Colorado Floods 2013 – Credit http://www.nationalservice.gov
Note: This is day 21 of National Preparedness Month. Follow this year’s campaign on Twitter by searching for the #NPM or #NPM13 hash tag.
This month, as part of NPM13, I’ll be rerunning some updated preparedness essays (like this one) , along with some new ones.
# 7798
The floods this past week in Colorado are just the latest example of when events can quickly force thousands of people from their homes, often with little or no warning. According to the Colorado Office of Emergency Management, as of yesterday nearly 6,000 people were under mandatory evacuation, over 16,000 homes had been damaged, and more than 1,800 have been destroyed.
Last month, in NIFC Raises Wildfire Preparedness Level To 5 (Maximum), we looked at the mandatory evacuation of over 1,800 homes due to the 160-square-mile Beaver Creek Fire in Idaho. And just two days ago, explosions and a massive fire at a chemical factory in Oklahoma City forced residents living nearby to abruptly leave their homes in the middle of the night.
The first choice for most people in any disaster it to try to shelter-in-place in their own homes. Home is familiar, home is comfortable, and home is where your processions are. So quite understandably, no one wants to leave home during an emergency if they can possibly avoid it. In fact, it can be such a traumatic decision that some people will risk everything to avoid evacuating.
But the following photo taken in Crystal Beach after Hurricane Ike in 2008 proves that staying home in the face of a flood, a hurricane, or other natural disaster can have deadly consequences.
Being able to leave in a hurry when an evacuation has been ordered means having a plan, a destination, and an emergency `to go’ kit or `BOB’ already equipped, and standing by.
In the vernacular, a `bug-out bag' or `BOB’ is a bag of emergency supplies, ideally kept at the ready, that one can grab on the way out the door during an emergency.
My Bug-out-bag, Canteen, & Toiletry kit
Every hurricane season I go through my personal bug out bag, and replace flashlight and radio batteries from last year, and swap out older emergency rations for newer ones.
A BOB isn't supposed to be a survival kit, but rather, is supposed to provide the essentials one might need during the first 72 hours of a forced, and sometimes unexpected, evacuation.
It should contain food, water, any essential prescription medicines, copies of important papers (ID's, insurance, important Phone #s), a first aid kit, portable radio, flashlight, extra batteries, and ideally blankets and extra clothes.
While having to evacuate your home may seem like an unlikely event, every years hundreds of thousands of Americans are forced to do so. Rivers spill their banks, dams break, brush fires rage out of control, even sudden industrial accidents can force evacuations.
And unlike with a hurricane, you won’t always have advance warning.
Ready.gov has the following advice on how to prepare for an evacuation.
Evacuating Yourself and Your Family
There may be conditions under which you will decide to get away or there may be situations when you are ordered to leave. Follow these guidelines for evacuation:
- Plan places where your family will meet, both within and outside of your immediate neighborhood. Use the Family Emergency Plan to decide these locations before a disaster.
- If you have a car, keep a full tank of gas in it if an evacuation seems likely. Keep a half tank of gas in it at all times in case of an unexpected need to evacuate. Gas stations may be closed during emergencies and unable to pump gas during power outages. Plan to take one car per family to reduce congestion and delay.
- Become familiar with alternate routes and other means of transportation out of your area. Choose several destinations in different directions so you have options in an emergency.
- Leave early enough to avoid being trapped by severe weather.
- Follow recommended evacuation routes. Do not take shortcuts; they may be blocked.
- Be alert for road hazards such as washed-out roads or bridges and downed power lines. Do not drive into flooded areas.
- If you do not have a car, plan how you will leave if you have to. Make arrangements with family, friends or your local government.
- Take your emergency supply kit unless you have reason to believe it has been contaminated.
- Listen to a battery-powered radio and follow local evacuation instructions.
- Take your pets with you, but understand that only service animals may be permitted in public shelters. Plan how you will care for your pets in an emergency.
Since I live in a hurricane evacuation zone, I have an emergency plan, a pre-arranged place to go, and my evac kit (see Inside My New Bug Out Bag) packed and ready to go.
Of course, you’d be hard pressed to put everything for a family of four into one bag. So each family member should have their own BOB.
Some items, like the radio, lights, and first aid kit needn’t be duplicated in each bag.
I keep my BOB within arm’s reach of my first aid kit, and would hopefully be able to grab both, even in an emergency.
On top of this, I keep a spare first aid kit in my car, along with an `overnight bag’, and I have a third duffle bag packed with extra supplies, that I would hopefully be able to throw in the car as well.
But if I had to, I could easily go 72 hours on just my bug-out bag alone.
o these things to give me peace of mind and confidence that I’m ready to deal with just about any emergency that comes my way.
The truth is, preparing is easy.
It’s worrying that is hard.
