Fayette County's

greatest risk for large-scale damage is severe weather, according to Capt.

Pete Nelms, the county's emergency management coordinator.

And since severe

weather can strike suddenly, Nelms recommends Fayette residents plan their

response at home, particularly by educating children to meet in a certain

room at the lowest level and nearest the center of the house.

Weather radios

are also very handy to have, and they can be programmed to receive alerts

just for Fayette County, Nelms added. He also recommends watching local

TV stations, which can be inaccurate at times but generally does a solid

job of tracking major storms, Nelms said.

While the county

has a severe weather alarm system with several sirens, the system doesn't

cover the entire county.

"We chose

our most vulnerable areas," which includes 2,200 homes in Fayette's

manufactured home communities, Nelms said. That alone covers 6,500 residents,

giving them an audible alert to seek shelter in case a rough storm becomes

imminent, Nelms said.

Each siren

is $35,000 and can broadcast voice messages and warning tones. Fayette's

cities can also add sirens to the same system, which is one of the reasons

county emergency planners chose the current alarm system, Nelms said.

"It's

a great way of warning certain areas of the community," Nelms said.

Now that all

the county's manufactured home communities are covered by the alarm system,

the county will add them to large population centers, Nelms said. The

latest siren location added is near the Fayette Pavilion, designed to

give shoppers a heads-up if severe weather is on its way.

Caution is

used when deciding to activate the alarm system to minimize the possibility

of a false alarm, Nelms added.

All of the

county's public buildings have at least one NOAA weather radio, including

every public school and most day care centers, Nelms said. The county

was able to provide that service through a recent grant, which was also

able to equip some churches with the radios.

County officials

continue to evaluate their response plan to severe weather and its aftermath,

Nelms said. Last year, Fayette was one of the first counties to be certified

The StormReady

program evaluates a county's storm warning system, which includes NWS,

local emergency management officials and the public.

"There

is no question that Fayette County is one of the leaders in the state

in terms of severe weather preparedness," said Lans Rothfusz, the

meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office in Peachtree

City.

With a record

amount of tornados this spring in the United States, several communities

were hit that have implemented StormReady programs, Rothfusz said. None

of the StormReady communities recorded any fatalities or major injuries,

he added.

The program

"certainly reduces the chance for fatalities and significant injury

in that area," Rothfusz said. "But StormReady does not mean

storm proof."