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The
Official Newspaper of Manchester and Delaware County, Iowa
Tuesday,
March 28, 2006 | |
County dedicates weather tower
by Latisha Sand |
On Wednesday, March 22 Delaware County officials dedicated a new weather transmitter and tower in Delaware.
The tower, which was built in October 2005, will help Delaware County residents receive up to the minute information regarding sever weather and amber alerts.
“This is the first of many county wide communication (improvements),” said Norman Wellman, the Delaware County Emergency Management Coordinator, who is excited about the tower and transmitter. “Before this there was almost no coverage in the county. Certain spots had coverage from Dubuque, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids and Maquoketa’s transmitters but it was unreliable.”
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LATISHA SAND/Press
Above, Delaware County dedicated a new severe weather transmitter and tower on Wednesday, March 22. Pictured around the transmitter are: (from left to right) Bob Nefzger, 911 Board; Norman Wellmann, Emergency Management Coordinator; John LeClere, Delaware County Sheriff; Mark Nahra, Delaware County Engineer; Bill Skinner, Delaware County Board of Supervisors; Shirley Helmrichs, Delaware County Board of Supervisors; and Rich Sampson, 911 Coordinator.
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Any resident who purchases, or who already has, a weather radio can program it to 019055 and the radio will receive the signal. If there is no severe weather in the area, the single will repeat the weather for area towns. When severe weather enters the county, the signal will be interrupted to inform listeners of a watch or warning.
“Weather radios are like a smoke detector for severe weather,” said Donna Dubberke with the National Weather Service. “It’s the only device that will wake you up in case of severe weather.”
This tower is the last of the state’s towers to go up. The National Weather Service wanted every area to be covered and after five years their goal has been accomplished.
“We are thankful that Norm took the initiative to do this,” said Dubberke. “If people respond to the warnings, this can save lives.”
Wellman has been working to get the tower and transmitter in Delaware County for about eight years.
“We’re fortunate to receive this,” he said at the dedication ceremony. “We have a great network with the firefighters but we’ve always been missing one part of the link. There was no good way to communicate with (the residents). Now we have one.”
The tower will also inform listeners when a 911 outage occurs.
“It’s a useful tool for everyone,” Wellman said.
The Delaware County Board of Supervisors, the Emergency Management Division and the 911 Board helped finance the tower and transmitter. But the National Weather Service and Emergency Management supplied the 350-foot communication tower, which cost about $109,000.
Overall the project cost about $160,000 - $170,000 and the entire communications project, which should be completed within a year, will cost about $700,000. However, the county did receive a $350,000 grant from the Homeland Security Board.
Just like any other severe weather tower or siren the transmitter will be tested every first Wednesday of the month at 10 a.m.
“For $30 or $40 you can buy a weather radio in your home and these radios can be programmed for your area,” said Dubberke. “Or you can leave them unprogrammed and it will pick up weather throughout the listening area.”
Weather radio broadcasts began in the 1950s with two stations reporting aviation weather. Now there are over 400 around the nation with about eight in Iowa.
People can buy a weather radio at Northeast Iowa Telephone Service, Manchester’s Radio Shack dealer and they can look up other codes at www.weather.gov.
The Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division will be giving away weather radios during the week of April 3-7. Residents can enter a free, random drawing to win one of 175 radios by going to www.BeReadyIowa.org. |
Weather Awareness Week April 3-7
by Latisha Sand |
It’s that time again. Warm temperatures are just around the corner but it’s also time for severe weather. The City of Manchester and other weather services want people to remember how serious storms can be.
Severe Weather Awareness Week, which takes place April 3-7, helps prepare firefighters and other weather spotters for the severe weather season.
One of the most known activities during this week is the tornado drill that local schools and weather spotters participate in. The drill helps students, teachers and weather spotters practice their routines in case of a real tornado warning.
The drill, which will take place on April 5, will start at 10 a.m. when a watch will be issued. A warning will take place at 10:15 a.m. and conclude at 10:30 a.m.
The following topics will be highlighted during Severe Weather Awareness Week: April 3 – NOAA Weather Radio; April 4 – Severe Thunderstorms; April 5 – Tornadoes and tornado drill; April 6 – heat and April 7 – family preparedness.
Manchester Fire Chief Jack Klaus wants to remind Manchester residents of the severe weather procedure brochure that was implemented a few years ago.
The brochure reminds residents of the three levels of storms (watches, warnings and eminent danger). During the third level, sirens are blown, indoor warning systems are activated and KMCH will be interrupted.
It also reminds people to have a flashlight and battery powered radio handy. “Everyone in the family, including young children, should know where to go in case of a storm,” reads the brochure.
It also states that city sirens are meant to be an outdoor warning system and were never intended to be heard in all the homes or buildings. The sirens will blow for three minutes but will not blow again unless another life threatening situation exists. Indoor systems, which are in the schools, the hospital and other buildings, may be purchased for about $400.
A copy of the informational brochure is available at the Manchester City Office. |
KCRG’s Baynes reviews tornadoes with local fire departments
By Latisha Sand |
With the approach of the severe weather season closing in, area fire departments met with KCRG Meteorologist Josh Baynes to discuss weather spotting in Ryan.
