Officials from NOAA's National Weather Service praised the emergency management team of Onslow County, N.C., for completing a set of rigorous warning and evacuation criteria necessary to earn the distinction of being TsunamiReady. Onslow County includes the coastal communities of North Topsail Beach, Camp LeJeune, and Swansboro.

“These three coastal communities in Onslow County are the first in the state to earn the TsunamiReady designation,” said Brig. Gen. David L. Johnson, U.S. Air Force, (Ret.), director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. “These important coastal areas are both TsunamiReady and StormReady, providing residents and visitors the best preparedness programs during severe weather events as well as for the rare, but potentially devastating, consequences of a tsunami.”

Tom Kriehn, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service forecast office in Newport/Morehead City, N.C., will present a recognition letter and special TsunamiReady and StormReady signs to Onslow County and their three TsunamiReady communities at a Board of Commissioners meeting scheduled at 7 p.m. November 20 at the County Courthouse in Jacksonville, N.C. The TsunamiReady recognition will be in effect for three years, after which each of the communities will go through a renewal process.

Both community preparedness programs use a grassroots approach to help communities develop plans to handle tsunamis, local severe weather, wave impacts, and flooding threats, and help communities inform citizens of threats associated with each. These programs are voluntary, and provide communities with clear-cut advice through a partnership between the local National Weather Service offices and state, county and local emergency managers. The StormReady program began in 1999 and has grown to more than 1,100 StormReady communities throughout the United States. There are more than 30 TsunamiReady communities in eight states.

To be recognized as TsunamiReady and StormReady, a community must:

• Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center;

• Have more than one way to receive tsunami and severe weather warnings and forecasts to alert the public;

• Create a system that monitors local weather conditions;

• Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars; and

• Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.

“TsunamiReady and StormReady recognize communities that take a proactive approach to improving public awareness and local response to hazardous situations,” said Tom Kriehn, meteorologist-in-charge of the National Weather Service office in Newport/Morehead City. “Thanks to the efforts of the mayors, state and county civil defense agencies, Onslow County communities have the means to help protect the public from tsunamis and severe weather threats protecting lives and property.”

In 2007, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates 200 years of science and service to the nation. From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

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Relevant Web Sites

NOAA: http://www.noaa.gov

NOAA’s National Weather Service: http://www.weather.gov

Newport/Morehead City, N.C. Weather Forecast Office: http://www.weather.gov/mhx

TsunamiReady program: http://www.tsunamiready.noaa.gov

StormReady program: http://www.stormready.noaa.gov

Media Contact:
John Cole, NOAA National Weather Service, (252) 223-5122 ext. 222

Marcie Katcher, NOAA National Weather Service, (631) 244-0149