Anna Gorman, Campus Carrier news editor

In the wake of recent severe storms hitting Alabama, Berry remains committed to its storm readiness. According to the National Weather Service, the StormReady program is an initiative that uses a grassroots approach to help communities develop plans to handle all types of extreme weather. It encourages communities to provide and improve local hazardous weather operations.

Berry was officially recognized as a StormReady site in 2015, and will renew its certification in December, according to Assistant Vice President of Campus Safety and Land Management Gary Will.

To get this certification, Berry had to establish a 24-hour warning point and emergency operations center and more than one way to alert the public of severe weather forecasts. Berry also had to create a system that monitors local weather conditions and promote the importance of public readiness through community seminars. A formal hazardous weather plan also had to be developed, which included training severe weather spotters and holding emergency exercises.

According to Will, the Welcome Center acts as Berry’s Emergency Operations Center.

“The bottom line in StormReady is you’re trying to prevent damage to personal property,” Will said. “And one of the biggest issues is having 24-hour availability to notify people of a pending storm, which our Welcome Center is. It has people in it 24 hours a day, so they are able to issue Berry Alerts and turn the outdoor sirens on and off.”

Generally, if a storm were to hit Berry, students would be notified by either Berry Alert or the outdoor sirens.

“The general rule of thumb is to get to the lowest floor possible, which is a basement,” Will said. “Potentially, if the building doesn’t have a basement, you try to go for an interior room with no windows. That’s what you’re looking for. Don’t go outside, stay [inside] low and in the middle and remain there until there is a notification – either from a Berry Alert or the sirens turn off, or we say it’s all clear when it’s all clear.”

Will said Campus Facilities, Residence Life and Student Affairs are also notified and send out weather forecasts. He also stressed the necessity of remaining indoors until told otherwise, citing a storm from 2023.

“[About] two or three years ago, we had heavy winds, and it was never classified as a tornado, but we had heavy winds, and a lot of trees came down and they covered the front entrance and a couple of streets here on campus,” Will said. “Sometimes we’ll have students that want to come out of the room and start climbing on trees and whatnot, and trees usually have electric wires wrapped around them on the ground. So, safety is really a concern when there is a dangerous situation like that. That’s why we’d like everybody to stay inside for the most part, until it’s clear, at least.”

According to Will, Berry is the only entity in Floyd County that has outdoor weather sirens.

“Floyd County does not have outdoor sirens, but they have CodeRED, which is a mobile app you can download onto your phone,” Will said. “My suggestion to students is to not only sign up for Berry Alerts – which most of them are – but also sign up for CodeRED, which is a Floyd County app.”

Will also said that Berry could better help students stay educated about storm safety.

“We try to alert students when there is a pending storm,” Will said. “We try to make sure [Residence Life] is aware of it, so they can share it with the resident assistants in the residence halls. As far as myself or the administration, we don’t really speak to students [about this] as much as active shooters or stuff like that. We probably can do a better job.”

Currently, Campus Safety is looking over the switch to voice-activated fire alarms that integrates the outdoor sirens to the campus buildings, instead of separate alarm systems for inside and outside. When the fire alarm goes off, the outdoor sirens are activated and played inside, ensuring people inside the buildings can hear the voice alerts. So far, only McAllister has this set up.

“We’ve integrated the outdoor sirens into the fire alarm system so when they go off, whatever they say, you will hear it inside the building,” Will said.

Will said the outdoor sirens are tested the first Friday of every month at 11:55 a.m., and they last for 40 to 45 seconds.

Will said having a StormReady certification is significant because it builds confidence.

“We have a sign up front,” Will said. “I do recall a couple of years ago, a meteorologist from either a radio station or television station had a child that came to school here, and they noticed [the sign], and they sent an email, just that they were impressed that we were StormReady. It’s not only obviously from a safety perspective for the faculty, staff and students here on campus, it’s also a confidence building thing for parents dropping their children off, knowing that there’s a lot going on in this world, we can at least let the kids know what’s going on.”

Will urged students to remain self-aware, weather-aware and up to date on weather forecasts.

“Know what’s going on, whether that’s from a weather or a safety perspective,” Will said. “Students get caught in the ‘Berry Bubble,’ and they don’t realize what’s going on outside until they walk out of their residence hall. The biggest thing is to just be aware, be weather-aware as best as you can so you stay safe, don’t get wet or get sick because you’ve been outside when it’s cold and you’re not dressed appropriately.”