Emergency Shelters Opened; 911 Monitors Weather

Dispatchers at the Cannon County 911 dispatch are closely monitoring the incoming severe weather as strong storms are predicted to move into CannonCounty today and tonight, according to Roy Sullivan, Director of Cannon County 911.

These storm cells are expected to bring strong winds and hail as well as isolated tornadoes. The 911 center dispatches for all the emergency response agencies in Cannon County.

“We will be monitoring this severe weather system as it develops and disseminate any serious weather information as it happens.” Sullivan said.

Director Sullivan also advised that additional 911 dispatchers has been placed on standby in the event of high call volume. 

“I have been informed by Director Faye Morse with the Cannon County Office of Emergency Management, that an Emergency Storm Shelter has been established at the Woodbury Church of Christ located at the intersection ofWest Water StreetandNorth McCrary Streetin Woodbury,” Sullivan said.

Grace Assembly of God located at 2999 John Bragg Hwy is also serving as a shelter if needed.

“We monitor the National Weather Service RADAR via several different means so we can have as much redundancy as possible. We have a live feed thru our TBI Terminals, which has a secure connection to the National Weather Service. We also monitor a dedicated line called NAWAS, which is a closed circuit telephone system, that connects us with the State Emergency Operation Center as well as most 911 call centers, Sheriffs Offices,Correctional Centers, and even the Governor’s Mansion."

Installed three years ago, was a dedicated VHF radio talk channel for communication with other communications centers in Middle Tennessee. The need arose for that type of capability when a neighboring county lost all their telco service that included all there 911 truck lines and admin line s to their center. The outage lasted about 4 hours and there was no way to communicate other than a state wide EMS channel.

Just recently installed in the 911 center are two mutual aid radio talk channels that go directly to the State EmergencyOperationCenterand the Metro Office of Emergency Management, so if the need arises that we need mutual aid from other counties, the Cannon County 911 dispatch center will be able to contact them regardless of the conditions.

The Red Cross has also been activated and will be on standby with food and assistance if needed. The doors will be open by 12:00 noon today and stay as long as needed. Anyone that does not have a basement or storm cellar is strongly encouraged to go this Storm Shelter to wait out this very serious weather situation.

A reverse 911 call will be actively shortly to inform as many Cannon County citizens as possible that a Storm Shelter is available for their use. The next round of strong storms is expected to start rumbling thru later this evening.