Communicating bad weather: Severe, red, critical – what alert is it?

In the middle of a meeting last week one person said, “I have got to go, the situation has got worse and I need to find out what I need to do.” She was based in Scotland and the impact of Storm Babet was very real as work and travel had been suspended and people were starting to be evacuated from their homes. Scotland has faced extreme weather conditions in recent weeks and Storm Babet is just the latest. This is a huge test for the services and organisations, and at some point the learning from managing these events will help to inform crisis response plans for others.

But when the weather forecaster says there is a red weather warning and a threat to life, what does it actually mean? Do we really know what we need to do when that warning is given?

In some discussions this week it is clear that many people don’t know. In fact, I am not sure I would know all the practical things I should do when hearing about a red weather warning. We are more aware of the actions needed with flood warnings such as using sandbags, moving items upstairs and evacuating, but weather warnings appear to be about information rather than action. As the likelihood of extreme weather conditions are becoming more frequent and more intense, we have to be clearer in what various warnings mean. Authorities also need to have an ongoing conversation with people about what they need to do when they are given a warning.

The UK hasn’t had to face such devastating weather events as other parts of the world and it has made us complacent. It was something that I overheard many times when people were discussing the government’s early warning test in April this year. ‘Why do we need it because nothing like that happens here?’ was the approach.

There are quite a few warnings that we might face: the threat level which has its five levels from low to critical, flood warnings which are a flood alert, flood warning and severe flood warning, and then the red and amber of the severe weather alerts. It can become quite confusing. Do you know what is needed in a flood alert situation, or a substantial terror threat or even a red weather warning? I doubt that many of us do and yet authorities will issue the warning and assume people are clear what is required.

Perhaps it is time to not only streamline the alerts to make them easier and simpler to understand but also to improve the communication about what people need to know as situations become critical.

Finally, thank you to all those agencies and organisations that have been responding to the impact of Storm Babet, and let us not forget those who have lost loved ones.

Amanda Coleman is a crisis communication expert and consultant, founder of Amanda Coleman Communication and the author of Crisis Communication Strategies. Read the original post.