National Preparedness Month: Are You Ready?

Published in

PaloAltoConnect

5 min readSep 13, 2024

September is National Preparedness Month and an important reminder that preparing for emergencies and disasters in advance — rather than on the fly — can help keep your family and community safe.

If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to planning, we’ve got you covered with tips and resources to make it easier. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which runs the Ready.gov resource website, the first thing to do in emergency planning is start a conversation. Read on to gain valuable resources to stay informed, make a plan for rainy season, and learn more about how the City is strengthening our wildfire resilience.

Stay Informed

Stay informed by signing up to receive emergency alerts, follow the City on social media, receive Palo Alto Police Department safety notification to understand what’s going on and what actions you may need to take.
CityofPaloAlto.org/Connect

Flood & Winter Storm Preparedness

Regardless of the seasonal forecast for winter weather, it important to be prepared. Know if your property is in a flood zone by looking up your address on the FEMA Floodmap Service Center. Regular homeowner’s insurance policies don’t cover flood damage. Call your insurance agent to purchase flood insurance to protect your home and contents. Find more information at www.Floodsmart.gov.

Sandbag Stations in Palo Alto

Between November and March sandbags are available here: Palo Alto Sandbag Map.

Have a supply of plastic sheeting, plywood, and tools ready for waterproofing of doors and openings.
Learn How to Fill and Use Sandbags or Watch this one-minute video from our partners at Valley Water on how to properly fill and pack a sandbag

During a winter storm with heavy rains, monitor and track creek levels to stay informed at www.cityofpaloalto.org/CreekMonitor.

Advancing Wildfire Resilience

The City recently partnered with the Santa Clara County Fire Safe Council, Woodside Fire Protection District, and Stanford University to install new wildfire resilience tools in the community. New sensors were strategically placed in the wildland urban interface to help detect wildfires. The sensors support a safer community by using advanced ground-based sensors and cloud-based AI technologies to detect and alert if wildfires are ignited. Learn more here.

How to Start a Conversation about Disaster Preparedness

Starting a conversation today can help you and your family prepare at your own pace. This way, it’s not so overwhelming and everyone has a voice — including our most vulnerable family members.

Use National Preparedness Month as the starting point you need to set aside a time in September to talk and make plans.
Talk about steps you’ve taken or would like to take to prepare, and encourage questions about preparedness actions, expressing concerns and sharing ideas.

Create Your Plan Together

Ready.gov has lots of tips on how to make an emergency plan for all types of emergencies. You can also find a handy fill-in plan from the Red Cross.

1 How will I receive emergency alerts and warnings?

Sign everyone up for timely and reliable public safety alerts including AlertSCC (Santa Clara County Office of Emergency Management), Nixle (Palo Alto Police Department), PulsePoint (Palo Alto Fire Department), National Weather Service and FEMA.

2 What is my shelter plan?

In emergencies there are two types of shelter to consider. When sheltering at home, it’s important to talk about how you will manage water and food and medical supplies. If you’re ordered to evacuate, you should still bring your emergency supply kit just in case. If you have pets, it’s important to know in advance where you can bring your pets so you can stay with your animals.

3 What is my family/household communication plan?

Having everyone’s contact information in one place is key to communicating during an emergency, especially if you’re separated. Build your contact list together, which should include critical information providers, such as schools or friends outside of your area whom everyone can contact if you’re separated, and phones don’t work. Keep a paper contact list in your emergency supply kits and make sure your out-of-the-area contact knows about being part of your communication plan. Discuss your emergency communications plan with everyone on your contacts list and share a copy of your contact list with everyone who is on it.

4 Do we need to build or update our emergency preparedness kit? Ready.gov offers a handy checklist to get you started.

Discuss Specific Needs for your Household

Each household has its own unique factors to consider, such as very young or old and sick family members, pets, and people who speak different languages. It’s important to discuss your daily living needs, such as dietary needs, medical prescriptions and equipment, and how you can best delegate responsibilities so that everyone has a role and knows what to do. Know what other things you need, including insurance and critical documents, on this resource page.

Review the Family Plan Annually

Check your plan each year to review the plan, as circumstances, needs and contacts may have changed. Share it again with all critical people in your network. September is a perfect time to review your family plan!

The City’s resource page shares everything you need to know.

Planning helps you have peace of mind that you’ll know what to do in an emergency and how to help keep everyone safe. See more on the City’s emergency preparedness page or via the online resources below.