Products : Public Early Warning System (EWS) : Case Studies : Tornado Alerting
Case Study: Tornado Alerting
Just 35 miles east of Orlando, Brevard County, Florida prides itself as the home of Kennedy Space Center. The county's 72 miles of beautiful Atlantic Ocean beaches have experienced some of the state's most significant tropical and tornadic activity. With more than 500,000 residents and 16 municipalities, Brevard County Emergency Management incorporated the 2wcom emergency solutions plaform in 2009.
In 2010, during early morning tornado activity in Central Brevard County, the 2wcom emergency solutions platform successfully provided notification to emergency management officials and residents of the impending weather events. The system’s common alerting protocol (CAP) sent an auto message directly from the NOAA to 2wcom local alert receivers located in targeted impact areas.
Brevard County emergency management officials use the 2wcom emergency solutions platform as part of a statewide RDS emergency notification network. Director at Brevard County Emergency Management Bob Lay reported receiving the first notification at 4:30 a.m., which alerted him to the severe weather situation.
2wcom emergency solutions provides a turn-key platform for disaster warning and communication outreach to citizens, government officials and emergency management teams. 2wcom emergency solutions platform uses existing FM radio infrastructure to offer affordable emergency warning and communications tools. This FM/RDS-based (Radio Data System) deploys unlimited, time-sensitive notices quickly to advise about disasters and provide community outreach and education notifications.
2wcom emergency solutions delivers unlimited, time-sensitive text messages to 2wcom’s local alert receivers. 2wcom receivers acquire text messages in English and Spanish through standard FM radio frequencies. Using FM radio infrastructure, the 2wcom emergency warning system works even when power, phone and Internet are out. 2wcom radio receivers also carry NOAA weather warnings and have a 60-hour battery life in case of power outages.
