It’s Severe Weather Awareness Week, and the theme of the day is preparedness.

Adair and Guthrie County Emergency Management Coordinator Jeremy Cooper says that with the storms that have come through the area in recent years, it is extremely important to be prepared for severe weather. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that the biggest part of being prepared is knowing what weather will be impacting the area. Cooper shares that one way to do that is to have a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration radio, which receives broadcasts with weather information for general areas. He also mentions a way to get more precise information.

“Something a little bit more concise and zeroed in onto your direct location would maybe be something like (the) Alert Iowa system that is facilitated through our office, and funded through the state of Iowa Homeland Security. It’s a great system. You can opt in for whatever alerts that you want to receive and how you want to receive those alerts, whether it’s via email, call or text, or all of the above. And that can get a little bit more precise and right down to your exact address.”

Cooper mentions that there are also other weather alert apps that individuals can download on their smartphones, that way they can have multiple ways to receive any alerts they should be watching for. He adds that some other big things to do, especially with what he’s seen after the tornado in Greenfield last year, is digitizing important documents and making sure what exactly your insurance covers.