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WORLAND –The National Weather Service honored Hot Springs County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Meri Ann Rush as a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador of Excellence for central and western Wyoming Tuesday evening, just before the Hot Springs County Commissioners meeting.

"I didn't do anything extraordinary, I feel. I was just doing what they train you to do," Rush said.

According to the National Weather Service, "The Weather-Ready Nation (WRN) Ambassador is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), to strengthen partnerships with external organizations toward building community resilience in the face of increasing vulnerability to extreme weather and water events."

National Weather Service Riverton Warning Coordination Meteorologist Tim Troutman stated, "This is a national award that was presented to Meri Ann for her efforts involving warning nearly 600 people that were at the demolition derby there in Thermopolis on Saturday, Aug. 18. Meri Ann became aware of a severe thunderstorm that was issued for the Thermopolis area and she was able to take the warning information that was provided by the National Weather Service in Riverton and she evacuated nearly 600 people who were in the stands getting ready for the demolition derby. The folks were moved into adjacent buildings, the severe thunderstorm hit Thermopolis where the demolition derby was being held at 4:30 p.m. as forecast and it had quite a bit of hail, damaging winds up to between 50 -60 mph and frequent lightning." He added that it was determined that Rush's actions likely saved several lives due to the lightning, hail and high winds.

Rush stated, "Bill Gordon is our emergency manager here in town and what we do is any event that happens in Hot Springs County outdoors, I tell him who, when, the times of that activity and who the contact person is. From that he provides the information to the National Weather Service over in Riverton. So they kind of monitor the weather for that day. He documented the steps I took with the notice of the weather. The National Weather Service is the one who presented the award but it's Bill's fault." She added that on that day she was in constant contact with Gordon and evacuated people when Gordon texted her that people needed to take cover.