March 09, 2010 –
MAYETTA: This week is Kansas Severe Weather Awareness Week and the Prairie Band will participate in a State emergency management and National Weather Service (NWS) Severe Weather Tornado Drill at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, March 11, 2010. Every school, citizen and business is encouraged to participate in the drill by practicing seeking secure, safe shelter from a “tornado”.
According to Mike Mills, PBPN Fire Chief, The Tribal Police dispatch personnel will sound warning sirens to initiate the drill. Area residents, businesses, and schools are urged to treat the drill as if it were an actual tornado emergency. Remember, outdoor warning sirens are not intended to notify you when you are in a building. A weather radio should be used so you can receive important weather information inside a building. The purpose of the annual drill is to test everyone’s readiness for life-threatening severe weather events such as tornadoes, flash floods, large hail, and damaging winds. Attached to this e-mail is an updated Emergency Shelter List. Make sure and post this list and that all department employees understand where they need to report to in case they need to take shelter.
As an aside, the Tribal Police Department plan to conduct siren testing every Monday at noon. In the event of severe weather during the test periods the sirens will not be tested.
Kansas experiences a variety of severe weather including tornadoes, severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and large hail, and flash flooding. Residents are encouraged to use this week, and the annual test day, to review their severe weather safety plans. Practice what you would do as if there were a real tornado warning.