The Kiwanis Club of Hopkinsville got a visit from Christian County Emergency Management Director Randy Graham at Thursday meeting, to talked about being prepared for whatever may come.
Graham says a lot of the job of emergency management is making sure there’s a plan for every possibility—including pandemics, though he says training could never compare to the real thing—and making sure Christian County is ready for if they happen.
He says once there’s a plan, you have to be ready to enact it as efficiently as possible, with emergency management often helping all first responding agencies coordinate their efforts.
Graham says emergency management also means mitigating problems before they happen, which can include flood mitigation, making sure tornado sirens stay functioning, and having an emergency alert system that can aid all citizens. He says you can sign up for Christian County Alerts by texting ‘christiancounty’ to 81437 and start receiving alerts to your phone, which can cover an array of emergencies.
Graham says his agency has a history of pulling off complicated, large scale events, citing the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse as an example, where hundreds of thousands of people descended onto Christian County to witness it.
Graham also advised people to remain weather aware as we continue through the fall severe weather season, and be ready to make winter weather plans as temperatures continue to get colder.