Agencies urge preparedness during Severe Weather Preparedness Week in Illinois

(25 News Now) - Severe Weather Preparedness Week begins today, and the Peoria County Emergency Management Agency and the Lincoln Weather Forecast Office of the National Weather Service are calling on people to understand severe weather threats and to prepare.

As Spring is the traditional period where the threat of high winds, hail and lightning from severe thunderstorms and tornadoes greatly increases, the county offers tips to minimize the impacts of severe weather:

Build an emergency kit. Gather items for a kit before weather hits, so that you’ll be prepared, and not panicked, when you need to use the items.
Invest in a NOAA Weather Radio. NOAA stands for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is the foremost authority on all things weather-related.
Stay informed. Besides a weather radio, make sure that you have multiple ways to receive information during a weather emergency. This could be through checking broadcast media, enabling your smartphone to receive Wireless Emergency Alerts, and downloading smartphone weather apps and turning on notifications.
Take action – indoors or out! If you hear weather sirens, move indoors. If you see flooding on the road, ‘turn around, don’t drown.’ Head to your basement or lowest level under threat of a tornado; don’t go outside to view the storm.

The National Weather Service in Lincoln says the tornado drill day is Tuesday and the routine weekly test of NOAA Weather Radio will be moved to Tuesday at 10 a.m.