The City of Steinbach Storm Ready Team is currently seeking up to four volunteers to act as weather spotters in times of severe weather, such as a tornado.
Spotters must be residents of Steinbach or live within a 10 km radius of Steinbach. Each team consists of four members and is “on call” for one week per month during the months of May thru September. When needed, they will be notified by weather radio, text, telephone, or cell phone and asked to watch the sky for signs of severe weather developing. The Spotters will then contact the Emergency Operations Team, Local Radio outlets and Environment Canada if severe weather is imminent.
Should a tornado touch down in Steinbach, spotters will be asked to do a preliminary damage evaluation of their designated area and report this information to the Emergency Operations Centre Team so they can formulate a plan of action and keep the general public informed.
Spotters will be provided with training both in-house and by Environment Canada, as well as guidelines on how to report a sighting and action checklists.
Steinbach’s Storm Ready Team invites you to join the Team in making Steinbach a safer place to live and raise a family.
Questions and comments can be directed to the Emergency Planning Coordinator, Denis Vassart, at 204-392-5996 or by e-mail at dvassart@steinbach.ca.
Steinbach Storm Ready partners with the Rest Haven Nursing Home as its first alert point as they have staff on duty 24 hours per day. Another important link is Goldenwest Radio who will broadcast weather warnings over AM1250 and Mix 96.7 FM.
In 2010, the City of Steinbach became the first community in Canada to be certified as “Storm Ready.”
