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Weather service honors Deere with StormReady award

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By Jennifer DeWitt | Saturday, February 16, 2008 12:21 AM CST | () comments

Deere & Co. was honored Friday as the first Quad-City area business to earn the distinction as a StormReady Supporter by the National Weather Service.

The honor, part of the national StormReady preparedness program, recognizes the Moline-based manufacturer for its severe weather preparedness efforts.

Donna Dubberke, the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service, Davenport, said only 60 organizations in 15 states have earned the StormReady Supporter designation. Originally, the voluntary program involved counties and cities. But it now has been earned by businesses, hospitals, malls, schools and even a Boy Scout troop, she said.

There are more than 1,300 StormReady communities in the United States. There are two StormReady Supporters each in Illinois and Iowa, with Deere becoming the second in Illinois.

To receive the recognition, Dubberke said applicants must meet industry standards in their preparedness planning, practices, monitoring of the weather and the execution of their safety plans. The weather service partners with the applicant to analyze their program and processes, she said.

“You have to have a way to distribute information — if you can’t let your employees know (about severe weather) you have a problem,” she said.

Todd Osborn, Deere’s emergency preparedness manager, said the StormReady program helped Deere improve its existing programs and identify a few gaps. “We now use the National Weather Services’ weather safety spotting program to help educate our own folks.”

As a result of the program, Deere now has weather radios situated at more locations to improve its communications system, he said. “There was a potential for some communications delay,” Osborn said.

Good communication proved essential after his staff was forced to evacuate the Deere headquarters staff last June because of possible tornado activity.

“It’s not an easy decision to decide to move people to shelter and last spring we did it twice,” he added. “We don’t move them lightly. If we do have to move them, we want to do it on credible resources.”

The recognition includes 18 separate Deere corporate facilities in the Quad-Cities, which employ about 3,200 people.

Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com.