FEMA Text Messages

FEMA, also known as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an organization that assists the general public to inform and protect from domestic disasters whether they are natural or man made.  READY is a campaign started in 2003 to organize and involve citizens to prepare for disasters using many different forms of public resources and communications tools such as the internet and cell phones.

I found that anyone with a cell phone can easily subscribe to FEMA's  text messaging system.  The following is from the http://www.ready.gov/get-tech-ready website.

FEMA Text Messages

Use your cell phone’s text messaging capability to receive text message updates from FEMA (standard message and data rates apply).

Here are basic commands to get started:

    To signup to receive monthly preparedness tips: text PREPARE to 43362 (4FEMA)
    To unsubscribe (at any time): text STOP to 43362 (4FEMA)


Now you probably ask, why do we need information from FEMA.

Remember last year when our area was hit by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene?

Well when you see there is a forecast for significant rain, you will be better prepared for floods and storms in general to help you, your family, co workers and friends.

Here is another link to the ready website for more information to being prepared, such as a preparing a plan for emergencies and being ready for a flood.

http://www.ready.gov/floods

courtesy of   http://www.flood-pictures.com/

Tornado touchdown, Salinas - Kansas

The National Weather Service issued a report showing that there were 124 confirmed tornadoes that caused havoc on April 14th, 2012.   The image below was posted with the damage information from www.weather.com website.

 I participated with a storm chaser group online to help post storm alerts through the day from the NWS.

Tornado radar signature from 9:27 pm to 10:41 pm CDT Saturday April 14, 2012. Conventional radar reflectivity is at left, storm-relative Doppler velocity is at right. Tornadic circulation is denoted by yellow circle at right.as it passed over west side of Woodward, Okla.
Images credits: Gibson Ridge/NWS-Wichita, Kan

The outbreak involved several states, in Woodward OK there were 

5 casualties, 29 injured and 89 homes destroyed.

If you remember who Tim Samaras is, he was featured in the TV show "Storm Chasers' on Discovery.  Below is a video I found that shows a lot of detail and an impressive close up shot of a tornado.

Please note, that this type of filming should only be done by the experts, who have spent years studying storms . 

Radioactive water spill at Limerick

I read this story on Friday, and at first I felt concern, then I laughed about it discussing it with a friend that lives close to the plant, then finally I became angry at the way this information was released at a snails pace to the public.   Did they really need to wait 23 days to report a spill? 
Yes I know, the radiation levels are low this time, but I am old enough to remember what happened at Three Mile-Island back in the '70s. 

What would happen if there was a significant leak?  Would we be told to take precautions right away, or would they be taking their time to study the issue?  So far, I have not heard of many problems at this plant, it seems as though it does have a good record for safety.

I know that being a nation of nuclear power dependent consumers, we live with little concern for safety for these plants. There was some talk generated about the older design of some of these plants when earthquakes occur, especially reading about the Earthquake and Tsunami that hit the coast of Japan.  I did not want to promote paranoia, just wish the NRC and Excelon would be a little quicker letting us know what is going on.


Please read the story from The Times Herald here ; http://www.timesherald.com/article/20120413/NEWS01/120419781/1006&pager=full_story

If you have any comments regarding what I wrote or about the article in the paper,  please leave the comments below and don't be shy..

Image from "The Mercury"

Earthquake & Tsunami Warning 4/11/2012

Today at 4:37AM Eastern Daylight time  the United States Geological Survey reported a very strong Earthquake and a Tsunami warning off the west coast of Northern Sumatra.  Damage from the initial earthquake has not been fully reviewed to be reported.

Please see the video below from Sky NEWS

Dual Pole Radar + Storm Spotters = Improved Alerts

South East PA  has little severe weather compared to other parts of the country, we follow the weather enough to find out if it will rain or snow tomorrow.  There are a few out there that do follow the weather nationally, some of these folks are weather fans like myself.   I joined Skywarn last year, and since then I have really not had much of an opportunity to report weather events because of the lack of severe weather.   However this causes us to get too comfortable and ignore safety warnings, Verizon has started a program in certain cities to send alert via cell phones, but this has not yet reached our local city yet.  Besides buying a battery powered NOAA Weather Alert Radio, we can still use old fashioned AM/FM, TV or the internet to stay informed.  I do need to point out that when sever weather does occur, we have to keep in mind that the loss of electrical power from strong winds may knock out our ability to access communication sources such as weather and public safety updates.

I wanted to post this video showing how Dual Pole radar helps to detect severe storms and even tornadoes, storm spotters are used to help the National Weather Service under the Radar beam to report truth on the ground as to what is occurring and call this important information in to the local NWS office.

Please take a moment to see this video, and remember to keep you and your family safe by learning how to be weather aware.