Editor’s note: This article has been corrected from its original version to correctly identify the National Weather Service representative who presented the certification.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The National Weather Service has declared Colquitt County “Storm Ready.”

Kelly Godsey of the NWS presented the Storm Ready Certification to Colquitt County Board of Commissioners Chairman Denver Braswell and county Emergency Management Director Justin Cox at the commissioners’ work session Tuesday night.

The award acknowledges Colquitt County meeting the standards of monitoring inclement weather, such as storms and hurricanes, and dispersing that information out to the public and other organizations. 

Cox, the director of the Colquitt County Emergency Management Agency since October, said that the NWS approached the EMA back in March with the application for the certification.

The certification required the county to meet criteria established in a collaboration between NWS and state and local emergency management officials: 

• Having multiple ways of receiving NWS warnings.

• Being able to monitor local weather/river conditions.

• Having multiple ways of alerting the public.

• Promoting public readiness through community seminars and presentations.

• Having a formal hazardous weather plan.

• Having trained spotters.

• Conducting periodic drills or exercises.

• Interacting with their supporting NWS office.

The certification also requires a local 24-hour warning point and an Emergency Operations Center. 

Colquitt County’s 24-hour warning point is the 911 Center on Veterans Parkway and the Emergency Operations Center can be found between the 911 Center and the Sheriff’s Office. 

Cox said that in the case of a storm emergency, there is a direct line of contact from local weather services to local law enforcement and other agencies throughout the county. 

Individuals such as first responders and public safety staff are set up to receive direct text messages for expedient response during an emergency.

The emergency network also includes using social media through organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce, and providing warnings and alerts to the general populace.

Cox said that the local EMA is looking to make improvements in mass notifications to the public in the future. 

The NWS is predicting a more active storm season in 2021, denoting a high chance for an upward of six significant storms in the area.

“That’s the one thing we can’t change,” said Cox, “The weather.”