Dane County Weather Radios Ready for Sale During Severe Weather Awareness Week

April 17, 2008
Joshua Wescott, Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823 or cell (608) 669-5606
County Executive

Due to Popularity of Program, More Radios Ordered, Available Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk today encouraged county residents to take advantage of a new county initiative and buy a weather radio during the upcoming Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week. “Due to the high level of interest in this innovative program, we’ve ordered more weather radios and got them out to our communities for sale so people can be better prepared for severe weather season,” Falk said. Falk made the comments at a news conference Thursday in a park in a neighborhood on Madison’s west side that was damaged by a tornado on June 23rd, 2004. That twister did more than $1-million in damage to homes and businesses from the University Research Park to the UW Arboretum. Dane County has purchased about 6,800 of the “all hazard” weather radios that sound alerts when severe weather threatens. After a successful pilot project last year that got weather radios into 2,600 Dane County households, the program was more than doubled this year to help more people be better prepared. The county buys the weather radios and makes them available for sale at cost, for $22.68 per radio. That’s about half the price this model of weather radio normally sells for. The radios also come with four AA batteries. “Dane County has experienced over two dozen tornadoes and countless other severe storms over the past couple of decades. These portable weather radios along with our network of outdoor warning sirens help give people time to take precautions before bad storms hit,” Falk said. Any Dane County resident can buy these weather radios. To make it easier for people to get them, the radios have been distributed to 46 towns, villages and cities across the county for sale. A list of these communities and more information about the radios are available at: http://www.countyofdane.com/ems/radio # # #