Clinton County Central Dispatch Director Renee Crick has announced what will be happening locally during Severe Weather Preparedness Week is March 15-21. The following is a letter from Crick:
“We will be conducting a full tornado siren testing activation on Wednesday, March 18 at approximately 10:15 a.m. in conjunction with the statewide testing. In the event of severe weather, it will be postponed to Thursday, March 19.
“I cannot encourage people enough to purchase a weather radio. You can buy them at several different stores. The weather radio is ideal because they will sound an audible alert when a watch or warning is issued. People really need a loud notification when they are sleeping to wake them. Many times at night, people will turn their mobile device off or place them on silent mode and then do not receive notifications of a tornado warning.
“We have a total of 12 tornado sirens throughout Clinton County. It is important to understand that the sirens are not meant to be heard inside buildings, however, many people do hear them due to their close proximity of a tornado siren. They are meant for people to be alerted when outside to seek shelter and gather further information.
“We also provide a free service called Nixle. We send mass texts and emails out for events that are happening in our County such as road closures due to road constructions or accidents, traffic hazards, weather information etc. People can create an account by going to www.nixle.com They can also text their zip code to 888-777 to receive mobile alerts. There is also an app which can be downloaded called Everbridge which will receive all of our Nixle messages that we send.