NWS Southern Region Director Bill Proenza addresses TsunamiReady Workshop on El Peligro Olvidado -- "The Forgotten Danger" (Photo: Dave Jacobs, WFO Melbourne)

(August 22, 2006) - National Weather Service Southern Region Headquarters (SRH) staff joined their colleagues from the Weather Forecast Offices (WFO) in Melbourne, Jacksonville and San Juan to host a Southern Region Tsunami Conference in Cocoa Beach, Florida. The three day conference was designed to serve as a TsunamiReady Training and Outreach Workshop for Warning Coordination Meteorologists (WCM) from coastal WFOs throughout the Southern Region.

Topics included an overview of tsunami hazards and risk assessments, modeling, warning and information dissemination procedures and outreach efforts. Key speakers included Southern Region Director Bill Proenza; West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center Director Paul Whitmore; SRH Program Manager Melinda Hinojosa; Southern Region WCM Walt Zaleski; SRH NOAA Weather Radio All-Hazards Program Manager Mike Mach; WFO Melbourne Meteorologist-in-Charge Bart Hagemeyer; WCMs Al Sandrik (Jacksonville), Dennis Decker (Melbourne) and Rafael Mojica (San Juan); and, Professor George Maul of the Florida Institute of Technology.

Attendees also visited city officials in nearby Indian Harbour Beach. In May of 2005, Indian Harbour Beach was recognized as the first TsunamiReady community along the nation's East and Gulf Coasts. Located between the Atlantic Ocean and Indian River Lagoon, this small community was established in the 1950s to support the growing space industry at nearby Kennedy Space Center.

Following Indian Harbour Beach, the cities of Norfolk, Va. and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico also achieved TsunamiReady recognition. It is hoped they will soon be followed by additional TsunamiReady communities all along the East and Gulf Coasts and throughout the Caribbean.

SRH staff, Southern Region WCMs and city officials at Indian Harbour Beach Millennium Park (Photo: Dave Jacobs, WFO Melbourne)