Category Archives: Information

Take Floods seriously – floods kill more people each year than any other natural phenomenon including tornadoes.

• Ask your local emergency management office if you live in a flood-prone area. Learn the area’s flooding history, flood warning signs and alert signals. Get a copy of the community flood evacuation plan.
• Have a fully-supplied emergency kit on hand.

• Develop an emergency communication plan, and a plan for getting back together in case family members are separated during floods.
• Ask an out-of-state relative or friend to serve as the “family contact.” After a disaster, it’s often easier to call long distance, and it’s unlikely this contact will be involved in the same disaster.
• Teach all family members how and when to turn off gas, electricity, and water.
• Teach children how and when to call 911, police, and fire, and which radio or TV station to tune to for emergency information.
• If a flood comes, go to an upper floor (if outdoors, climb to high ground and stay there); if told to leave, do so immediately.
• Never attempt to walk or drive through floodwaters. Even 6-inch-deep water can sweep you off your feet; even less can cause loss of control of a vehicle.  Turn around don’t drown
• Flood dangers do not end when the water recedes. Listen to a radio or television and don’t return home until authorities indicate it is safe to do so. Even then, listen for and follow all instructions they give you.

Tornadoes are Mother Nature’s most feared events because they are her most destructive force.

Don’t wait for a warning! The more ready for emergency your home/business is, the safer you are; second, any thunderstorm can produce tornadoes.

Tornado WATCH:

Conditions are right for tornadoes to form in the listed area. Pay close attention to the situation.

Tornado WARNING:

Tornadic activity has been spotted by qualified personnel or on radar in the warned area.  Take cover immediately!

• Don’t try to put together any supplies at this point; the time to make a disaster kit was before the disaster!
• Likewise, this is no time to be guessing where to go.  Knowing this in advance is a key part of the disaster plan you should have already put together.
• If you don’t have a tornado shelter as such, your best inside bet is a basement, followed by an interior room on the building’s lowest level.  Do not stop to open windows; if your safest place has windows and/or exterior doors, keep as far from them as possible.
• If you see a funnel, and if communication is possible after you reach shelter, notify the authorities.
• If you’re outside – including in a vehicle – when you hear a warning or see a funnel, find a ditch or depression, lie flat in it and cover your head with your hands.
• Straight-line winds, or downbursts, are different from tornadoes but can be just as destructive.  This is another reason to take a severe thunderstorm watch or warning just as seriously as you would a tornado advisory.

Keep an ear out for Severe Weather.  Local forecasts are more available than ever, and you can use them for more than just planning how to dress!

• When you hear special weather information, as opposed to just a forecast, know what you’re hearing.  What’s the difference between a WATCH and a WARNING?
• WATCH: conditions are right for the development of the type of weather stated in the advisory.

• WARNING: the type of weather stated in the advisory is imminent in your area.
• Even if it’s not in your back yard, act as if it is. The most sophisticated radars can’t pinpoint a specific street for a weather event.  The state of the art today is that radar “sees” an area two to three miles wide.
• Take events like Severe Weather Awareness week seriously.  It’s a great learning opportunity, and what you learn could save your life!
• Get involved with this event – get a speaker for your church, school or other group from the National Weather Service, your local emergency management agency or local Red Cross chapter.
• Put together an emergency kit and work up a disaster plan.  Your local Red Cross chapter and/or emergency management agency can help.
• Emergency kits can be purchased, already put together, from the American Red Cross.
• No disaster plan can fit all home and businesses; research your specific needs through libraries, the Internet and your local emergency management agency and then create your own.

If you want tips on burglary prevention experience has shown us that burglars like many things (mostly other people’s things)

Thieves prefer two conditions:

• An invitation, and
• A fast, easy, undetected entry and exit

Burglary invitations aren’t stuffed into envelopes as are birthday party invites; nor do we hang signs on our doors.  However, invitations are sent and signs are posted which are equally effective. Have you observed the pile of newspapers on your how the mail overflows from his mailbox?

Other Invitations Include:

• Unkempt Yard.
• Keys left in your vehicle while you run into the store.
• Dark or concealed hiding areas.
• Windows left open when you are away.
• Notes left on exterior doors explaining where you have gone.
• The spare house key on top of the door jam. (Did you think no one knew that key was there?)
• Messages on answering machines stating you are away.
• An open garage door.
• Sliding glass door, without auxiliary locks.
• A house unlit night after night.
• Privacy fence.
• Flimsy door latches and locks.
• Basement windows.

After receiving his invitation the burglar also looks for a quick, undetected entry and exit. He will choose the path which affords him the best chance of not getting caught. For this reason, most burglars work at night.

Other Opportunities:

• A large shrub in front of a window
• A dark alley behind the residence
• A privacy fence around the yard
• An unlocked door or window
• A sliding glass door
• An exterior door without a deadbolt lock