Full Notification

FROM THE OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

I just wanted to take a few minutes after yesterday’s weather situation and explain a few things.

This situation showed me that a lot of citizens are not prepared for the super severe weather situations that we could have had. Our situation for a time yesterday was we had 3 storms that were under a Tornado Warning heading towards the county. The leading edge of one had already entered the west-central part of the county near Lahoma. Another was threatening the southwestern part and if they had they not decreased and kept on coming, a third would have affected the southeast quadrant of the county. Needless to say, it would have been a rough night had all of this occurred. Our spotter network was fully operational and was eyes on all this time. As the line of storms filled in to the south, a lot of the energy that comes with these types of storms was taken by the southern storms, therefore causing our storms to decrease in intensity. Personally, I am ok with this.

I am not disappointed that we didn’t have tornadoes but am very pleased with the network of spotters that we have here in Enid and the County to protect you and yours. Their dedication and professionalism is commendable. Just side notes here, all of our teams are Rural Firefighters, Sheriff Deputies, and Enid Police Officers. We do NOT use civilian storm chasers that you see all over the place. I take many calls concerning them because of their erratic driving habits. They are not ours.

The unfortunate thing right now is that people have been killed, people are missing, and severely injured down south. This is a horrible situation and I want everyone to remember that this can happen anywhere. We sent Search and Rescue teams down to Piedmont per the request of the Kingfisher County Emergency Management. They returned late last night around 12:30 am after the search was called off because it was too dangerous to go on any longer in the dark. We are sending other teams down there this morning to assist as long as they are needed.

Preparedness doesn’t start when the storm is approaching; it starts before the storm begins. Let this be your motto in the future so we aren’t overwhelmed with what to do, where to go at the last minute. We in emergency services will come up with a better public education program in the very near future to better inform and educate you. We want you to know what to do, not feel what in the world am I going to do.

Have a great day.
Mike





Mike Honigsberg, Certified Director
Enid/Garfield County Emergency Management
Chairman, Tri-County Emergency Services
E.O.C. 580-249-5969