Faith Students Work on Weather Project

While most kids are trying to make a big splash, the ROBOEAGLES are trying to prevent a big splash from ruining your day. The ROBOEAGLES are a FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) team from Faith Lutheran Church and School. In the FLL 2013 NATURE’S FURY(r) Challenge, over 200,000 children ages 9 to 16* from over 70 countries will explore the awe-inspiring storms, quakes, waves and more that we call natural disasters. FLL challenges kids to think like scientists and engineers. 

During NATURE’S FURY teams will build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS(r) to solve a set of missions in the Robot Game. They will also choose and solve a real world problem in the Project. Throughout their experience, teams will operate under FLL’s signature set of Core Values.

The ROBOEAGLES have been working on a project which involves protecting the citizens of Cobb County for sudden severe weather and flash flooding. They chose their project because like many kids, they play soccer, baseball, football and enjoy time outside. Our county has over 56 parks and public outdoor centers not including over 126 school playgrounds and other private outdoor facilities. Living in a warmer climate means there is more opportunity to play and enjoy the great outdoors. 

The ROBOEAGLES challenged themselves to find out about weather affecting Cobb County. They learned that Georgia ranks 16th in the nation for the highest number of flash floods per year. Flash flooding, comes with little warning and can happen even when the sky started out clear blue. Flash flooding and sudden severe weather cause property damage and physical damage to those caught unaware. The ROBOEAGLES learned that while there are many solutions for people at home when bad weather hits, there are few solutions for people out and about enjoying their day.

The children went to visit the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, the meteorologist taught them about deadly weather and costly weather. While heat and cold related weather issues claimed the most casualties, tornados and flooding also wreak havoc in many communities.  

Flash flooding happens when there are low lying areas and creeks and rivers that swell. Cobb county is home to seven creeks, the Chattahoochee River and Lake Altoona which are all subject to flooding. Since flash flooding happens quickly, communication is the biggest issue to let people know it is about to happen.

Becky Kellofgg of the Weather Channel gave the ROBOEAGLES a tour of the Weather Channel and helped explain how weather forecasts work and why the weather is so hard to accurately predict.

Finally the team was able to meet with Mr. Bernard W. King of the Cobb County Emergency Management Agency who shared the county’s response plans for severe weather and flash flooding. Mr. King was extremely helpful in showing the children how the county handles all types of natural disasters. 

Cobb County actually has a siren specific response system which allows the county to warn only those who will be affected by the incoming weather, instead of notifying the entire county. This is important because if people hear sirens and nothing happens, they are less likely to listen the next time the sirens sound. He also helped the kids meet with Ann Flynn from Cobb County 911 Dispatch Department.

Cobb County 911 Dispatch administers the CODE RED system, which sends alerts for severe weather through cell phones and home phones much like the Amber Alert system. Many people do not know about this fairly new system which has only been in use since early 2010. The first step to using the CODE RED system is to sign up for it. The ROBOEAGLES are making it their mission to educate people on Cobb County’s CODE RED system, so that more people sign up and are prepared for potential severe weather and flash flooding.

The CODE RED system only communicates with you if your home or work address is in danger of 5 different types of natural disasters including severe thunderstorms, flash flooding, tornados, winter storm, and Tsunamis. Each user of CODE RED can choose if they want a text or a phone recorded message sent to their home phone and/or cell phone. 

The user can decide on the types of disasters they wish to be notified of and which they would not want to be notified if they occur. In a community with so much outdoor activity, communication must be timely, accurate and most of all not over done so people will listen. The CODE RED system is the best solution to alerting only the people in danger by phone where ever they are in the county.

Since most people keep their phones with them at all times, it is also one of the most cost effective ways to stay informed of potential deadly weather. Please consider signing up for CODE RED at https://cne.coderedweb.com/Default.aspx?groupid=NrnMp9znuxcAvGsmyIHA5Q%3d%3d