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e e e 4. FLOOD WARNING DISSEMiNATION Flood Warning Dissemination provides a critical link between recognition of an impending flood and execution of emergency response actions. The process consists of four primary functions: Provisions for whether or not to issue a warning, formulation of the warning message, identification of the appropriate audience, and means of the distribution (radio, television, sirens, bull horns, and door-to-door) of the warning message. Individuals who may get flooded should receive the waming message from a position of authority (the Fremont County Emergency Management Director, City Officials, law-enforcement personnel, firemen, or similar). The message, orally presented or distributed as a written handout, should state the time before the flooding occurs, its expected severity, and describe appropriate response actions (evacuation routes, safe shelters, protective actions, etc.). The purpose of this part of the Flood Emergency Action Plan is to identify how government (City, County, State, Federal) agencies, non- governmental agencies, and the public are notified of a flood threat. 4. 1 Public Notification The primary means of warning dissemination is through the media. The National Weather Service Office issues flood watches and warnings by service wires and via the news media. The Office of Emergency Management should issue a Public Information Statement once the City Council/City Administrator has decided to initiate a warning message based on the level of threat identified. The statement should identify the specifics for the City of Canon City residents. Appendix A lists the phone numbers of local news media and radio stations. The County Emergency Management Director also has appropriate phone numbers of the local stations listed in the plan entitled .Emergency Operations Plan". These phone numbers should be used to disseminate the information to the public. A sample Public Information Statement is provided in Appendix B of this plan. Since implementing emergency responses are considered urgent, only the OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT should issue the Public Information Statement to the news media for immediate release targeted for the Canon City area. This will avoid the issuance of redundant or conflicting information to the general public. The Fremont County Emergency Management Director will also organize with the Police, Fire and Sheriff's Departments to disseminate the waming by direct communications among each resident. This is accomplished by employing door-to-door notification using the address lists 16 n Decision to issue a warning Formulation of Warning Message Identification of Audience .. Means of Distribution n. The more specific a flood warning is, the more likely it will be heeded. t If the Emergency Management Director is unavailable, the City Administrator should issue the Public Xnformation Statement.