As a prelude to Severe Weather Awareness Week, the Knoxville Hy-Vee offered residents the opportunity to get new weather alert radios, or have their current ones reset, in order to get first warning about any severe storms which may come this season.

Radios were available on Saturday morning at the Hy-Vee, along with expert advice on severe weather preparedness.

Chad Hahn is with the Des Moines office of the National Weather Service; he tells KNIA/KRLS News homeowners and businesses should keep these radios charged and ready to go, because severe weather can strike at any time.

“As we head for April, we know that severe weather is just around the corner; we’re already seeing some of the impacts of that with the flooding. But we’ll see severe weather get going really quickly here as we get into the April and May months,” Hahn says.

“And folks should get those ready to go as we get into this time frame, so they’re ready to go when we have severe weather.”

Jeff Anderson from Marion County Emergency Management says these items are useful for getting out the initial warning, but constant monitoring of your regular radio on KNIA and KRLS will get you the latest emergency weather information.