Protecting our communities from severe weather
March is National Severe Weather Awareness Month, which is an opportunity to prepare for severe weather events and take the necessary precautions to keep ourselves, our families, and our communities safe. With spring upon us, now is the perfect time to stock up on bottled water, keep flashlights and batteries in accessible places, and buy an emergency medical kit for minor cuts and injuries. With basic preparation at the local level and necessary action at the federal level, we can protect our communities and save lives when storms strike.
From hail, ice storms, and floods to tornadoes, derechos, and snowstorms, Iowans are no strangers to inclement and damaging weather. In 2019, Mills and Fremont counties experienced the worst flooding in generations, inundating towns like Hamburg, damaging the water treatment plant in Glenwood, and destroying hundreds of thousands of bushels of soybeans and corn across the region. Just a year later, the 2020 derecho leveled crops, spurred widespread power outages, and caused roughly $11 billion in damages – the most expensive thunderstorm in American history. Most tragically, innocent people sadly lost their lives. While these are just two examples of the catastrophic aftermath of severe weather, we know that windstorms, tornadoes, hail, and other weather incidents have also caused significant damage and loss of life.
Over the last several years, my team has met with emergency managers in Pottawattamie, Mills, Fremont, Sioux, and Lyon counties, among many others. In their conversations and reports back to me, our emergency management teams lack staff and volunteers to respond as efficiently as possible to weather emergencies and face spotty radio coverage when trying to disseminate information. I’ve also traveled to the National Weather Service (NWS) location in Sioux Falls to see firsthand their impressive operation and better understand how weather professionals track, monitor, and notify the public about inclement weather.
A major problem facing NWS – including locations in Omaha and Des Moines that serve the 4th Congressional District – and local emergency managers across all 36 counties that I represent is the unreliability and failures of NWS chat. NWS chat is an outdated communications network utilized by NWS whose intended purpose is to disseminate critical, time-sensitive information to broadcasters, emergency managers, and the general public during severe weather events. Yet, this system has repeatedly failed to notify emergency managers and broadcasters of critical updates in a timely manner, which has forced them to stop using this tool entirely. As a storm watcher during my time as City Administrator of Hull, I remember how critical it was to receive information and updates as soon as they became available. Even seconds could be the difference between life and death. When I came to Congress, I knew that we needed to fix this as quickly and effectively as possible.
That’s why I introduced the National Weather Service Communications Improvement Act, which would direct the NWS Director to review and select an off-the-shelf commercial alternative – like Slack or Microsoft Teams – to NWS Chat that prioritizes reliability and security. NWS even agrees with me. As part of its Integrated Dissemination Program update, NWS has identified several systematic upgrades critical to its emergency communications operation, including the need to replace NWS Chat. During a severe storm, time is of the essence, and it’s why NWS must have a functional and reliable emergency communications system that keeps people informed and out of harm’s way. I’m also glad to report that my bill was included in a larger weather-preparedness package that passed out of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. It will now head to the House floor to be considered by the full House of Representatives.
As a father of four and a former city administrator, keeping our families and communities safe when severe weather strikes is important to me. By ensuring that NWS has a reliable and functional communications network by which it can distribute accurate and timely information to emergency managers and broadcasters, we can appropriately respond to unpredictable weather and save lives.
This op-ed was originally published in the Council Bluffs Nonpareil on March 30, 2024.