Georgetown County Emergency Management Division named NOAA ambassador

In an effort to keep residents better prepared for extreme weather, the Georgetown County Emergency Management Division was recently named an ambassador for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather-Ready Nation initiative.

The initiative recognizes NOAA partners who are working to improve the nation’s preparedness for extreme weather events, according to a press release.

The GCEMD is committed to working with NOAA, as well as other ambassadors nationwide, to fortify national resilience against extreme weather, Cindy Grace, Georgetown County’s emergency management coordinator, said in the release.

These extreme weather events could include hurricanes, floods, tsunamis and climate issues like severe heat and cold weather.

“Our designation as a weather-ready nation ambassador will give us access to more information and better tools to inform the public on how to prepare for, respond to and minimize the impacts of extreme weather, water and climate events,” Grace said in the release.

By inspiring people to be better prepared and informed, ambassadors work to help minimize or avoid the effects of natural disasters and give residents the ability to make crucial decisions that could prevent dramatic economic losses.

The country as a whole is becoming more vulnerable to weather events due to societal changes shown in demographic trends, like growing infrastructure threats and an increased reliance on technology, according to NOAA.

Officials also said more overlap in the U.S. economy could mean a single weather event could have a significant effect on several industries.

For more information on the Weather-Ready Nation initiative, visit http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation.

This story was originally published July 15, 2015 at 11:30 AM with the headline "Georgetown County Emergency Management Division named NOAA ambassador."