Oncor has more than 100 years of experience preparing for and working in emergency situations, but how prepared are you and your family? September is National Preparedness Month and a good time to make or review your emergency plan to ensure you’re prepared if disaster strikes.

Here are some simple steps you can take to keep your family safe:

Have an Emergency Plan: Practice different ways your family can safely escape your home in case of an emergency and build a communications plan. Have a designated meeting place close to home and an alternate location if you get separated. Gather and share important contact information with each family member. Also consider planning for different types of emergencies like floods, fires and what you can do after a storm.

Prepare Emergency Kits: Think about what basic necessities you might need when building an emergency kit. They don’t have to be large to be effective. Inventory your home, office and maybe even your car. Consider including weather protection, water, phone chargers for your vehicle, first aid kit, flashlights, blankets, sanitizing wipes, radios and food. Click here to see an example of an emergency kit.

Stay Weather Aware: There are many mobile weather apps so you can to stay up-to-date, 24 hours a day. A few highly examples include: Yahoo! Weather (iOS, Android), Weather Timeline (Android), Dark Sky (iOS), and AccuWeather (iOS, Android).

Serve Your Community: Older adults, children, persons with disabilities, and pets are sometimes the most vulnerable when a disaster strikes. Take actions that benefit your community like becoming a blood donor or taking CPR/First Aid classes. You can also volunteer with community organizations to help during emergencies.

Share Safety: Join the Ready.gov National Preparedness Month campaign and use #NatlPrep on social media to help educate others on the importance of preparedness.

Being prepared is something Oncor stresses every day with our employees. Creating an emergency plan doesn’t have to be tedious. Turn it into an activity the whole family can do together.