One of the best ways to be prepared in severe weather situations is to have a family emergency planestablished.

If your family does have an emergency plan in place, be sure to discuss and review it and have drills at the onset of various weather seasons, making sure that everyone knows exactly what to do at a moment’s notice.

If you’ve not yet created a family emergency plan, here are some things to take into consideration when creating it:

1. Getting Emergency Alerts

Thanks to technology today, it is easy to receive emergency alerts and warnings in the palm of your hand by way of smartphones, as well as receive alerts through radio and television broadcasts. If you have a weather app or Google on your smartphone, you will quickly receive emergency alerts, which can provide you with valuable time in severe weather situations.

2. Where Is Your Storm Shelter?

Taking shelter in areas where tornadoes are common means you’ll want to be in the lowest part of your home, preferably a basement if you have one. If that is not possible, choose an interior room on the lowest level of your home or building that is away from corners, windows, doors and outside walls. Be sure to visit ready.govto learn about other situations that may require a storm shelter or basement.

3. Know Your Evacuation Routes

Evacuations are stressful, so you should always have evacuation routes determined ahead of times, since things such as hurricanes, flooding and fires can force you from your home in a hurry. It’s wise to have multiple routes just in case one is impassable, and make sure those routes will have places to stay with your pets along the way if you have furry family members to evacuate with.

4. Keeping in Touch With Family

When there is an emergency, communication is key. It is easy to rely on cell phones to keep in touch with your family, but in some circumstances, that just isn’t feasible.

Cell phone towers can incur damage, phones could be lost or left behind, and batteries will die when there if there is a power outage and there is no power source for recharging.

Hence, it is wise to have an emergency communication plan in place for your family and a safe meeting place for your family to meet should family members be separated during the emergency.

If a storm does cause damage to your home or business, don’t hesitate to call your friends at SERVPRO® of Santa Clarita Valley to get the cleanup and restoration process started.