With Hurricane Season upon us it is a good time to refresh ourselves on preparing for an actual event. Below are a few suggestions on how to prepare and get ready, thus avoiding a mad scramble when something actually occurs.
1. Prepare an Emergency Response Kit:
Visit www.ready.gov/kit as a good starting point for identifying those items that should be in your Kit.
2. Stay Informed – in this day of social media and news in an instance there are plenty of resources to utilize in order to stay updated on events. Here are a few I use
A. Hillsborough County Alert Center
B. City of Tampa News – I actually have alerts sent to me directly by signing up at @lert Tampa
3. Stay Smart – I was amazed how often we see the number of videos and personal accounts of people trying to drive through flooded streets. I did a quick search and found that the National Weather Services (NWS) has a public service announcement called “Turn Around, Don’t Drown” (watch their short video). They say that it only takes 12 inches of flowing water to carry off a small car; and 18 to 24 inches for a larger vehicle. While it may be tempting to get where you are going, sometimes we just need to take a moment and think through it.
We are fortunate to live in such a great waterfront community, particularly with the many days of sunshine. This being said, we should always remember that the rains will come and can come fast and heavy. In times like these I go back to the days of being in the Boy Scouts and their motto “Be Prepared”