If a natural disaster happened in Lubbock, would you be prepared for it? It’s a question that officials hope you can find the answer to through September’s National Preparedness Month.
After devastation from flooding in the south and wildfires to the west, preparation has been on Lubbock’s mind, said Clinton Thetford of the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office.
Thetford is the county’s emergency management coordinator and said he hopes Lubbock residents will start planning.
“You got to prepare for the unexpected, it will eventually happen,” said Thetford. “I really encourage people to seriously consider, if you’ve never prepared, you got to think about that.”
He hopes that the National Preparedness Month will spread awareness of how to prepare if a natural disaster should happen in Lubbock.
“We’re really receptive to severe weather, tornadoes, we could have flooding here on the South Plains,” Thetford said. “We have threats here that people need to be prepared for.”
He said the best thing to do is to start a plan for you and your family. Things to consider are where you’d go and how you would stay in contact with each other. The next thing to do is to make a “go-bag.” Inside this bag should be enough food and water to last at least three days. Other things to put in the go-bag are medications, phone chargers and a change of clothes.
“You need to look at the threats that impact Lubbock and prepare for those type of threats,” Thetford said. “You may only have moments to leave your residence. You have to be prepared.”
The county has a new emergency text alert system called R U Aware?, which includes Lubbock and 15 surrounding counties. The goal is to keep people informed on any dangerous situation via fast and accessible updates.
CLICK HERE to sign up for R U Aware alerts.
CLICK HERE for Lubbock’s recommendation on disaster plans.
