Hurricane preparedness conference held in Edinburg
With less than two weeks from the official start of hurricane season, now is the time to start getting ready in case a storm heads to the Rio Grande Valley.
City Leaders from across the Valley hosted a hurricane preparedness conference on Monday.
The Edinburg Fire Department says it's important to make a plan now and stock up on food and water.
Edinburg's Interim Fire Chief Ubaldo Perez says it's never too early to start getting ready for hurricane season. He says after natural disasters like a hurricane there are going to be power outages, that's when back-up power generators are needed.
Perez says if you do use a generator, it should be in a ventilated area outside your house.
As for stocking up on non-perishable food and water, the goal is to have enough to last you and your family for three to seven days.
"So go out maybe this weekend or the weekend before June as a family and prepare, make sure everybody says hey remember we need this, we need wipes, and we need food, and we need water and stuff like that," Perez said. "You need to make sure if you have any trees that have low branches, or maybe they're hanging over your house. You want to kind of trim those up so that during the wind event they don't break off and hit your home."
During the hurricane preparedness conference, first responders did show an example of an emergency kit.
If you were unable to attend, the conference was streamed live on the city of Edinburg's Facebook page.