Bridgeport Designated as the Second StormReady Community in West Virginia

Back row left to right: Councilman John Griffith, Councilman Don Burton, Mayor Andy Lang, Councilman Jeff Smell, Councilman Hank Murray, Councilman John Wilson, Sr, City Manager Brian Newton

Front row left to right: Fire Chief Phil Hart, Director of Emergency Management Tim Curry, NWS Charleston Warning Coordination Meteorologist Tony Edwards, Police Chief Mark Rogers

Bridgeport, West Virginia was designated as the 2nd StormReady Community in West Virginia during the Bridgeport City Council Meeting on September 26, 2022.

The StormReady program is designed to help protect citizens from the dangers of all types of severe weather by arming America's communities with the communication and safety skills needed to save lives and property before, during and after a hazardous weather event. In order to qualify as StormReady a community must:

Establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center
Have more than one way to receive severe weather warnings and forecasts and to alert the public
Monitor weather conditions locally
Promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars and news releases
Develop a formal hazardous weather plan, which includes training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.

Additionally, to help ensure citizens receive notification of severe weather warnings, the city purchased and installed NOAA Weather Radios in each city school and in several public buildings. A Weather Spotter class was also held and several new weather spotters were trained. Weather spotters are the eyes and ears of the National Weather Service in their community, relaying reports of hazardous weather and learning weather safety tips during the training process.

Tony Edwards, NWS Charleston, WV Warning Coordination Meteorologist, said, "I want to congratulate Bridgeport Emergency Management Director Tim Curry for his dedication and hard work in achieving the StormReady designation for the city of Bridgeport. While no community is storm proof, the extra steps taken to earn the StormReady Community designation and the partnerships that were strengthened during the process will pay dividends during future hazardous weather events."

Bridgeport joins the city of Beckley as the only two StormReady Communities in the state of West Virginia. Seventeen West Virginia counties hold the StormReady County designation and West Virginia University is a StormReady University.

For more information about StormReady, and other National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Weather Service programs, please visit www.weather.gov, the StormReady website at www.weather.gov/stormready, or locally, the Charleston, WV National Weather Service website at www.weather.gov/charlestonwv.