Family Disaster Plan
North Carolina has had more than its share of natural disasters and storms, including hurricanes, over the past few years. The best way to survive and endure a hurricane is to prepare for it before hand. Your North Carolina Touchstone Energy cooperative offers the followiing tips to help you prepare your family for a hurricane.
The following tips will help you prepare your family for a hurricane.
• Discuss the type of hazards that could affect your family. Know your home's vulnerability to storm surge, flooding and wind .
• Locate a safe room or the safest areas in your home for each hurricane hazard. In certain circumstances the safest areas may not be in your home but within your community.
• Determine escape routes from your home and places to meet. These should be measured in tens of miles rather than hundreds of miles.
• Have an out-of-state friend as a family contact, so all your family members have a single point of contact.
• Make a plan now for what to do with your pets if you need to evacuate.
• Post emergency telephone numbers by your phones, and make sure your children know how and when to call 911.
• Check your insurance coverage - flood damage is not usually covered by homeowners insurance.
• Stock non-perishable emergency supplies and a disaster supply kit.
• Monitor the radio and make sure you have plenty of batteries in case the power goes out. Replace its battery every six months, as you do with your smoke detectors.
• Take First Aid, CPR and disaster preparedness classes.
The above information is provided by the National Hurricane Center,
a division of the National Weather Service.