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Preparedness STATEWIDE TORNADO DRILL AND COMMUNICATIONS EXERCISE
They say practice makes perfect, so why not practice a plan that could save your life. As part of Severe Weather Awareness Week, the National Weather Service will conduct the annual Tornado Drill February 8th, 2012. In conjunction with the drill, the Chatham Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) will also test the communication tools that provide critical information to the public during an emergency.How the Tornado Drill Will Take Place:
CEMA will sound the Outdoor Emergency Warning Siren System Wednesday, February 8th simultaneous with the Statewide Tornado Drill which generally begins at 9am. The siren will sound for three minutes.
The drill is part of Severe Weather Awareness Week in Georgia and all Chatham County residents including schools, daycares, nursing homes, businesses, government agencies and other organizations are asked to participate.
The purpose of the drill is to test people's ability to react quickly during tornadoes or severe weather. Residents should treat the drill as if it were an actual emergency and act as they would if required to take life saving measures.
Communication Tools Test:
CEMA will test the County's Community Notification System (CNS) by sending out a test call to a select portion of Downtown Savannah residences and businesses. The test call will start off by saying, "Exercise, exercise, exercise, this is a test of the Chatham County Community Notification System, please do not hang up." In the event of a real emergency, the CNS would be used to relay life-saving information to the entire county in a short amount of time. If you would like to receive a phone call in the event of an emergency, register your number.
CEMA will test the Emergency Alert System as well as the ability to override COMCAST cable stations. You will see and hear a pre-scripted message indicating the test is in effect.
Lamar Advertising will display a statewide tornado message on each of its 16 digital billboards throughout the Savannah area starting at 9 am.
CEMA will disseminate a test e-mail to citizens who are signed up to receive CEMA Alerts and a mass fax to partners signed up to receive emergency notification through fax.
CEMA's website, www.ChathamEmergency.org, will be replaced beginning at 9 am with a version that will be the primary source of information during an actual emergency. It will remain up for five minutes.
CEMA's Twitter and Facebook pages, which serve as additional methods of notification, will be updated as well with test information.
Alternate Drill Date:
If there is inclement weather occurring or threatening on February 8th, the backup date is Friday, February 10, 2012 at 9:00 am.
