When inclement weather hits, you want to be prepared - and so does the Red Cross.

Wednesday morning, the organization held an emergency shelter drill for both their volunteers, and local disaster response agencies from Erie, Crawford, Warren, and Forest counties; showing off what they would do in case of a community disaster. 

We are having a disaster drill today, and it is a practice run in case we need to open a shelter," said Mary Rogers, Executive Director of the Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross. "All of our volunteers have rules that they need to practice, accomplishing certain tasks to set up a shelter and to run a shelter."

Rogers says that it's important to make sure local volunteers know what to do, especially on a day when heavy storms batter our region.

"We're certainly hopeful that nothing bad happens, we don't need to open a shelter," continued Rogers. "But it is important for our volunteers to get ready in case we do. It's one of our preparedness things that we do so that we're always ready to respond when an emergency happens.

And local disaster response agencies are glad to have the support of the Red Cross as well. 

"The networking and knowing people before an emergency occurs is paramount," said Crawford County Emergency Coordinator Allen Clark. "We need to know on a first name basis who we can rely on if help was needed.