Community Emergency Preparedness

News organizations are reporting complaints about state and local officials in Houston and surrounding municipalities having not been prepared for the hurricane. 

What preparations do you believe should be made for emergencies in our communities? What already exists? How should we prepare to replace emergency supplies when they are out of code?


I wonder if the local CERT teams are looking for new volunteers?  I'd be interested in getting involved now that I am semi-retired.



From the SOMA Two Towns For All Ages Website which went live today:

Hurricand Harvey has made it clear how important it is to be prepared for an emergency. “Register Ready – New Jersey’s Special Needs Registry for Disasters” allows New Jersey residents with disabilities or access and functional needs and their families, friends, caregivers and associates an opportunity to provide information to emergency response agencies so emergency responders can better plan to serve them in a disaster or other emergency. The information collected is confidential, will be held securely and only used for emergency response and planning. 

For more information and to register, go to www.registerready.nj.gov or dial 211 (toll-free) and an operator will assist you in registering.


from Robert Roe, Health Officer,  Maplewood:   When any emergency strikes, the basic need is for resources and volunteers.  If you are interested in helping when a serious weather emergency strikes, please go to the Essex Regional Health Commission web site and sign up for the Medical Reserve Corp.  You do not need to be a medical professional to do this.  (But we certainly encourage all doctors and nurses to sign up.)  By signing up for this course you will get training and legal liability protection.  This is for all towns in Essex County except Newark which runs their own MRC.

I do not know if any state could be fully prepared for a storm like Harvey, but we need to be as prepared as we can.   I work on some part of the Maplewood plan everyday along with other town officials.  We have already had two serious storms in the past several years (Irene which cut off our water supply and Sandy which cut off our electricity.)  Township employees cannot do it all.

We need volunteers that help their neighbors, volunteers that can help staff shelters and help with transport, volunteers that can help those in frail health, volunteers that can cook and dozens of other tasks.

 People in Maplewood are very skilled and resourceful and I know that if we work together, we can help respond to any disaster and especially natural disasters.






Medications that have to be kept chilled.... is it possible to arrange a community, power generated, refrigerated storage place for such meds when a large storm is predicted? 

Water.... as we know, a water pump facility in Texas went out of service. This resulted in bottled water being offered for sale at $100. per case. Should we buy and store bottled water before a predicted storm and then sell it to the community at cost if it is not used? A fund might be set up for this so it doesn't come out of tax funds.

----flushing? What preparations could be made for this?

These are far fetched things to consider but folks in Texas might be a little bit better off today if they were included in plans.

What else can we think of?


One would hope that Winchester Gardens has taken steps to insure that the fiasco they experienced after Sandy does not recur.



Formerlyjerseyjack said:

Should we buy and store bottled water before a predicted storm and then sell it to the community at cost if it is not used? 

I grew up in California.  We keep emergency water on hand at all times.  Its just common sense.



Klinker said:



Formerlyjerseyjack said:

Should we buy and store bottled water before a predicted storm and then sell it to the community at cost if it is not used? 

I grew up in California.  We keep emergency water on hand at all times.  Its just common sense.

This is a question about a community response. When a storm is announced, people rush the supermarkets for bread, milk and water. This is about the need for a large community supply of water.



Formerlyjerseyjack said:



Klinker said:



Formerlyjerseyjack said:

Should we buy and store bottled water before a predicted storm and then sell it to the community at cost if it is not used? 

I grew up in California.  We keep emergency water on hand at all times.  Its just common sense.

This is a question about a community response. When a storm is announced, people rush the supermarkets for bread, milk and water. This is about the need for a large community supply of water.

We have a large community supply of water.  Its called the water company.  When that fails, it falls to individuals exercise good judgement when it comes to preparedness.  Given how many times the water has gone out in MW in the last 10 years it is (again) just common sense to keep an emergency supply on hand.


I am a relatively liberal Democrat but not every problem has a government solution.


I have jugs of water frozen in my freezer.  This serves several purposes: a source of drinking water in an emergency, a source of "ice packs" to keep food cold, and it keeps the freezer fuller which is more efficient in general.  (As empty nesters, we no longer fill it with food but have yet to replace the freezer we have with a smaller one.)


After Sandy I believe Maplewood installed back up generators at Dehart Community Center (The community disaster shelter) and city hall to ensure places of refuge and gathering for the public and to ensure continuance of government services.

