The event, now in its fourth year, is a statewide effort hosted by the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), encouraging households, businesses and communities to prepare and plan before severe weather strikes. Knowing your risk, taking action, and being an example are just a few steps you can take to better prepare yourself and assist others.

Know Your Risk: The first step to becoming weather-ready is to understand the type of hazardous weather that can affect where you live and work, and how the weather could affect you and your family. Check the weather forecast regularly, obtain a NOAA Weather Radio, and learn about Miami-Dade Alerts at www.miamidade.gov/alerts.

Take Action: Before storms strike, develop a Family Emergency Plan, create or purchase an Emergency Supplies Kit, and participate in the NOAA Tornado drill, taking place on Thursday at 10:10 a.m.

Be an Example: Share your preparedness story with your friends and family on social media, such as, Facebook and Twitter. Studies show that many people use social media in the event of a disaster to let relatives and friends know they are safe. This is an important trend because people are most likely to take preparedness steps if they observe the preparations taken by others.

Being weather ready is a collective effort. It takes the whole community to effectively prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate against damages caused by severe weather, such as tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.

Learn more at www.weather.gov and www.miamidade.gov/oem or readysouthflorida.org. Follow the Miami-Dade County Office of Emergency Management on Twitter @MiamiDadeEM and on Facebook at fb.me/MiamiDadeCountyEM; and the National Weather Service in South Florida @NWSMiami and fb.me/US.NationalWeatherService.Miami.gov.

For more information, please contact MDFR’s Public Affairs Bureau at (786) 331-5200.