Severe weather awareness week March 26-30

Montgomery County Emergency Management, in conjunction with the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management Division and the National Weather Service, has declared the week of March 26 through March 30 as Severe Weather Awareness Week. The annual tornado drill will take place March 28 at around 10 a.m. A test tornado watch will be issued followed by a test tornado warning shortly after for all counties within Iowa. Montgomery County Emergency Management encourages all citizens, businesses, schools, healthcare facilities and public facilities to participate in this drill by practicing what you would do in the event of a real tornado warning or in the event of inclement weather.

The Montgomery County Communications Center will also activate all outdoor warning sirens for the cities of Red Oak, Stanton, Villisca, Elliott and Grant, along with the indoor warning system for participating agencies. As a reminder, all outdoor warning sirens have limited range to no effectiveness when you are inside your home or traveling in your vehicle. When an actual tornado warning is issued for Montgomery County, only communities within the projected path will have their outdoor warning sirens sounded.

Montgomery County Emergency Management encourages the use of NOAA weather radios or any of the many severe weather apps available to smartphone users, along with the Montgomery County Alert Iowa system. Alert Iowa will send notifications of severe weather watches and warnings as well as local emergency information such as snow emergencies and boil water alerts. You can sign up for Montgomery County Alert Iowa at montgomerycountyiowa.com/alertiowa. For more information on Severe Weather Awareness Week, go to weather.gov/oax or the Montgomery County EMA Facebook page at Facebook.com/MontgomeryEMA