PHX Reporter

The City of Phoenix is committed to serving its residents, businesses, and visitors with excellent customer service no matter the situation. While the official start to the Monsoon is Thursday, June 15, the City is always working on its plans to manage weather-related situations. While each City department has its own action plan, the overall effort to respond to weather-related events goes through the City’s own emergency management team.

“The Office of Emergency Management's primary responsibility is the coordination and facilitation of resources and personnel to be able to respond and adjust to whatever the incident might be,” said Cmdr. Brian Lee, Director of Phoenix’s Office of Emergency Management. “We have a multitude of City departments who have primary functions in the event that we have to respond to some sort of incident here in the City of Phoenix.”

Phoenix is Monsoon ready. Here are just some of the ways we are ready to serve you:  

• Special equipment and procedures are used at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to keep air travel of both people and goods moving without interruption.    
• Uniquely-trained personnel from Phoenix Fire train year-round to respond to water rescues in flooded roads, canals and other bodies of water.    
• Park Rangers are ready to give expert advice to hikers ahead of storms to ensure their safety.    
• Water Services teams educate the public about keeping debris and trash out of the City’s drains to ensure only storm water makes it into the drainage system.    
• Phoenix Police use community outreach to warn and inform about driving safety before and during a Monsoon storm.      
• Public Works teams are ready to deploy and provide assistance with special bulk trash pickups should Monsoon storms cause significant damage.    
• Heavy duty equipment used by Street Transportation assists with keeping main roadways clear of water in the event of flooding. They also work to clear washes and drainage locations before storms roll in.

Residents are encouraged to check out Phoenix.gov/Summer to read up on dozens of ways they can prepare for all the ways the Summer weather can affect them. While on social media, people are encouraged to follow all City accounts (@CityofPhoenixAZ) and the National Weather Service (@NWSPhoenix) as well as search for the hashtag #PHXSummer to stay informed.

Original source can be found here.