Calera
Terms to remember
There is plenty to keep in mind in the event of a storm, but some of the terminology used to designate the level of a storm can be confused or forgotten. Along with the addition of a new designation, Shelby County EMA director Hub Harvey said it is important to keep in mind what the terms mean.
► Tornado watch: This designation means that conditions are favorable for tornadic conditions somewhere in the future, but a tornado has not been spotted or detected.
► Tornado warning: This designation means there was a visible sighting that a tornado was on the ground, or radar has detected a tornado. Radar systems have improved significantly, Harvey said, and can help forecast when the “debris balls” caused by tornadoes have formed.
► Tornado emergency: A relatively new term, this designation means that there is a large tornado on the ground, and that tornado has the “potential to cause great devastation,” Harvey said. Typically reserved for EF-3 or greater, Harvey said this term is used when a large tornado is headed toward a heavily populated area.