Tornado awareness class coming in April

Staff Writer

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Do you want to know how to spot a tornado?

At the Clovis/Curry County Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting Tuesday, the Emergency Management Office announced they will be hosting a tornado awareness class from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 6 at Clovis City Hall.

“For those who have taken the Skywarn class from the National Weather Service, that’s just kind of a little snippet,” said Ruthann Kelly. “It sounds like these guys are going to go into a whole lot more of the science end of things, how tornadoes form, and safety along with that as well.”

The National Disaster Preparedness Training Center will be teaching the class, which includes the basics of tornado science, the weather forecasting process, and the tornado warning process, as well as implementation of tornado safety measures.

Tech. Sgt. Bryan Dudley of Cannon Air Force Base gave a report to the committee on Emergency Response and HAZMAT measures at the base. Dudley said they are planning a volunteer effort in April to find out what kind of hazardous materials are traveling through the county on US 60-84.

“From the base’s standpoint, with Prince and 60/84 being North-South-East-West thoroughfare, we are interested in going out there on a couple of different days...and see what kind of hazmat is actually going through in which direction at roughly what times of day,” Dudley said. “Because we know we have a good idea working with BNSF what’s going back and forth on the trains, and obviously the trains got a whole lot more going back and forth than the highway does, but we also, for planning factors, would like to get an idea of what is going through the county.”

Committee member Casey Peacock said they would be handing out LEPC information at the Clovis Home and Garden Show March 28-29.

The next LEPC meeting will take place May 20th at City Hall.

To register for the tornado awareness class, call the Emergency Management Office at 575-763-9494.