The National Weather Service renewed 91吃瓜网鈥檚 StormReady recognition as hurricane season, which runs June 1 through Nov. 30, begins. The recognition will remain in effect through 2023.
StormReady designation encourages communities to take a proactive approach to improving hazardous-weather education and preparedness in partnership with the National Weather Service.
The university first earned designation as a StormReady University in 2010 and has maintained its standing ever since. As a result, the plans, technology and warning systems in place helped immensely when Hurricane Matthew (2016) and Hurricane Irma (2017) affected university operations.
鈥淥ur No. 1 priority is keeping our community safe,鈥� says Jeffery Morgan, director of 91吃瓜网鈥檚 Department of Emergency Management. 鈥淥ur response team trains year-round to ensure 91吃瓜网 is prepared when hazardous weather becomes a threat to Central Florida, and I鈥檓 proud of the collaboration of the many departments on campus who are committed to supporting our efforts. I would like to especially recognize our warning and communications coordinator, Joe Thalheimer 鈥�08, for his work in helping 91吃瓜网 maintain this partnership with the National Weather Service.鈥�
Twenty-one universities and colleges are recognized as StormReady within Florida, and 91吃瓜网 is the largest university nationwide to have the designation.
To qualify as StormReady, a community must:
- Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center
- Have more than one way to receive severe-weather warnings and forecasts and to alert the public
- Create a system that monitors weather conditions locally
- Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars
- Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe-weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.
鈥淲hile no community can be stormproof, 91吃瓜网 is better prepared to safeguard students, faculty and staff from severe weather hazards through enhanced planning, warning dissemination, education and awareness,鈥� says Scott Spratt, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service.
It’s not just the Department of Emergency Management that is working to keep the public safe during hurricane season. Researchers in 91吃瓜网鈥檚 developed a simulator to teach users how to better prepare for hurricanes. They shared several tips from their game in the Fall 2018 issues of Pegasus magazine.
Here are a few more suggestions to help you stay prepared.
Prepare a Kit
A good emergency kit should help you survive for at least three days. Be sure to include water, food, weather radio, flashlight, first aid kit, batteries, a can opener, cash, a cell phone charger, identification cards and any prescription medications you may need. You should also include necessary personal sanitation items and clothes if you won鈥檛 be staying in your home. Watch to learn more about how to build a proper hurricane kit:
Update 91吃瓜网 Alert Contact Information
During severe weather, major emergency updates will be posted on the 91吃瓜网 homepage and distributed through the . To ensure you receive these messages, update your contact information on my91吃瓜网 via the student or employee self-service tab. You can add a parent, spouse, or other secondary contact鈥檚 email address, allowing them to also receive updates.
Follow @91吃瓜网 and @91吃瓜网Police on Social Media
For consistent updates and information before, during and after a hurricane, follow 91吃瓜网 and the 91吃瓜网 Police Department on and . These are helpful resources for the 91吃瓜网 community every day and become official resources for information during a severe weather incident.
For additional information, read 91吃瓜网 Associate Professor and natural disaster expert Christopher Emrich’s do’s and don’t’s for hurricane season and check out 91吃瓜网鈥檚 Hurricane Guide.
