OFFICIALS TOUR NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TO BE 'STORM READY'
Certification would increase St. Charles' federal flood insurance rating

For immediate release May 1, 2008

SLIDELL – Parish officials toured the offices of the National Weather Service Tuesday to satisfy a requirement of the organization’s StormReady® certification program.

LEARNING ABOUT THE WEATHER – From left, St. Charles Parish Chief Administrative Officer Tim Vial, Technology Director Kendall Stall, EOC staffer Lee Hebert and Parish President V.J. St. Pierre Jr. listen to a National Weather Service Meteorologist explain satellite views Tuesday. Parish officials made the trip to Slidell satisfy a requirement of the NWS’ StormReady® certification. Photo by Renee Allemand

The program is a grassroots effort focusing on improving emergency communications and weather preparedness in communities across the country, according to Frank Revitte, an NWS staff meteorologist.

After St. Charles’ acceptance into the program, Revitte said homeowners could expect an increase in their federal flood insurance rating, which lowers premium costs.

Other requirements, based on population, include having all St. Charles Emergency Operations Center staffers trained by the NWS and having a number of ways to monitor local weather conditions and receive weather warnings. EOC Director Tab Troxler said a majority of the requirements are already in place through his department, which is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He hopes to achieve StormReady® certification within the next few months.

Locally, the only community currently certified as StormReady® is the city of Baton Rouge.

Officials also participated in a presentation outlining the hurricane threat to St. Charles Parish based on scientific data from the NWS. SLOSH modeling shows that a Katrina-type storm moving directly over the Barataria Basin could trigger a storm surge of over 10 feet at the Mississippi River levee on St. Charles Parish’s West Bank.

Troxler urged his colleagues to make hurricane evacuation decisions based on scientific data.

“You’ve got to use the best science available to you,” he said. “The storm doesn’t care if you can’t afford to leave, and it doesn’t care if you just opened your business.”

He went on to say that St. Charles Parish’s unique vulnerabilities during certain storms would dictate mandatory evacuations even before residents of previously hard-hit areas, such as St. Bernard. Because St. Charles Parish lacks a hurricane protection on the West Bank, that area is especially at risk.

Most neighboring parishes in the metro New Orleans area do have levee protection in place.

For more information on StormReady®, visit www.stormready.noaa.gov.

The mission of St. Charles Parish government is to provide high quality, efficient services to sustain and enhance the quality of life for all residents of St. Charles Parish.

For more information, contact Public Information Officer Renee C. Allemand at (985) 783-5000 or rallemand@stcharlesgov.net