September is National Preparedness Month and the second week of observance stresses being aware.

Dallas County Emergency Management Agency Director AJ Seely says that National Preparedness Month is a campaign to emphasize the importance of being ready when a disaster strikes. Seely explains that being aware means identifying the hazards and being alert to what’s going on. Seely tells Raccoon Valley Radio that there are a number of emergency alerting systems, but he recommends people to sign up for the Alert Iowa System. 

“(Alert Iowa) will allow you to receive severe weather watches and warnings outside of what your phone would normally go off for, which is primarily tornado warning or a severe thunderstorm warning that includes wind of 80 miles an hour. Certainly we see things, you know, severe thunderstorm warning was 70 miles an hour. That can cause damage. So signing up for those types of weather alerts will help make you be informed of what’s coming.”

Seely also recommends people to turn into Raccoon Valley Radio’s Severe Weather Action Team which provides live coverage of any severe storms until they weaken below severe levels or move out of our primary coverage area.