I think these were very good moves.  Arguments can be made for adding generators at other public building like the libraries and the pool.  The later due to the presence of bathing and toilet facilities.  However, I think those proposals might be over-prepping.

I would like to know if the new Wawa was built with back up power.  It would be great if the community had a gas station that could pump gas during an extended power disruption. 



alias said:

I would like to know if the new Wawa was built with back up power.  It would be great if the community had a gas station that could pump gas during an extended power disruption. 

There was talk after Sandy of requiring gas stations to have generators.  Does anyone know if that happened?


There are several methods of purifying water if it comes to that. Ultraviolet, filters like the "life straw", and iodine- based pills. Assuming water distribution is ok but supply quality is compromised, all of these can work. Worse comes to worst you could use all 3 with water from the river, or the back of your toilet tanks.

For those with grills, an extra bottle of propane is a good idea. Also, knowing how to build something like a rocket stove (stupidly simple) can get you through a few days.

Buy a bunch of canned food at the next Can Can sale at shop rite or whatever and you'll have gone a long way towards ensuring you're good to go for at least a few days.

Small 1200 watt 2 stroke generators cost about $120 and can power a small heater or a pump in a pinch. They run on mix and sip fuel- a gallon of gas would last quite a while. Don't use them with poor ventilation oh oh. An inverter off your car could work in a really pinchy pinch but don't count on it.

The most important thing is to survey your neighborhood casually for people you think may have potential problems in a disaster. Just remember to check in on them if you're relatively able bodied.

No need to be a prepper. Just realize (as you do) that things can and do go wrong.



Klinker said:




This is a question about a community response. When a storm is announced, people rush the supermarkets for bread, milk and water. This is about the need for a large community supply of water.

We have a large community supply of water.  Its called the water company.  When that fails, it falls to individuals exercise good judgement when it comes to preparedness.  Given how many times the water has gone out in MW in the last 10 years it is (again) just common sense to keep an emergency supply on hand.

The community in Texas has also has a community supply of water. It too, is called the water company. Unfortunately for the residents, it got broke. 

Carry on.




Formerlyjerseyjack said:



Klinker said:




This is a question about a community response. When a storm is announced, people rush the supermarkets for bread, milk and water. This is about the need for a large community supply of water.

We have a large community supply of water.  Its called the water company.  When that fails, it falls to individuals exercise good judgement when it comes to preparedness.  Given how many times the water has gone out in MW in the last 10 years it is (again) just common sense to keep an emergency supply on hand.

The community in Texas has also has a community supply of water. It too, is called the water company. Unfortunately for the residents, it got broke. 

Carry on.

Right.  When the community fails, responsibility falls to the individual.


We expect and depend on the gub'mint, utility management and employees to keep the infrastructure sound and running. And they do.... until they don't.

Who among us is old enough to remember the N.J. Transit fiasco during Hurricane Sandy? That was when they left the choo-choos to be damaged on the flood plain.

On August 5th, instant, nearly 1 million gallons of untreated sewage flowed into local streams when a 50 cent fuse blew and the worker in charge did not respond to the event. 

The purpose of this thread is to look at what exists and ask if there are precautions and preparations we can take to address unanticipated breakdowns in infrastructure. 

Do you have any suggestions?



 


one small thing is for individuals to tend to trees on their property.  A well tended tree with dead branches removed is less likely to damage a house or power lines.  Preventative maintenance is a good thing.



FilmCarp said:

one small thing is for individuals to tend to trees on their property.  A well tended tree with dead branches removed is less likely to damage a house or power lines.  Preventative maintenance is a good thing.

This



Jackson Fusion:

I have a small generator as you describe.  It can not produce enough power to start up my frig.  But if it could, it would probably be able to power it.  So it is useless for that particular need.  You should have a larger generator.


Fill your bathtub when there's a storm coming. Or you can just keep trash cans for only that reason. Technically they're not for potable water. If that bothers you buy a rain barrel or water brick or fill every pot in the house - it's only for a few days. If you go the pots and pans route, get a trash can to fill for toilet flushing.

There's also 40 (or whatever) gallons in your water heater. Make sure you turn off the main supply. 

And yeah - run river water through a doubled over towel, then add 16 drops of (unscented!) bleach per gallon, let sit 30 mins, then run through a Brita. Gross but you'll live.



mrmaplewood said:

Jackson Fusion:

I have a small generator as you describe.  It can not produce enough power to start up my frig.  But if it could, it would probably be able to power it.  So it is useless for that particular need.  You should have a larger generator.