Baynes explained to the local firefighters and EMTs how tornadoes form and what to look for when weather spotting.
“Visualizing is important,” Baynes told the large group, “and knowing how the storm forms will help you see what may form. It’s important for the safety of yourself to know the signs and where it (the storm) could be moving.”
Baynes showed the group models of what a super cell, or tornadic, storm could look like from the ground and from the air.
He explained that tornadoes usually form between wall clouds and downdrafts.
“Wall clouds are circular,” said Baynes, “where air is going up in the storm. Many times, on the outskirts of the cloud, that’s where the tornado is.”
Baynes also explained hook-shaped echos and how meteorologists look for them on radars. But just because Baynes, and the rest of the Meteorology team, sees a hook-shaped echo doesn’t mean that a tornado will form.
“Tornadoes depend on how high the storm is,” said Baynes. If the storm is high enough, the hook will be there but the tornado won’t.
“Tornadoes generally move southeast to northeast,” he said. “But watch out for the ‘right turn.’ This means that the tornado is intense and it has so much rotation that it’s broken off by itself.”
And just because the tornado is small, doesn’t mean that it’s not a powerful one.
“A tornado is on its own with wind causing the damage and size doesn’t matter,” said Baynes. “A teeny tiny tornado doesn’t always mean weak. Think of a figure skater. When they are skating in a circle with their arms out they go fast but when they bring their arms in they go faster.”
Baynes went over the current Fujita scale, which measures whether it’s a F1 or F5 tornado, but informed the group that changes to the scale will be implemented next February. The changes, however, will not effect what the firefighters are supposed to look for or report - they deal with the wind speed and categories of the storm.
Another topic discussed is what to report and how to report it to the National Weather Service.
“Know what to look for,” said Baynes. “Don’t report a rain shaft (where rain is coming down so hard that it brings clouds down with it) or scud clouds (low clouds that spin).”
But he also said to follow the scud clouds because those are usually with the updraft of the storm and are headed toward the wall cloud.
“Communication is key,” he said. “You need to have a smooth way to get the information out to the public. Have one person report to the National Weather Service (NWS) and just identify yourself, what you saw, when you saw it and where. Keep the reports brief.”
Baynes closed his hour-long discussion by reminding the weather spotters to be efficient and safe.
“I’m asking you to (report information) in an efficient way so we can see it as soon as we can,” he said. “Your reports are very important. The quicker you get the news to the National Weather Service the quicker we’ll get it and we get it to the public.” |
Students give DCED website a makeover
By Brian Cook |
People from all over the world will have a better view of Delaware County thanks to two West Delaware students.
Katheryn Heiar and Megan Wessels, along with their teacher Kevin Schuchmann, have spent hundreds of hours updating the website for Delaware County Economic Development. The fruits of their labor can be seen at www.delawarecountyia.com as the updated site went live on Monday.
“I think the girls have done an outstanding job to get everything on the web,” DCED Director Donna Boss said of the project. “It shows a great representation of the entire county. It shows the importance of us all working together to draw people into the county.”
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BRIAN COOK/Press
West Delaware seniors Megan Wessels and Katheryn Heiar work on some changes for the Delaware County Economic Development website before loading the updated version on the server. The updated website went live on Monday, after the two students spent hundreds of hours updating the site, starting the project last October.
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Boss feels the website will be an important tool not only in drawing people to the county but also in attracting industry. There are logos for all the existing industries in the county that people visiting the site will be able to click on and go directly to the website of the company.
The new website also has the prospect package on it for industries interested in locating in Delaware County. Boss also appreciated that Wessels and Heiar went and took pictures in each of the 11 communities in Delaware County.
They also interviewed a person in each town and asked what events they like to attend and what makes their town unique.
“This gave them a real practical experience to see how communities are working together and pulling together to make Delaware County grow,” Schuchmann added. “They were able to see that people are working hard and working together.”
Wessels said getting out and meeting people in the towns was her favorite part of the project.
“With having business in our future, it’s nice to go out and talk to other businesses and meet with Donna,” Heiar commented about the project.
Both seniors plan to study business management next year in college. Wessels will study at Northern Iowa and Heiar at either Luther or Simpson.
Doing the DCED website project tied into this year’s project purpose for the future Business Leaders Association state contest, according to Schuchmann, who is also their FBLA advisor. The idea came out of DCED’s school-to-work committee when Boss mentioned to Mrs. Pesak, the other FBLA advisor at West Delaware, the need to revamp the website.
Heair and Wessels worked on the project in the second quarter last fall during their web design class during independent studies. During the third quarter, Heiar worked on it daily during open campus time and Wessels helped outside of class time. Both students spent many hours outside of class time working on it throughout the project.
“For me it’s been a huge relief,” Boss said of the work the students did to update the site. “They have the latest technology at their fingertips, and with the help of Coach Schuchmann, it’s been a huge and valuable resource for us.”
The class dealt with interactive technology, using the latest and most popular industry standards for web design.
The project will be entered in two categories at the state FBLA contest: Website design and partnership with a business project. West Delaware has 60 students going to the state conference April 6, 7 and 8. Winners can advance to the national contest in Nashville, Tenn.
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