Monday kicked off Severe Weather Awareness Week in western Kentucky at a conference with the National Weather Service in Paducah in Dawson Springs, one of several communities that were devastated by an EF-4 tornado on December 10.
Warning Coordination Meterologist Christine Wielgos says that was a night they will remember forever—along with the majority of those who live in the region—and she says it highlighted the need to always be prepared for severe weather and have multiple ways to receive warnings.
Several speakers recalled what happened on December 10 and 11, including Muhlenberg County Emergency Manager Keith Putnam, who urged people to always have a plan in place to keep yourself and your families as safe as possible.
Graves County Emergency Manager Tracy Warner credited the National Weather Service and local media for doing the best they could to keep people weather aware the day leading up to the storms and that night. She says Mayfield lost 24 people, but without the multitude of warnings that allowed people to be prepared, it could have been much more.
Everyone spoke on the importance of having a weather radio—while other technology may fail when the power goes out, a weather radio will be able to stay functional to keep you informed. They can even be programmed to go off at night and wake you up, should a warning be issued while you’re asleep.
Kentucky’s statewide tornado drill is at 9:07 a.m. Wednesday, when listeners to WHOP will hear the Emergency Alert System interrupt regular programming for the test message. The National Weather Service will be posting severe weather awareness information on their Facebook page for the rest of the week.
