September is National Preparedness Month, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), encourages people to be ready for any kind of disaster.

Dallas County Emergency Management Coordinator A.J. Seely says this month isn’t to be confused with Severe Weather Awareness Week in April, as the focus isn’t just on storms. “So National Preparedness Month is more of all hazards. It’s not just storm preparedness, it’s family readiness for basically anything that might affect our normal way of living. So it’s not specific to just a specific storm season, and is kind of an all-throughout the year event.”

Seely says for this week the theme is financial preparedness, and he emphasizes that most families are not as prepared as they need to be. He says it’s important to have some “rainy day” funds available should a disaster strike. He also says it’s good to ensure you have the proper insurance. “It’s good at this point to check and see if you have the right coverages. So it seems like we get a lot of rain and a lot of flood-related issues in Dallas County. So if you’re not covered by insurance for flood specifically, which many don’t, it would be either time to check and maybe up that coverage or at least have the financial means to pay for some repairs if we do get hit by flash flooding.”

To hear more from Seely, listen to today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program on air and at RaccoonValleyRadio.com.