86% of Avon Lake Lacking CodeRED Tornado Warning

Residents of Avon Lake may have been surprised on June 19 when the National Weather Service was issuing tornado warnings for Avon Lake and surrounding vicinities, and a CodeRED was not issued for the storm.

CodeRED is the reverse 9-1-1 system used by Avon Lake and Avon that is available for closed roads, severe weather, flooding, etc. 

The NWS had stated there was a possibility Avon Lake could take a “direct hit” by a severe storm coming across Lake Erie. The storm did not make landfall, but raised enough concern amongst residents questioning where their alerts were.

Councilman David Kos said after the storm it was discovered that residents who signed up before September 2012 did not have the option to sign up for Severe Weather Alerts, an option that was added on to Avon Lake’s CodeRED system soon after.

“In Avon Lake about 6,000 people are signed up (for CodeRED) but only about 800 have severe weather warning,” Kos said.

Those not signed up for severe weather would not have received the alert that did go out. 

Click here to sign up for CodeRED in Avon Lake. Make sure all boxes are checked. 

Individuals needing additional assistance signing up, residents can also contact the fire department’s non-emergency number at 440-933-8305.

To make residents who are signed up for the basic service are aware they need to opt in to the newly added Severe Weather Option, the city will issue a CodeRED alert on Friday, July 5 at 3:30 p.m. advising them to register for the enhancement. 

Avon Lake Fire Chief Chris Huerner said the alert will also serve another purpose, it will allow the city to determine which numbers signed up are no longer viable.

Huerner said he did not know if residents of Avon, who had a different contract would also need to sign up for the CodeRED.

To sign up for CodeRED in Avon, go to the City of Avon website, then click on the link for Code Red.

Council holds tornado drill

Avon Lake took about 15 minutes during its July 1 meeting to conduct a tornado drill in the middle of a city council meeting, the first drill of its kind in recent history.

City leaders and council meeting attendees took just over a minute to move to the basement of the building to the tornado shelter.

Mayor Greg Zilka took the opportunity, after council reconvened, to remind residents to sign up for CodeRED, the city’s reverse 9-1-1 system also used by the city of Avon.