Emergency Preparedness

Useful Links:

• Flooding
• Flood Insurance Residential
• Extreme Heat
• Thunderstorms & Lightning
• Building An Emergency Kit
• Emergency Notification
• Ready Notify

In an effort to improve Lakewood’s readiness in case of severe weather, lasting power outages, fire and other disasters, the City has identified and promotes the following ways to ensure safety and limit property damage during emergencies: Prepare your home, your family, your business and yourself. For starters, check out the city of Lakewood’s Emergency Preparedness Guide.

• Visit Ready.gov, the federal government’s website designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks. Ready.gov offers explanations of how different types of events can affect you, as well as tips on preparing emergency management kits, educating children on the perils of emergencies, filling out family communications plans, keeping important papers and valuables in a safe place and readying your small business for disasters. Every Lakewood resident is encouraged to visit Ready.gov now to prepare for emergencies that may arise in the future.
• Stay updated locally: During severe weather and other events that create power outages, road blockages and city service interruptions, the City will do its best to keep residents updated in multiple ways. These include website updates and press releases, Twitter updates, Facebook posts and occasional televised press conferences on local media channels. You can also sign up to receive information from the city by email. Add your email address here.
• Get involved in CERT: Lakewood belongs to the Westshore Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), a group of trained citizens from Lakewood, Bay Village, Fairview Park, North Olmsted, Rocky River and Westlake who educate and prepare participants for hazards that may impact them in the event of community emergencies or disasters. CERT members receive training in basic emergency response skills, including first aid, fire suppression and safety, light search and rescue and shelter services. They also obtain a better understanding of the hazards facing their homes and workplaces and can take steps to lessen the effects of such hazards. To read more about the benefits of joining CERT, click here.
• ReadyNotify: Want to know right away when there’s an emergency happening in Lakewood? Think evacuations, boil alerts and road closures. The city of Lakewood has partnered with Cuyahoga County to offer residents access toReadyNotify, a mass notification system to issue emergency notifications to the public. It is similar to the communications systems schools use to notify parents of closures or other time-sensitive information. The system delivers messages to residents and businesses by telephone, cellular phone, text message or electronic mail. The system is capable of sending messages to specific communities or the entire county. ReadyNotify is primarily used for emergency notifications, when rapid and accurate information is essential for residents’ immediate safety. To learn more about — or sign up for — Ready Notify, click here.