Vision

The Polk County Emergency Management Office seeks to promote safer, less vulnerable communities with the capacity to cope with hazards and disasters.

Mission

Our Mission is to help protect communities by coordinating and integrating all activities necessary to build, sustain, and improve the capability to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to, and recover from threatened or actual natural disasters, acts of terrorism, or other man-made disasters.

2023 SkyWarn Spotter Training

Polk County Emergency Management, in conjunction with local Fire Departments and the National Weather Service, will provide a program called SKYWARN  Training (also referred to as Storm Spotter).

The local trainings will be held from 6:00pm - 8:00pm at the following location:

May 17^th – Kiehl Auditorium, UMC, Crookston, MN

This SkyWarn Spotter Class is designed as both an informational class for the public and certification training for the serious SkyWarn Spotter. The class lasts approximately 2 hours and covers, in basic terms, what severe weather is, how it develops, and how severe storms generally behave. Computer graphics, slides, and video clips will introduce the participants to the great variety of storm phenomena that affect the area.

Initial Damage Assessment (IDA) Reports

Polk County Emergency Management is now accepting Initial Damage Assessment (IDA) reports for expenses incurred from any flood-related damages that impacted your jurisdiction after April 11^th, 2023.   

All local government and public entities claiming to have flood-related costs and/or damages should submit an IDA report to the Polk County Emergency Management Department as soon as possible. The submitted IDA reports will be utilized by local, state, and federal officials to determine if the disaster-related expenses could qualify for any State and/or Federal assistance.

Examples of the types of expenses and/or damages to document on the IDA reports would be any type of emergency protective measures, debris removal, damages to public roads, bridges, water control facilities, buildings, equipment, and utilities.

Delaying and/or not submitting your jurisdiction’s disaster-related costs and/or damages could make your organization ineligible for obtaining any State and/or Federal assistance. All the Initial Damage Assessment reports need to be submitted to the Polk County Emergency Management Department by May 15, 2023.