De Pere residents can pick up a free NOAA weather radio Tuesday as the city health department hands out the devices during Severe Weather Awareness Week. The radios are meant to warn people about severe weather, including a tornado or a blizzard, and tell them when they need to take shelter.
The giveaway runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the city’s health department, 335 S. Broadway, and it is only for people who live in De Pere. Residents must show a driver’s license or utility bill to get one. Sara Lornson said the radios are built for outages, with battery, solar and hand-crank power options, plus a port to charge cell phones, and each one comes with a preparedness guide that includes tips for building an emergency kit.
Lornson said the backup matters because phone service is not always reliable when severe weather knocks out power or leaves people without access to alerts. The radios keep working in more than one way, she said, and can still deliver warnings when a storm cuts off the grid. That is the point of Severe Weather Awareness Week: to get people ready before the weather turns.
The giveaway is also likely to move quickly. The radios usually go fast, and anyone who misses out can still buy one at major retailers or hardware stores for about $25 to $35. For De Pere, the push is simple: get a warning device into as many homes as possible before the next storm arrives.
