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County receives recognition from National Weather Service

COLUMBUS—Polk County is officially Storm Ready. 

The county received recognition this week from the National Weather Service out of Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C. for being a storm ready community. 

The Polk County Board of Commissioners met Tuesday night and heard from Trish Palmer, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the NWS in Greenville-Spartanburg. 

Palmer said the NWS recognizes communities who prepare their residents for hazardous weather events. 

She said the NWS has been working very closely with Polk County Emergency Management Director and Fire Marshal Bobby Arledge. 

She presented a Storm Ready sign with the board and county employees Tuesday night. 

Commissioner Chair Myron Yoder asked Arledge what the county did to make Polk a Storm Ready county. 

Arledge said there were several things working with the NWS, including making sure that all locations have weather ready radios, including the schools. Arledge also said the county has a Facebook page with weather alerts for the community and general gets the community involved and prepared for any hazardous weather. 

Polk County has had some of the most major hazardous weather in its history over the past several years, including a tornado in Tryon and major mudslides and heavy rains that caused three deaths in May 2018. The year 2018 was one of the highest years for rainfall in the last several years, mainly caused from hurricanes. 

Polk County keeps residents up to date with weather events through Nixle as well as its Facebook pages, Polk County Local Government and Polk County Emergency Management/Fire Marshal.