Storm Shelter
Utility co-ops, USDA working to spread Weather Radio coverage
By Steve Thompson
USDA Rural Development
he United States has the dubious distinction
of being one of the countries on Earth most
prone to severe weather. Every year, Americans
deal with an average of 10,000 thunderstorms,
2,500 floods and, especially, 1,200
tornadoes, as well as several hurricanes.
Many of these weather events, especially tornadoes,
strike quickly, giving people little time get to safety. And
they can be deadly. Last year, 39 Americans were killed by
tornadoes, and an average of 1,500 are injured by them
annually. This year may be even more dangerous: tornadoes
killed 11 people in April and May alone, and meteorologists
are predicting more tornadoes than usual.
Many of the deaths caused by severe weather could be
avoided with enough advance warning. But tornadoes and
other destructive events, such as line squalls, can develop and
move at astonishing speed. A few years ago the movie
“Twister,” in which a small prairie town is devastated by a
tornado with no warning, dramatized the problem of effectively
notifying people in their paths. Conventional warning
systems such as television and radio are inadequate because
notice of a tornado or line squall often gives only a few minutes’
time to get to shelter. If you’re not listening or watching,
you can wind up out of luck.
The answer to this problem is a radio receiver that activates
itself and raises a noisy alarm when a storm warning is
issued. The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) operates National Weather Radio
a network of special transmitters broadcasting on assigned
frequencies that can be picked up by special receivers. These
receivers can be set to a “standby” mode in which they
remain quiet until receiving a unique alarm signal. The alarm
signal activates the receiver, which then plays the warning to
everyone in earshot. An agency of NOAA, the National
Weather Service, issues the notifications, which, it claims,
give listeners at least 12 minutes’ warning of tornadoes
ample time to get to shelter.
For the protection they offer, warning receivers are
cheap: the least expensive models retail for about $50. However,
for them to work, there must be a transmitter nearby. A
look at a map of the operating transmitters reveals a number
of areas especially in the western United States that are
not close enough to a transmitter to receive broadcasts.
Montana is one state that still has sparse coverage, a fact
that was driven home to people in the area of Circle, Mont.,
a town of approximately 400 residents in eastern part of the
state, on July 12 of last year. That’s when it was hit by a powerful
line squall a huge downdraft. Residents did not have
weather alarm receivers because there was no NOAA transmitter
within range. No one was killed, but the storm caused
a considerable amount of damage.
Fortunately, help was available in the form of a new
program administered by USDA Rural Development’s
Rural Utilities Service (RUS). In April 2001, RUS issued
a Notice of Funds Availability for the Weather Radio
Transmitter Grant Program. Under the program, $5 million
has been made available to non-profit corporations
or associations, local and state governments and Indian
tribes to build NOAA transmitters in rural areas with
poor or no coverage.
Mid-River Telephone Cooperative, which is headquartered
in Circle, found out about the program after being
contacted by the National Weather Service office in Glasgow,
Montana. The Co-op worked with the Glasgow office
and another in Billings, as well as three local county governments
to apply for grants for four transmitters in nearby
areas not receiving coverage. “We were thinking not just
about our customers, but about our employees, too,” says
Erin Lutz, who coordinated the effort. “We have the largest
service area of any telephone co-op in the United States,
and our maintenance people in the field spend a lot of time
far from convenient shelter. They need ample warning of
dangerous weather.”
The applications were for installing transmitters in Fallon,
Powder River, and Garfield Counties, as well as in Circle,
which is located in McCone County. Three of the applications
were submitted by county governments; the fourth was
submitted by the co-op itself. “Wherever we had a cell-network
or microwave tower, we donated space on the tower
and in the service building, as well as the necessary phone
lines,” says Lutz. One transmitter was not located in the coop’s
service area, and so facilities were donated by a fellow
telecom cooperative.
One transmitter, located in Fallon County, is already up
and running; the other two are expected to be operational by
the middle of the summer. “We’re running a heavy promotional
campaign to encourage our customers to use these
transmitters,” Erin Lutz says. “We’re even considering making
receivers available in our customer service offices in areas
that aren’t convenient to the nearest retail outlet.”
The National Weather Service has recognized Mid River’s
efforts with the Mark Trail Award, which it created to honor
people and organizations that have saved lives or protected
property by using or promoting NOAA Weather Radio. The
award was for filling the largest gap in the network in a nonmountainous
area. Lutz says the award was a surprise to the
co-op. “We didn’t even know about the award until they told
us we were getting it,” she says.
USDA Rural Development also received the Mark Trail
Award in a ceremony on Capital Hill. Deputy Under Secretary
for Rural Development Michael Neruda accepted the
award on behalf of RUS on April 17. The Agency was honored
for its support for the expansion of the NOAA network
in rural areas, including its administration of the Weather
Radio Transmitter Grant Program. Since the program began,
RUS has distributed about $2.5 million in grants for transmitters
on 43 rural sites a sizeable contribution to the safety
and well-being of rural Americans.
Grant funds are still available for building weather alert
transmitters. Interested parties are encouraged to check out
the program’s web site at: http://www.usda.gov/rus/
telecom/initiatives/noaa/weatherradio.htm, or telephone
program coordinators Craig Wulf at 202-720-8427 and
Orren E. Cameron, 202-690-4493, for information on
how to apply.
