Santorum Won't Assure Its Survival; NOAA Radio Saves Lives

[donsutherland1]

On June 23, 2005, The Ellsworth American, Maine's largest weekly newspaper reported:

Santorum Press Secretary Robert Traynham couldn’t give assurance that the weather radio so vital to Maine marine interests wouldn’t be at risk if the bill passed. “In all likelihood, if the product was available before the non-competition policy was revoked in December 2004, it would be available upon passage of the act,” he wrote. However, he didn’t specify whether that “product” would be delivered by NOAA weather radio or some other medium.

Today, Yahoo posted an NOAA press release that was carried by PRNewsire. This press release highlighted a recent example where NOAA weather radio contributed to saving lives.

Excerpts follow:

Good planning and NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards played a role in saving the lives of 340 students, faculty and staff at Charles F. Johnson Elementary School in Endicott, N.Y., recently by allowing all to move to safety before a severe thunderstorm damaged the building.

Forecasters at the NOAA's National Weather Service forecast office in Binghamton detected a severe thunderstorm June 6 on Doppler weather radar with winds estimated up to 70 mph. They issued a severe thunderstorm warning, which activated the school's NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards alarm and provided enough time for the school to implement its safety plan and evacuate to designated "storm-safe" areas. The school had 22 minutes from the time of the warning to when the storm ripped the roof off of the kindergarten wing.

"Over 20 minutes of advanced warning allowed us to execute our severe weather safety plan, which in turn saved lives and prevented injuries," said William Tomic, principal of Charles F. Johnson Elementary School. "Our school practices the severe weather safety plan at least twice per year, and this time the practice paid off."

..."While I have always been a big supporter of NOAA's Weather Radio program, at no time has its importance been clearer than on June 6, when severe weather ripped through Charles F. Johnson Elementary," said Congressman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), chair of the House Science Committee. "The prompt warning and emergency information principal Tomic received from his weather radio enabled him to immediately implement his safety plan. His quick action no doubt saved the lives of our most precious resources -- our children. I hope that this serves as a lesson for others to get a NOAA Weather Radio, have a safety plan, practice the plan and take action when alerted to severe weather."

[dhweather]

There was a simiar event this spring just outside of Jackson, MS.
NOAA Weather Radio provided a tornado warning to a high school,
and the teaches got all of the kids into the hallon the first floor.
The school sustained significant damage. NOAA Weather Radio
saved lives again.