Photo credit: Facebook Extreme Storm Chaser Jordan Caruthers. Tornado near Lajord.

As the temperature increases, so does the risk of extreme weather events occurring.

Pamela Goulden McLeod with the Saskatoon Emergency Management Organization says in the case of a flood, fire, tornado, or otherwise, the public should always be prepared for an emergency.

She explains that it’s important to create an emergency kit that suite your family’s needs.

“I highly recommend one for your home and one for your vehicle. The home one, you want to look at, if you had to evacuate your home, what would you need? You also want to look at, if you had to shelter in place for some reason, what would you need?”

According to the City’s emergency management webpage, these kits should include snacks, water, medications, flashlights, clothing and toiletries, among other things.

“It’s really looking at your individual situation. What a family of four with young kids needs, what a married couple with no kids needs, and what an elderly couple needs are kind of different things.”

To ensure everything is running smoothly before summer kicks into gear, both the Province and the City of Saskatoon will be sending some test alerts next week.

“We are doing a test of Notify Now, and the SaskAlert is also doing a test. So, there will be two tests next week on Tuesday and Wednesday.”

McLeod advises everyone to sign up for SaskAlert and Notify Now, and if you don’t receive the alerts, look into it- it could be the most important decision of your life.

Canada emergency preparedness week runs May 3rd through May 9th.