FLOOD04688

• County: Otero
• Community: La Junta
• Basin: Arkansas
• Title: Flood Preparedness Plan Arkansas River
• Date: 9/1/1993
• Prepared For: Otero County
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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4. FLOOD WARNING DISSEMINA liON

Flood Warning Dissemination provides a critical link
between recognition of an impending flood and execution of
emergency response actions. The process consists of three
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 personally
receive the warning message from a position of authority
(mayor, law-enforcement personnel, firemen, designated block
party alert person, or similar). The message, orally
presented or distributed as a written handout, should state
the time (at most 42 hours) before the flooding occurs, its
expected severity, and describe appropriate response actions
(evacuation routes, safe shelters, protective actions, etc.).

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The purpose of this part of the Flood Preparedness Plan
is to identify how government (City, County, State, Federal)
agencies, non-governmental agencies, and the public are
notified of a flood threat.

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4.1 Public Notification

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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 Mayor's office (preferably the City Manager) should
issue a Public Information Statement once the Mayor has
decided to initiate a warning message based on the level of
threat identified. The Statement should identify for the City
of La Junta residents only. Likewise, the Otero County
Emergency Coordinator or his designee should issue the Public
Information Statement with respect to the North La Junta
residents only.

Appendix A lists the phone numbers of the local news
media and radio stations. 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.

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Since implementing emergency responses are
considered urgent, only the Mayor/CITY MANAGER
should issue the Public Information statement to
the neW's media for immedia te release targeted for
the La Junta area. For North La Junta, the Public
Information Statement should be issued by the otero
County Eulergency Coordinator. This will avoid the
issuance of redundant or conflicting information to the
general public.

The Mayor/City Council and Otero County Emergency
Coordinator will also organize with the Poli.ce, Fire and
Sheriff's Departments to disseminate the warnJ.ng by direct
communications among each resident. This is accomplished by
employing door-to-door notification using the address lists

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~ The more specific
a flood warning is,
the more likely it
will be heeded.