Emergency Management personnel believe July is a month where there is always a possibility for severe weather. 

Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Bob Kempf says that they want to remind folks that being prepared for torrential rain is important during this time. He says first people need to know the difference between a flash and flood warnings. 

“I mean, most of it Adair and Guthrie counties luckily enough or not susceptible to major flooding issues which are long prolonged events. That’s what a flood warning is about. We’re more apt to have a flash flood warning or an aerial flood warning, which means that it’s going to come up quick and usually goes down fairly quick within, you know, 4 to 6 hours, something like that. Sometimes, you know, the next day, depending on the amount of rain that we got.”

Kempf says there is a lot of surface drainage in the area and that causes properties to flood. 

“Protecting their property that they have in their basements by making sure that their furnace is up on a couple of cement blocks, their freezer, their washer dryer, some of those things because a lot of us do get a wet basement.”

He also discusses more information about preventing property flooding in our latest Guthrie County Let’s Talk program with Bob Kempf which will be aired at 9am.