Campuswide tornado drills set for Wednesday

Test schedule change The regularly scheduled monthly test of the outdoor warning siren system will be changed to the first Wednesday every month beginning May 6 at 11 a.m. in Douglas County. As before, the test will last approximately three minutes in length. This testing frequency replaces the monthly outdoor siren test that was previously scheduled and conducted in prior years on the first Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. No testing will occur if threatening weather exists. If threatening weather occurs on the first Wednesday of the month at 11 a.m., the test will be delayed two hours until 1 p.m. If the threatening weather still prevails at 1 p.m., the test will be rescheduled for the following Wednesday at 11 a.m. At this time the change only involves Douglas County. Siren testing in other communities and counties will not change. More information on the outdoor sirens in Douglas County can be found at http://www.co.douglas.ne.us/pdf/SirenBrochure.pdf.

UNMC, UNMC Physicians and The Nebraska Medical Center will participate in statewide “Severe Weather Week,” which will include test tornado warnings on Wednesday.

Severe Weather Week runs April 6-11.

On Wednesday at 9:50 a.m., the weather service will issue a “Test Tornado Watch.” A “Test Tornado Warning” will be issue at 10:10 a.m.

If severe weather actually is in the area on Wednesday, the drills will be held Thursday.

Those receiving the severe weather notification should communicate the information to others in their area. Several methods will be used to communicate the severe weather information including:

• NOAA weather alert radios;
  
• Audible devices on the fire alarm systems (some areas);
  
• Alertcast Emergency Notification System;
  
• Text pagers;
  
• House paging;
  
• Pop-up alerts on campus computers; and
  
• Broadcast media
  
• UNMC Emergency Notification System (E2 Campus).

In addition, Douglas County will sound Civil Defense Warning Sirens. Departments may determine their level of participation, however, at the very minimum they should make sure notification is received and that staff knows what to do and where the safe area is.

Departments also should ensure their safe areas are accessible and available.

All areas participating in the drill are asked to complete an online “Severe Weather Report” form after the drill that can be found by clicking here.

Remember to hit the submit button after you have finished. The comment space is limited so be brief. If more detailed description is necessary for hospital areas, contact safety officer Larry Nelson at 552-3448 or lnelson@nebraskamed.com. For UNMC areas, contact safety manager John Hauser at 559-7315 or jhauser@unmc.edu.

This also is a good time to review your family emergency plans regarding severe weather. Help in preparing family emergency plans can be found at www.Ready.gov and also at www.redcross.org.