Severe Weather Preparedness
The Department of Emergency Management and Regional Security (EMRS) and the National Weather Service (NWS) encourages residents to be prepared for hazardous weather year – round. In Cook County, the most common severe weather hazards residents may experience during this season are thunderstorms, lighting, tornadoes, wind, flooding, earthquakes, and power outages. Regardless of the weather emergency, it’s always a great idea to prepare ahead of time. In order to make you, your family, and home safer during weather emergencies or any disaster, plans and supplies should be in place to ensure safety and aid in recovery.
Receiving timely information of pending sever weather can make all the difference in seeking shelter and remaining safe. To better understand alerts and warnings that may be activated in your area, check out this link www.ready.gov/alerts to better understand the reliable systems that public safety officials use for timely notification. Also, sign-up for AlertCook notifications that come directly from your public safety team at Cook County for up-to-date information to keep you better informed.
Although meteorologists do a commendable job of forecasting the weather so that we stay aware of conditions, severe weather can sometimes strike without much warning. In times like these your family and loved ones may not be together. ; Know how you’ll contact one another and reconnect if separated. Establish a family meeting place that’s familiar and easy to find. A Communications plan is a great place to start, and help with creating yours can be found here: www.ready.gov/plan.
>Additionally, after a severe weather event there may be power outages or impassable roads that prevent you from accessing stores or utilizing appliances to prepare meals. A disaster supply kit is a collection of basic items that your household needs to survive for at least 72 hours in the event of an emergency. Info to build your kit can be found here www.ready.gov/kit.
To learn more about each severe weather hazard and increase your preparedness, please see the information provided below.