CodeRED passes test in Howe
Today paid off for the City of Howe’s investment into the CodeRED program. Citizens who had signed up for the free service were alerted via text, email or by phone if they had signed up for the alert system. With Howe not currently having a siren for storm activity such as today, the CodeRED system is crucial and the city has asked the citizens to sign up for the service.
Five years ago, Grayson County contacted all of the local mayors of each city and asked if they’d be interested in partnering as a group for emergency management by using CodeRED. At that time, Sherman, Denison and Howe were the only cities in the county using the system. With all of the cities councils passing the agreement, Grayon County took over the contract with CodeRed. Grayson County was able to negotiate a better rate for the entire county than what the three initial cities were paying individually.
Since that time, the county has even added the CodeRED Weather Warning as a bonus feature. Mayor Jeff Stanley estimated that the city was paying $2,500 to $3,000 annually prior to the partnership with Grayson County.
Grayson County paid for the entire first year of service by using a Homeland Security Grant and have been able to use that grant annually to provide this service for cities. However, each city now had to start paying for the service starting October 1, 2014. The cost of the service is $1,193.86.
Changes were made in the September city council meeting regarding the minutes that are available in the CodeRED program. Much like a cellphone plan, if the county exceeded the amount of alerts used, it would cost extra. Therefore, The City of Howe has not sent out any non-emergency alerts. These alerts are sent out if, in example, today’s tornado warnings or severe weather warnings or even in cases where the water supply is shutoff in a certain area. Another alert would be sent out to update the citizens on the progress of the situations that might occur.
The council had the option for the city (and every other city in the county) to pay an additional $170 per month to have unlimited alerts. With the agreement from each city, Grayson County foot the bill for the first year. The total for this first year of service with the additional alerts is $8,000.
With this service also comes a user fee of $100 per user. With the size of Howe, one user fee is ample for the process.
Citizens are encouraged to sign up for CodeRED at the city website at cityofhowe.org. The city pays roughly $0.40 per citizen to be able to mass broadcast events such as weather alerts, drinking water contamination, utility outage, evacuation notice and route, missing person, fires or floods, bomb threat, hostage situation, chemical spill or gas leak, and other emergency incidents where rapid and accurate notification is essential for life safety.
Tornado Warning Issued for Howe and surrounding areas
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
SOUTHEASTERN GRAYSON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS...
* UNTIL 345 PM CDT
* AT 314 PM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A
TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR GUNTER...OR 13 MILES SOUTH OF SHERMAN...
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 55 MPH.
HAZARD...TORNADO.
SOURCE...RADAR INDICATED ROTATION.
IMPACT...FLYING DEBRIS WILL BE DANGEROUS TO THOSE CAUGHT WITHOUT
SHELTER. MOBILE HOMES WILL BE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
DAMAGE TO ROOFS...WINDOWS AND VEHICLES WILL OCCUR. TREE
DAMAGE IS LIKELY.
* THIS DANGEROUS STORM WILL BE NEAR...
VAN ALSTYNE AND HOWE AROUND 320 PM CDT.
WHITEWRIGHT AND TOM BEAN AROUND 330 PM CDT.
BELLS AROUND 335 PM CDT.
SAVOY AROUND 340 PM CDT.
OTHER LOCATIONS IMPACTED BY THIS TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM INCLUDE
LUELLA.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
TAKE COVER NOW! MOVE TO A BASEMENT OR AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR OF A STURDY BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS. IF YOU ARE OUTDOORS...IN A
MOBILE HOME...OR IN A VEHICLE...MOVE TO THE CLOSEST SUBSTANTIAL
SHELTER AND PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS.
&&
TORNADO...RADAR INDICATED
HAIL...<.75INSevere Thunderstorm Warning
PROSPER...ANNA...CELINA...VAN ALSTYNE... HOWE...COLLINSVILLE... WHITEWRIGHT...GUNTER...BELLS.. .TOM BEAN... SAVOY...DORCHESTER... SOUTHMAYD...TIOGA...WESTON... SADLER...LUELLA AND WESTMINSTER. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A BUILDING. HEAVY RAINFALL IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM...AND MAY LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THROUGH FLOODED ROADWAYS. && A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM CDT FOR NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS. TORNADO...POSSIBLE HAIL...1.25IN WIND...60MPH
Flash Flood Warning
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR…
GRAYSON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS…
* UNTIL 730 PM CDT
* AT 148 PM CDT…DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY
RAIN IN WESTERN GRAYSON COUNTY. WITH ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN ACROSS
DENTON AND WISE COUNTIES ALSO EXPECTED TO IMPACT GRAYSON
COUNTY…THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAS BEEN EXTENDED.
