Copiah County officials have demonstrated their willingness todo whatever it takes to protect citizens in weatheremergencies.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Womackannounced after a Tuesday morning ceremony at the Copiah CountyBoard of Superviors office in Hazlehurst that the county has nowbecome one of 11 counties in the state to hold the designation.

“We applaud the Copiah County officials for their dedicatedeffort to making their community safer for their citizens,” Womacksaid. “The StormReady designation shows a true commitment todisaster preparedness and saving lives and property of CopiahCounty residents.”

Mississippi now has 25 StormReady designations including 13communities, 11 counties and the University of SouthernMississippi.

StormReady is a nationwide program of the National WeatherService that helps communities protect their citizens during severeweather and encourages communities to take a proactive approach toimproving local hazardous weather operations.

“We have been working on this for two years and we’re excited tobe declared a StormReady county,” said Randle Drane, emergencymanagement director for Copiah County. “We continue improving thesafety of our community.”