By Payton Tholstrup

September is National Preparedness Month and Pam Kemp, Clay County Emergency Management Director, emphasized the importance of having family discussions about what to do in case of emergencies. Every member of the family needs to know the emergency plan.

For instance, consider this: how will your family communicate with each other if something happens while you’re in various locations or phone service is interrupted? Have out-of-area contacts saved in everyone’s phones; longer-distance calls may go through. Pick a point of contact out of the area for everyone to check in with. You can also text instead of calling during times when cell systems are bogged down.

Kemp also suggests enrolling in weather apps that notify you directly when you are in a threatened area. “Many apps are free. They will be activated by notifications sent through cell towers to hit all the phones in that tower’s area,” she said.

For local residents, you can enroll in the Clay County notification system by going to www.claycountykansas.org website, scroll down to the bulleted list, and just to the left of the calendar, select “Emergency Notifications” to enroll in the system and choose what notifications you wish to receive.