FOR DALLAS…COLLIN…AND FANNIN COUNTIES…THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING
WILL BE ALLOWED TO EXPIRE ON TIME AT 2 PM.
THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN RECENT DAYS HAVE BEEN ACROSS
SOUTHEASTERN GRAYSON COUNTY…BUT THE BULK OF THE HEAVY RAIN THIS
AFTERNOON IS EXPECTED TO BE ACROSS NORTHWESTERN PORTIONS OF THE
COUNTY. HOWEVER…A RE-AGGRAVATION OF FLASH FLOODING COULD OCCUR AT
ANY LOCATION WITHIN GRAYSON COUNTY.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
BE AWARE OF AREAS THAT TEND TO FLOOD READILY…AND TAKE ALTERNATE
ROUTES. TURN AROUND…DONT DROWN WHEN ENCOUNTERING FLOODED ROADS.
MOST FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN VEHICLES.
Flash Flood Warning for Grayson County
IRVING...GRAND PRAIRIE...MESQUITE... MCKINNEY...CARROLLTON... FRISCO...RICHARDSON...ALLEN... ROWLETT... DESOTO...CEDAR HILL...WYLIE...COPPELL... DUNCANVILLE...SHERMAN... LANCASTER AND FARMERS BRANCH. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE TO TWO INCHES ARE POSSIBLE IN THE WARNED AREA. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND NOW. ACT QUICKLY TO PROTECT YOUR LIFE. STAY AWAY OR BE SWEPT AWAY. RIVER BANKS AND CULVERTS CAN BECOME UNSTABLE AND UNSAFE. &&
Significant Weather Advisory for Southwestern Grayson County
SHERMAN...SANGER...PROSPER... CELINA... KRUM...PILOT POINT...SHADY SHORES...AUBREY...NORTHLAKE... KRUGERVILLE...COLLINSVILLE... CROSS ROADS...GUNTER...DORCHESTER... LAKE KIOWA...RAY ROBERTS PARK JOHNSON BRANCH AND RAY ROBERTS PARK ISLE DU BOIS.
Finney dominates Howe ISD school board vote
243 ballots were cast. Finney, Dawsey and Abner were elected.
Janie Finney – 203
Bruce Dawsey (I) – 182
Mark Abner (I) – 150
Micah Belden – 63
Amber Krantz-Dimayuga – 61
Tornado Warning issued for Grayson County
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FORT WORTH HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHWESTERN GRAYSON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS...
* UNTIL 630 PM CDT
* AT 606 PM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A
TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR WHITESBORO...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.
HAZARD...TORNADO AND QUARTER SIZE HAIL.
SOURCE...RADAR INDICATED ROTATION.
IMPACT...FLYING DEBRIS WILL BE DANGEROUS TO THOSE CAUGHT WITHOUT
SHELTER. MOBILE HOMES WILL BE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.
DAMAGE TO ROOFS...WINDOWS AND VEHICLES WILL OCCUR. TREE
DAMAGE IS LIKELY.
* THIS DANGEROUS STORM WILL BE NEAR...
POTTSBORO AROUND 625 PM CDT.
EISENHOWER STATE PARK AROUND 630 PM CDT.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
TAKE COVER NOW! MOVE TO A BASEMENT OR AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR OF A STURDY BUILDING. AVOID WINDOWS. IF YOU ARE OUTDOORS...IN A
MOBILE HOME...OR IN A VEHICLE...MOVE TO THE CLOSEST SUBSTANTIAL
SHELTER AND PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS.
Howe Middle School cheerleaders announced
8th grade cheerleaders:
Cassidy Anderson
Paetyn Ford
Jenna Honore
Kaley Norton
Chatherine Switzer
Jamie Taylor
Riley Underwood
Ashlyn Wahrmund
Karsyn Fleming – mascot
7th grade cheerleaders:
Erin Catching
Holly Cavender
Hannah Dwyer
Katie Grogan
Tatum Hartsfield
Gracie Lankford
Brooke Robinson
Reagan Troxtell
Kristin Harris – mascot