As another year comes to an end, we recall some pretty nasty weather events. Crisis Communication's Manager Lori Getter says 2007 started out to be calm, but proved to be a busy year for Wisconsin Emergency Management .
"With some winter storms and blizzards in February and March and then we started to have some problems with severe weather with thunderstorms in the spring and early summer. And of course our big thunderstorm or tornado cell occurred in early June – on June 7 th ."
Things calmed down for a while, Getter says, but not for too long.
"Then we just had several rain storms and thunderstorms in August which lead to our record flooding and record number of rainstorms and rain amounts. So it was a busy year, and it's starting to end and it's very busy as well with the ice storms and snow storms we've had."
Getter says there were five fatalities this year, all were directly associated with the flooding. Wisconsin had 18 tornadoes, but Getter says early evening occurrences and ample warnings prevented deaths. This is the first year since 2004 that we've had a federal disaster declaration; residents in 14 counties got emergency assistance.
Getter says it's really important for people to pay attention to weather warnings. She suggests you get a NOAA radio , which can help to alert people to severe weather. And she says they make great gifts. ( ready.gov )
AUDIO: Jackie Johnson report (1:25 MP3)
