Severe Weather Watches, Advisories & Warnings

Details: Created: 25 April 2013

What does the state disaster declaration mean for me?
Governor Quinn declared 44 counties state disaster areas. This ensures all available state resources are available to help local officials respond to and recover from the disaster. The declaration also is necessary for the state to seek federal assistance.

Assistance to individuals at this point includes:

Assistance from the American Red Cross and other non-profit organizations, including shelters, food,
and flood clean-up kits.
Low-Interest loan program administered by the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office
(http://www.treasurer.il.gov).

My home was flooded. What should I do now?

Contact your local emergency management agency to report damage to your home. For a list of local EMAs, visit www.Ready.Illinois.gov.
If you have flood insurance, contact your insurance company to report your damage.
Even if you don’t have flood insurance, you should still contact your insurance company to ensure all potential assistance has been sought.
Take pictures of the damage and make a list of any possessions damaged or destroyed.
Keep receipts for costs incurred during the flood, such as receipts for hotels, clean-up, replacement and repair.
Be safe when cleaning your home or making repairs.

Can I apply for federal assistance right now?
Federal assistance is not available at this time. However, local and state officials are working together to gather information needed to support a state request for federal assistance.

What is the state doing to get assistance for people affected by flooding?
The state of Illinois currently is taking steps necessary to request federal assistance. This includes:

Collecting initial damage information from your local officials (that’s why it’s important for you to make your local officials aware of your damage).
Preparing to conduct damage assessments in coordination with FEMA and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) beginning April 29. These assessments will document the severity of damage to primary homes and businesses.

The state will use this information as part of its request to FEMA to demonstrate the critical need for federal assistance. FEMA’s review of the request and decision announcement could take up to 30 days from when the request is submitted.

What will a federal disaster declaration mean to me?
People affected by flooding could be eligible for:

Grants from FEMA. NOTE: assistance does not cover insured loss.
Low-interest loans from the SBA.

For more information, visit www.Ready.Illinois.gov or contact your local emergency management agency.

Details: Created: 10 April 2013

More than 15 local and state agencies will take part in a three-day domestic emergency response exercise testing their abilities through multiple scenarios in the county. Illinois Prairie North 2013 will run from Thursday, April 11 to Saturday, April 13. This joint training exercise is designed to test civilian and military responses and coordination should incidents occur in our community. It is full scale, so residents can expect to see emergency responders looking and acting as if it was a real homeland security/domestic response event.

The exercise will take place at the 1400 block of Hobson Drive in Rantoul and at the hangars of the former Chanute Air Force Base. The Village of Rantoul Police and Fire Departments are not participating. This a Champaign County Emergency Management and Illinois National Guard exercise. The realistic exercise is necessary to ensure the local, state and the Illinois National Guard first responders are prepared to protect the public and mitigate the disaster. Some of the exercise scenarios included are law enforcement, hazardous materials, mass causalities and rescue operations. This exercise is a culmination of almost a year of planning efforts.

Details: Created: 22 March 2013

Chris Miller, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Lincoln, gave a Storm Spotter Training presentation for Champaign County EMA and local volunteers on 3/21/13 on the U of I campus.

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Details: Created: 11 March 2013

Lt. Ed Ogle from the Champaign County Sheriff's Office gave a presentation to the EMA Search and Rescue Volunteer group on evidence preservation. Date- 3/11/13 at 1900 Hours given in the METCAD EOC.