Prepping for Severe Weather

5/18/2020 (Permalink)

Prepping for Severe Weather With Your Family | SERVPRO of Aitkin, Carlton and West St. Louis Counties 

While there is often advanced warning for some types of severe weather, there are also times when Mother Nature can manage to catch us off-guard.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take and safety tips to follow to prepare your family for various severe weather occurrences.

Where to Begin

One of the best ways to be prepared in severe weather situations is to have a family emergency plan established.

If your family does have an emergency plan in place, be sure to discuss it, review it and have drills at the onset of various weather seasons, making sure that everyone knows exactly what to do at a moment’s notice.

If you’ve not yet created a family emergency plan, here are some things to take into consideration when creating it:

1. How will you receive emergency alerts?

Thanks to technology today, it is easy to receive emergency alerts and warnings in the palm of your hand by way of smartphones, as well as receive alerts through radio and television broadcasts. If you have a weather app or Google on your smartphone, you will quickly receive emergency alerts, which can provide you with valuable time in severe weather situations.

2. What storm shelter options are available?

Taking shelter in areas where tornadoes are common means you’ll want to be in the lowest part of your home, preferably a basement if you have one. If that is not possible, choose an interior room on the lowest level of your home or building that is away from corners, windows, doors and outside walls. Be sure to visit ready.gov for other situations that may require a storm shelter or basement.

3. Do you have evacuation routes mapped out?

Evacuations are stressful so you should always have evacuation routes mapped out in advance. It’s wise to have multiple routes just in case one is impassable, and make sure those routes will have places to stay with your pets along the way if you have furry family members to evacuate with.

4. How will everyone keep in touch?

When there is an emergency, communication is key. It is easy to rely on cell phones to keep in touch with your family, but in some circumstances, that just isn’t feasible. Cell phone towers can incur damage, phones could be lost or left behind, and batteries will die if there is a power outage and there is no power source for recharging.

Hence, it is wise to have an emergency communication plan in place for your family and a safe meeting place for your family to meet should family members be separated during the emergency.

If a storm does cause damage to your home or business, don’t hesitate to call your friends at SERVPRO of Aitkin Carlton and West St. Louis Counties  to get the cleanup and restoration process started.

(218) 879-6141