Severe Weather Awareness Week continues in Iowa this week
Today’s topic as part of Severe Weather Awareness Week in Iowa is Preparedness.
Butler County Emergency Management Coordinator Chris Showalter tells Radio on the Go News this topic includes making sure you are weather aware and can receive weather alerts, whether it’s outside or inside.
"I can't stress that enough these are outdoor warning sirens. We usually get a few calls every year that they, you know, they couldn't hear the sirens. They were in their house or in the basement or whatever they were doing. That's the key with these sirens. They are outdoor warning sirens. So I just wanted to reiterate that. As far as indoor warnings, I would encourage people to sign up for the Butler County Alert rave alert platform. There's a couple different ways that they can sign up and register for that. There's an app for the smartphone, it's called Smart 911. It's a free app, they can download that and then they can search Butler County Alerts and get opted in that way. There's texting options that they can text in to get signed up for the alerts. Information is on the Butler County's website under the Emergency Management Department. There's a link there that they can get all that information to sign up for our alerting system. And the other thing would be weather radios. I know those things are kind of one of those necessary evils, if you will. You know, they end up getting used for a while and then they get unplugged and misplaced and set aside. But I would highly encourage if you have weather radios, make sure your batteries are replaced. Keep them turned on because that's another good way of getting alerted when you're indoors."
Tomorrow’s topic for Severe Weather Awareness Week is Hail and Wind Safety, and the topic for Friday will be Flood Safety.
