USDA, Commerce join forces to boost early warning system

 ach year, thousands of people die, are injured or lose property because they didn't receive adequate warning of approaching weather hazards or natural disasters. When people know disasters are coming, they act. For many, the best chance they have to avoid an approaching weather emergency is the 24-hour disaster warning network of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Commerce are creating a partnership to extend NOAA:s emergency radio service to more rural areas of the nation, large portions of which still do not have coverage. Through the agreement, the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) of USDA Rural Development will encourage the installation of emergency radio transmitters by identifying rural utility towers not currently receiving the NOAA transmissions. NOAA will work with the utility co-ops to install the transmitters to provide the warning signal to that area. "The cost of installing radio transmitters is small when you consider the life-saving service it will provide to millions of rural people nationwide," Glickman said. "West of the Mississippi River, more than two-thirds of the land area is still not covered by this vital radio service, and large areas of the eastern third of the country also lack coverage." Inadequate warnings of approaching hazards, such as floods, tornadoes and hurricanes, are particularly acute in the nation's rural areas. Once the transmitters are installed, households will be able to receive warnings through NOAA radios, the Internet, pagers and telephones.


















"This agreement is a real life saver for rural Americans," said Jack Kelly, assistant administrator for the National Weather Service. "The Rural Utilities Service's long-standing relationship with electric and telephone cooperatives will make it easier to identity weather radio transmission sites, as well as partnering with them to install transmitters." Utilities willing to mount a transmitter will be asked to donate power to run it, including an emergency back-up power source. The savings from using existing towers and power supplies can more than double the deployment of weather radio transmitters. Jill Long Thompson, USDA under secretary for rural development, said this is an ideal public service effort for rural utility cooperatives to pursue. "What better way for cooperatives to show their commitment to public service than making this life-saving technology available in their service areas?"

For more information on this program,
contact RUS' national office at (2 02) 72 0-1255 or
visit the NOAA website at www.nws.noa.gov/nwr.




Return to Table of Content