Severe Weather Awareness Week

Apr. 5, 2013  PLYMOUTH VOICE.

Severe Weather Awareness Week  April 7 – 13, 2013

To help recognize Severe Weather Awareness Week, Cantons Emergency Management Office encourages residents to review thunderstorm, lightening, tornado and flood safety procedures and urges residents not to be complacent when it comes to severe weather.  The best time to prepare for severe weather is before it happens. Have a plan in place for your family and your pets.  Purchase a NOAA weather radio.  Be sure everyone knows where to go and what to do in case of severe weather, no matter where you are.

During 2012, the one event that stood out among the rest was the Dexter EF3 Tornado. Winds in the tornado reached up to 140 mph and four homes were destroyed with over 200 homes and businesses damaged. Despite the destruction, no injuries were reported from the storm. This was in large part due to the early warning from the National Weather Service (NWS), the decisive action from local emergency management and broadcast media to alert the public, and to the residents of Dexter for properly seeking safe shelter from the storm.

No other event in recent history shows the importance and the success of Michigan’s Severe Weather Awareness Week. According to the NWS, there were two deaths and four injuries in Michigan from severe weather in 2012. All of the deaths and injuries resulted from severe thunderstorm winds. Flooding, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes were responsible for about $210 million in damages in 2012, up from the $150 million in damages in 2011.

For more information contact Canton’s Emergency Management Office at 734-394-5357, krich@canton-mi.org or visit Canton’s Public Safety website at www.cantonpublicsafety.org   |News Plymouth Michigan