Disasters don’t plan ahead — but you can
By Chad Giesen, American Family Insurance Catastrophe Response Manager
I’ve worked in the insurance industry — specifically, in Claims — for 27 years, with the last three years as a catastrophe response manager. Over all those years, I’ve helped people rebuild their lives after wind and hail events, tornadoes, hurricanes and wildfires — which, as you can imagine, is both very difficult and rewarding at the same time.
Though the details, destruction and impacts of every catastrophe are different, one thing remains true: People who are prepared are the ones who make it out of an event in the best shape, with less severe impacts to their properties and lives.
In September, we’re recognizing National Preparedness Month.
This year, the national effort emphasizes the importance of helping elderly family members, friends and neighbors with advance planning for catastrophes. Older people may have greater difficulty with preparedness, whether due to physical or financial challenges.
The steps outlined below can help all of us in preparing for these kinds of events. This year, make it a point to share it with people in your life who may need extra help in preparing for and recovering from storms and other disruptions, including older family members and single parents.
Create a communication plan.
- Determine a plan that includes where your aging loved ones will go, who they’ll call and what they’ll take with them if they need to evacuate.
- Create a hard copy with contact information for family members. Make sure all caregivers have the list.
- Designate one local and one out-of-town contact to call during or after a catastrophe.
- Discuss, review and update the plan annually. Make sure all contact information is correct.
Be prepared to evacuate.
- Pack an emergency kit (see bottom bar for what to include) and make sure everyone in the household knows where this is stored and how to access it easily.
- Plan where you and those you’re helping will go during an evacuation for each specific event. For example, have a plan for tornadoes, fires or any other natural disasters. There could be different evacuation zones for each event and transportation may be disrupted. Timing for evacuations is important.
Stay informed.
- Be aware of emergency resources such as local alerts and community shelter resources.
- Set up weather alerts on your aging loved one’s phone so they can see alerts and live updates. Out-of-town family can also set up weather alerts for a loved one’s area, so they are aware when an emergency is happening.
- Purchase a weather-only radio for emergency updates.
- There are some specific things you can do to prepare your property. Consider sharing with your older family members, friends and neighbors:
Focus on trees and landscaping. It is estimated that most of the damage done by trees in high winds could be avoided if trees had been properly cared for. Plant trees at the correct depth by making sure the roots are at the soil surface so they don’t snap off at the stem point during forceful winds. Prune trees to correct defects such as weak branches, which are the first to fall during a wind event.
Keep outdoor gear and equipment indoors during wind events or securely anchor. This applies to storage sheds and other outbuildings, outdoor furniture and grills.
Strengthen entry doors and windows. Install storm shutters over all exposed windows and glass surfaces.
You can find more resources on the FEMA.gov and Ready.gov websites. Also, check out these useful articles on amfam.com: Nine steps to prep for a natural disaster and DIY natural disaster kit.
Helping loved ones be prepared — even if such preparations are never needed — brings peace of mind and puts our values of caring and trust into practice. Just as in claims work, having clear communication and solid processes can make difficult situations easier to handle.
Recently, we experienced our first hurricane of the year, with Hurricane Idalia making landfall in Florida. Those in the storm’s path were preparing and so were those of us in American Family Insurance Claims Services, acting on the very detailed catastrophe plan we put into place at the beginning of every year. We work with our care center teams, all claims departments, Marketing social media teams and policyholder communications to make sure our customers know how we are there to help.
Weather events and disasters are happening with greater intensity and with greater impacts. Preparation is more important than ever, for all of us.
