Be prepared. These two words of advice can make all the difference when facing severe weather and natural disasters.
While some severe weather events are seasonal, unpredictable conditions can cause natural disasters to strike any time of year. There is no better time than today to start planning for the next emergency in your community.
During National Preparedness Month, take steps to prepare for what Mother Nature has in store by creating an emergency plan.
Emergency plans should account for multiple emergency scenarios. The plan should be developed, discussed and shared with all members of your household.
Take these steps to prepare your emergency plan:
Communicate. Because your family or roommates may not be together when a disaster strikes, make sure everyone knows how to contact one another and where to reconnect.
Discuss the types of disasters that are possible in your area and the different precautions for each. For example, wildfires have different evacuation levels, from 1 to 3. Hurricanes are defined by severity categories. Make sure everyone knows recommendations for sheltering in place and evacuation based on the severity of the natural disaster or storm.
Talk about how your family would respond to different types of emergencies. Document the plan and share it with each person in the household. Ready.gov offers an easy family emergency communication plan that can be filled out and exported into a shareable PDF.
Expand your emergency plan to include neighbors. Talk about emergency resources or tasks you may be able to share, how to help neighbors who have disabilities or are elderly and how you will communicate with them during a disaster.
Build an emergency kit. A crucial part of creating an emergency plan is building an emergency kit. Emergency kits consist of basic items your household may need in the event of a shelter-in-place or evacuation emergency. See a list of kit items on page 7.
While building your kit, consider the unique needs of each member of your household, such as medication, dietary restrictions, pet supplies and necessities for specific ages. Depending on the size of the household, an emergency kit may be one waterproof container or multiple bins.
If buying extra supplies for an emergency is not in the budget, start with what you already have at home. Collect items in one area to create a new storage spot. Use this nonperishable storage as an extension of your food pantry. Take and replace items after grocery shopping to avoid food waste, and keep the emergency kit stocked at all times. Consider adding additional, non-food items to your kit on a weekly or monthly basis, as finances allow. For emergency kit tasks listed in manageable weekly or monthly steps, search online for a disaster supplies and preparedness calendar.
Ensure the emergency kit is stored in a dry place that is easily accessible for shelter-in-place and evacuation emergencies, such as a garage or closet near the front door. If you leave home for work, make an emergency kit to keep in your vehicle or at your office. Keep in mind, sheltering in place may mean staying at work or a public place if you cannot safely return home.
Sign up for alerts. Finding up-to-date information during an emergency can be stressful. Set up access to emergency alerts beforehand to receive up-to-date information.
Check in with city or county offices of emergency management to sign up for emergency alerts. Signing up for these notifications allows emergency response agencies to text, call or email when a local emergency may require you to shelter in place or evacuate. Local emergency management may also have recommendations for additional alerts and online resources for the most common natural disasters in your area.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency mobile app offers alerts and resources before, during and after a disaster. Get severe weather alerts for your area, find local evacuation shelters and disaster recovery centers, save custom emergency information, and receive safety and preparedness reminders. The app is available in English and Spanish. Download for free in the Google and Apple App stores on your smartphone.
Prepare for evacuation. While it may seem unthinkable to have to leave home during severe weather, many kinds of disasters can lead to evacuation. Sometimes there is a day or two to prepare. Other times, a life-threatening situation leads to immediate departure from home.
Prepare evacuation plans by identifying several places to go in an emergency, such as a friend’s house, nearby town or motel. Ask local emergency management about available shelter spaces, and include those options in your plans.
Choose a variety of locations in different directions. Some of your top choices may be affected by a storm or disaster.
For pets and livestock, identify places where they can be temporarily housed. For small pets, check hotel and shelter policies or ask friends about options at their homes. For large animals, check with local fairgrounds for shelter policies during emergencies, and research additional livestock evacuation locations.
In case of immediate evacuation or shelter-in-place orders when away from home, make sure pets and livestock are microchipped or tagged to expedite reunification efforts post-disaster.
During storm season, keep your vehicle’s gas tank as full as possible. Along with aiding in evacuation to a safer area, vehicles can be used as temporary shelters.
No one wants to deal with the stress and fear of a natural disaster. Yet having a plan for you and your family is the difference between a life-threatening situation and safely weathering the storm.
Emergency Kit Checklist
An emergency kit is a collection of food, water and supplies that can sustain you and your family for multiple days. When building a kit, choose a waterproof container with a secure lid, such as a storage bin. An emergency kit could be one bin or several, depending on the number of people in your household.
This list is broken into basic items to start a kit and additional recommendations provided by the United States Department of Homeland Security.
At a minimum, your emergency kit should include the following items:
- Bottled water (1 gallon per person per day for several days).
- Nonperishable food.
- Battery-powered or hand-crank radio and a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association weather radio with tone alert.
- Flashlight.
- First-aid kit.
- Extra batteries
- Whistle to signal for help.
- Dust mask to help filter contaminated air.
- Plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter in place.
- Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation.
- Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities.
- Manual can opener.
- Local maps.
- Cellphone with chargers and a backup battery.
Pet care items
- Pet food and water.
- Proper identification.
- A carrier or portable kennel.
- Collar and leash.
- Food and water bowls.
Information for this article was sourced from the United States Department of Homeland Security. Visit ready.gov for free emergency-planning resources.