You are correct. Refrigerators are 500-800 watts I'd guess, but the surge for the compressor is 3x that....a big pull up front. That's why I said little utility pumps or small heaters- the latter has no startup draw.

If you want to know if your generator has enough juice- find out how many amps the thing you are trying to run pulls and multiply that by volts (120). That's watts. Then, if the item has a motor (pump, fridge, drill, hairdryer, etc) multiply that by 3. That's your surge draw.

Heaters, televisions, etc have no surge draw. BUT unless you are using a generator with an inverter you shouldn't use it on electronics. They can (but aren't guaranteed to) damage them. Use at your own risk.

So if it's a 5 amp drill, 5 x 120 x 3 = 1800 watts, which is the bare minimum you should size for....really you should size @80% of generator capacity so you're not pushing it to the max... in the example here 1800/.80 = 2250 watts.


Keep them dry and well ventilated. No need to kill yourself for convenience!

For the fridge I always figure hell with it. If you keep it closed you're good for a few days probably. Don't buy anything awesome when you know a storm is coming. Not the week to load up on ice cream! 

You could start filling a good cooler with ice in a few days if worried. Leave it outside and out of the sun- assuming it's cooler outside than inside it'll stay frosty for a while.

Heat and pumps are the bigger concerns imo. Canned and prepared food (not the best, but any port in a....) and you're good to go.


ETA: worth printing out and sticking somewhere....before you have no power of course.


https://www.lowes.com/projects/pdfs/portable-generator-wattage-chart.pdf



We borrowed a small generator from a friend after Snow-tober (2011) to power our 1/3 hp sump pump and had that problem.  It would have powered it just fine after startup, but couldn't do that initial start.  So we went and bought a smaller pump and it worked (although it took a LONG time to empty the sump pit ... but it did achieve the objective.)  Now we have a bigger generator (post-Sandy) that can power the regular pump.


Per Max's thread, it appears less and less likely that Irma will impact us here (although anything is still possible), however, I'm taking it and Harvey as warnings to review and refresh my preparedness.  I have a few more jugs of water stored now (in the freezer, so that they can also serve as ice packs if needed) and have replenished my battery supply.  Today we bought a new sump pump because our old one is 15+ years old and living on borrowed time.  And we know that when a storm actually comes, that shelf in Lowes/HD/etc. is as empty as the bread shelves in the supermarket.  We have a generator that we bought during the aftermath of Sandy and haven't used since our lights came back on then.  I'm nagging the spouse to check it.  We will also top off our car gas tanks as well as our "red can" of gasoline, so that we are ready.  (At some point I also purchased a siphon with hand pump that will allow siphoning gas out of the car and into the generator if necessary.  Hopefully that will never be needed, but the cars are much larger and safer storage containers for gasoline than anything else we might contemplate acquiring, so we otherwise just have our 2 or 3 gallon red can that we use for our lawn mower.


Sac all great suggestions. One thing though... iirc modern tanks have obstructions in them designed to lower evaporative emissions from fuel and keep them from spilling gas in a rollover. Net effect in this context is you can't siphon from them anymore because you can't get the hose to the fuel.


Maybe someone here knows more, but that's my recollection from Sandy.



RobB said:

And yeah - run river water through a doubled over towel, then add 16 drops of (unscented!) bleach per gallon, let sit 30 mins, then run through a Brita. Gross but you'll live.

Given the fact that we have a Superfund site upstream from us, I would save this tip for when you are sheltering outside of the MAPSO area. Truth be told, the floods that accompany hurricanes flush all sorts of nasty stuff into the rivers (antifreeze, motor oil, pesticides, herbicides, dead animals, dog poop, household chemicals from homes that have flooded).  I think drinking river water under those circumstances would be inadvisable.  Perhaps if you could find a way to distill it....


It wouldn't be my first choice. But during the zombie apocalypse I don't think beggars will be choosing. 


Regarding our stream, I have been looking at it recently and can find no aquatic life.  It used to have small fish, turtles, and ducks plus an occasional egret.  Now, nothing but brown algae.  I wouldn't drink that water even before storm flushing, no matter how well it is disinfected.  But if it comes down to life or death, this might be the only or last resort.


If we're talking about the east branch of the Rahway it is full of fish. Go look under the bridge in Memorial Park. Lots of action.

Doesn't mean much in terms of chemicals of course.


Remember that fuel goes stale.  If you keep a can around, use it in your car every month or two and refill it.


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