Winners Selected for Adopt-a-Community Program

March 12th, 2009 Posted in News | No Comments »

We’ve chosen our winners -  two deserving communities have been selected to receive free tornado warnings. Those communities are:

Parkersburg, Iowa
Greensburg, Kansas

At 9:45 p.m. CDT on May 4, 2007, Greensburg was hit by an EF5 tornado. Ninety-five percent of the city was confirmed to be destroyed, with the other five percent being severely damaged. The National Weather Service estimated winds of the tornado to reach 205 mph. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and President George W. Bush both declared Kiowa County a disaster area, which opened up the affected areas for national and international aid.

Greensburg has come back strong, and has received national attention by reinventing itself as a green community - launching project Greensburg GreenTown. They were the subject of a Discovery Channel series called Planet Green. You can see the entire series at planetgreen.discovery.com/tv/greensburg. You can also learn more about Greensburg at greensburggreentown.org .

Six people died in Parkersburg and two in nearby New Hartford from injuries sustained when a confirmed EF5 tornado struck the cities on May 25, 2008. At least 70 injuries were reported, and the city’s south part was turned into rubble. Over 400 homes were damaged, the roof was taken off the high school, and the gym was destroyed. The surviving residents were evacuated while the rescue operation was in progress.

Like Greensburg, Kansas, Parkersburg has come back strong with the help of Federal and State disaster assistance. Learn more about Parkersburg and their recovery effort at parkersburgiowa.info .

WindSnitch goes LIVE!!!

January 22nd, 2008 Posted in News | 2 Comments »

Well it finally happened – WindSnitch is now LIVE! Our team of part-time, highly caffeinated developers (with real daytime jobs) has been working on WindSnitch for more than 2 years with lots of heartaches, obstacles and successes. We have lost sleep, loved ones and our patience with each other but never our determination to provide affordably priced tornado warnings by telephone, email and SMS text message.

For our launch, we manage to offer two really important benefits to the community:

Adopt-a-School
When a visitor subscribes to WindSnitch, they will be given the chance to participate in our Adopt-a-School program which allows them to choose a school to receive free tornado warnings. Did I mention FREE?? This way everyone wins - the subscriber gets timely tornado warnings to their telephone while ensuring that local kids stay safe during severe weather. That should make you feel good inside.

Adopt-a-Community
Through the Adopt-a-Community program, WindSnitch will provide tornado warnings for FREE to several deserving communities significantly impacted by severe weather or facing an increased risk. We’re currently talking with several communities and should adopt two communities in the next few weeks. We’ll be sure to post the winners on our blog.

Remember, you are the reason we can offer free tornado warnings to schools and communities throughout the U.S. Through your yearly subscription, just $11.88, we reinvest a portion of your contribution to provide free tornado warnings to these deserving groups. As our subscriber base grows, we will continue to adopt more communities and schools, helping their residents stay informed during severe weather.

To our current subscribers – thanks for being a charter member of WindSnitch and spreading the word about our service. If you’re a new subscriber, please let us know what you think about WindSnitch and how we can improve our service.  You can always reach us, by selecting the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of every page.

Gregg + Trevor + Connor + Gina