CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Hispanic family in Charlotte wishes for weather alerts in Spanish.
Eduardo Suarez, who is originally from Peru, recalls the weather in his home country was pleasant and the same all year round.
"I never checked the weather in Peru, because it was stable,” Suarez said.
The founder of Espanglish Marketing started checking the weather daily after moving to the U.S. six years ago. In addition, he also had to get used to weather alerts, which were not in place in his home country.
He recalls initially they were startling and confusing, because he wasn’t bilingual yet.
"The only words I knew back then were perhaps alert and warning. Those words, and the high-pitch sound of the weather alert, made me think something bad is happening,” Suarez said.
Once he started becoming more fluent in English, he became more at ease with the weather alerts.
“Nowadays, the alerts inform me, because I now know what to do,” Suarez said.
His mother, Juana Ayerbe, who has been in the U.S. for two years, doesn’t speak English and is not familiar with weather alerts. She doesn’t use her cellphone often and relies on friends and family for information on severe weather.
According to the National Weather Service, weather alerts, which are called Wireless Emergency Alerts 2.0, support Spanish alerts, as long as the alerting authority transmits in Spanish.
According to warning coordination meteorologist Nick Petro at the Raleigh Forecast Office, weather alerts are sent in English. He added they rely on Spanish media outlets to help disseminate this important information.
Suarez would welcome weather alerts in Spanish.
“There are families who are in the process of adapting to this culture and this country, and English is going to be complicated, because you may misinterpret an alert and panic. But if you know what it says in your own language, it’s going to be beneficial,” Suarez said.
For Ayerbe, it would make her feel safer.
“My biggest fear is not finding out [about bad weather], going outside and something happening to me,” Ayerbe said.
Carolina Demography estimates the Hispanic population in North Carolina is greater than a million, with 77% speaking a language other than English at home.
Nonprofit organization Student Action with Farmworkers developed an app called Conectate Carolina that provides a directory of agencies and organizations that provide services in Spanish. In addition, the app sends statewide weather alerts ahead of severe weather, prompting app users to seek additional information from Spanish media outlets.
Program director Anna Jensen said many farmworkers don’t know where to turn for information. She said her group and partner organizations received feedback from farmworkers in eastern North Carolina in the wake of Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Florence about the lack of available resources leading up to the disaster.
“We also saw this a lot with the hurricane several years ago that farmworkers didn’t get any information beforehand. That knowing a hurricane was coming or that they should evacuate or that it was an option or where they could go,” Jensen said.
Wake County provides opt-in weather alerts, which are currently sent in English. According to a Wake County spokeswoman, the county is in conversations with a vendor to offer the option for Spanish translation.
For Severe Weather Preparedness Week in North Carolina, the National Weather Service provides information in Spanish on how to stay safe in case of an emergency.
North Carolina Emergency Management provides information on current weather conditions and ways to prepare for severe weather in several languages, including Spanish. An NCEM spokesman said the department has a Spanish communication specialist and outreach employee who works with a Spanish translator to translate weather-related press releases and social media messages.
In addition, they provide real-time translation in Spanish and American sign language during their live press conferences about severe weather.