The Ready Central Texas (RCT) website, Austin’s centralized digital emergency preparedness hub, has been redesigned to better prepare Austinites for extreme weather.
Run by the city’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM), RCT provides emergency preparedness, such as plans and instructional materials, information on relevant pop-up events, links to state and federal resources, emergency warning registration services and education and training information.
“As Austin continues to see more extreme weather because of climate change, our community needs to change how it prepares for emergencies,” said Ken Snipes, director of HSEM, according to a news release. “Extreme weather leads to impacts like shifting foundations, frozen pipes, potential power outages, flooded roads and fires. This is the new normal.”
The website’s new homepage is designed to highlight information on disasters that are most prevalent to the central Texas region in each season, including flooding, winter weather, extreme heat, wildfires, hurricanes and other hazards.
In addition to the website’s redesign, existing emergency preparedness guides as well as new resources outlining state and federal recovery reimbursement resources are now available in both English and Spanish.
Multiple services are offered on the website for those who wish to receive emergency alerts directly to their mobile devices, including Warn Central Texas, the Accessible Hazard Alert System (AHAS), which sends accessible emergency alerts for people who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind or deaf and blind, the Austin alerts page, which provides real-time information in multiple languages, and the RCT mobile app for iPhone and Android.
Austin’s Emergency Preparedness Website Receives Redesign
The website’s new homepage is designed to highlight information on disasters that are most prevalent to the central Texas region in each season.
