Note: As part of its role in facilitating the exchange of information between health care partners, WHA is running a series of articles highlighting emergency planning resources available for hospitals and health care partners.
The recent outbreaks of severe weather that Wisconsin has seen in the last few weeks serve as a reminder of the importance for hospitals and their local health care partners to stay up to date on the latest emergency planning resources. Hospitals can find a collection of helpful resources at asprtracie.hhs.gov specifically tailored to natural disasters that impact Wisconsin, such as tornadoes.
According to the National Weather Service, Wisconsin averages 23 tornadoes per year, with the highest number of 62 recorded in 2005 and the lowest recorded number of only 1 in 1952. Wisconsin has already experienced 22 tornadoes in 2024—just one shy of its annual average. Wisconsin experienced two tornadoes during an unseasonably warm stretch in February and 20 tornadoes so far in the month of May, including 15 on May 21 alone. June is historically the month when Wisconsin sees its most tornadoes.
While mass casualty events stemming from tornadoes are rare in Wisconsin, we have seen a number of other states experience such events recently, and Wisconsin has experienced several deadly tornadoes in its history, such as a tornado that killed 9 and injured 200 in Barneveld in 1984 as well as one that killed 117 and injured 125 near New Richmond in 1899.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) brought together Technical Resources, Assistance Center and Information Exchange (TRACIE) to provide information and technical assistant to regional ASPR staff, health care coalitions, and others working in disaster and health emergency preparedness. ASPR TRACIE has a collection of resources that includes lessons learned for hospitals responding to tornadoes and other severe storm-related mass casualty events. The resource page also includes resources for other natural disasters such as extreme heat, extreme cold, wildfires and floods. It even includes links to plans, tools, templates and federal agencies involved with health care emergency planning and response.