This is a drill that was conducted as part of a graduate course on Information Technology for Emergency Management. The test sites of social networking sites have been removed from public access.

1. Cherokee County Tornado Drill Please start at 1900 hours. The slide show will automatically forward to the next page at the proper times.

2. Invite We invite you, as our guests, to follow the scripted time-line of events while also observing the events on our Cherokee County EMA web site. These are the actions and processes taken by the Cherokee County EMA Director, his staff, and the citizens of the city Canton. Our project begins with the members of our Emergency Operations Center (EOC) following the weather... we hope you will enjoy!

3. Background This is a story line of the events that will take place on the night of 29 July 2010 in Canton, Georgia. For it is on this night, that the citizens of Canton will receive a direct strike from a Tornado. The National Weather Service (NWS), produced a map that indicates frontal boundaries between a rising warm front and a sinking cold front that will collide in North-North Central Georgia and could have a potential for severe weather.

4. 1800 Hours EMA Director activates internal EOC staff to observe weather conditions.

5. 1840 Hours WS radar in Atlanta indicates a strong line of thunderstorms forming along the frontal boundaries in NW Georgia. Cherokee County is placed under a tornado watch until midnight. Will be another static picture on the website during the exercise: Jim

6. 1905 Hours EMA director initiates full scale city activation. All predestinated city employees and tasked Emergency Support Functions (ESF’s) must immediately report to Cherokee County EMA.

7. 1908 Hours EMA Director directs staff to notify Georgia State EMA utilizing all county social media accounts of potential for Tornado strike in area of Canton, Georgia. Also directs County Logistics Chief to verify readiness of Food, Water, and MRE’s from County warehouse to expected shelters.

8. 1910 Hours EMA posts FEMA electronic pamphet for families on What to Do in the event of a Tornado EMA Operations Chief creates incident in situation response software (webeoc) and posts first responder training videos for its use.

9. 1930 Hours EMA Planning Chief prepares Google maps of Canton for EOC operations for tracking of weather. Also tagged in maps are city critical infrastructure, hospital, shelters, schools, as well as various state and federal road access points into city in the event of arrival of additional supply and resource needs. Map will also serve as tagged points of Tornado reports by citizens.

10. 1950 Hours NWS Doppler radar indicated a bow echo formation approaching Canton, GA from the NW at 18 mph. NWS Atlanta initiated media alerts due to Tornado Warning.

11. 1951 Hours EMA Duty Officer (EMDO) initiates Tornado sirens in the Canton area. In addition social media (Facebook, RSS, Twitter and Cherokee Alert) is utilized to push out information to the citizens. Powerpoint with audio (loud audio) of approaching bow echo (from approx 07:51 to 07:58)http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/jimbola-444478-canton-tornado-approach-em-518-2/**note-video is approx 9 minutes long, and the slides change at 2 minute intervals to show the progression of the storm-this video will play during the entire pre-impact phase-as an “in progress” radar event. This will be loaded on the site via YouTube and ready to go. Jim

12. 1955 Hours Cherokee County EMDO contacts the on duty Chiefs for the Cherokee County, Canton, and the Hickory Flat Fire Department to advise of potential for impact of a tornado.

13. 1958 Hours NWS is reporting a tornado formation 3 miles due North of River Place Shopping Center.“Video” (static picture of a huge wall cloud) with tornado sirens will be inserted via YouTube at 19:58: Jim

14. 2000 Hours Twitter alerts from residents of Canton were being received. Alerts confirmed that a sizable tornado was on the ground due north of the Riverside Shopping Center moving due south.

15. 2002 Hours EMA confirms initial strike of Tornado in River Place Shopping Center. Show Twitter from Twitter and Facebook Site City 911 dispatch receiving calls concerning injuries at Riverside Place Shopping Center. City PD, EMS and Fire dispatched to location. http://twitter.com/ccematest http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=100001249045167&ref=ts

16. 2010 Hours Received first emails of videos of tornado striking shopping center and neighborhoods. Additional inputs from EOC and citizens.

17. 2013 Hours EMA, based on projected path of Tornado, post city shelter locations and status of those expected to open soon.

18. 2016 Hours EMA director dispatches members of EOC staff for initial site damage assessment and tasks Public Information Officer (PIO) to dispatch known details of events through its Social Media applications (Face Book, Twitter, Cherokee Alert software, and UStream. Observe PIO utilizing of County EMA social media tools http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIVNHwQC0oM

19. 2022 Hours EMA releases slide shows of areas reporting damages.

20. 2025 Hours EMA also shows google maps of point damaged.

21. 2030 Hours EMA releases shelters opened for citizens affected.

22. 2031 Hours Based on staff assessments, damage in and around shopping center are vast with large numbers of injured citizens and city structures damaged. Multiple fires at gas stations and reports of severed gas lines.

23. 2035 Hours EMA director assigns Deputy Operations Chief to impact area and assume control of Incident CommandOnce command is established three videos from cell phone tweeted to Cherokee twitter.