It’s been almost three months since a pair of tornadoes — one EF4 and one EF3 — spun through west Kentucky, impacting thousands of lives and wreaking havoc on infrastructure, business and day-to-day living.
But without coordinated weather response, severe weather preparedness, accurate forecasting and cogent emergency management, things could’ve been much worse.
This was the message during Monday morning’s National Weather Service Severe Weather Preparedness Conference in Dawson Springs — one of the main cities impacted by that December 10 EF4 tornado.
Kicking off National “Severe Weather Preparedness” Week from March 1-7, NWS Paducah Warning Coordination Meteorologist Christine Wielgos noted there are three basic steps anyone can take in order to be ready for thunderstorms, floods and tornadoes.
Wielgos said one of the biggest reasons there wasn’t more loss of life across Kentucky on December 10 was everyone’s attention to previous warnings, and their own preparations.
Over the next three weeks, the NWS will be periodically sending out information via the NWS Paducah Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as online at www.weather.gov/PAH.
At 7 PM, March 1, a Facebook Live from NWS Paducah will have a panel of experts answering questions about severe weather and its nuances. At 9:07 AM, March 2, the statewide tornado drill will be activated through a routine weekly test message — and Wielgos added this is the ideal time to review safety plans and the process of sheltering in place.
Hopkins County Judge-Executive Jack Whitfield credited local relationships with emergency management as a key reason why Dawson Springs didn’t encounter more loss of life and despair.
Muhlenberg County Emergency Management Director Keith Putnam was emotional when talking about Bremen, and added that practicing emergency management and preparedness makes all the difference in saving lives.
More than 70 lives were taken statewide in the two December 10 & 11 tornadoes.
