As the northeast braces for the heavy rains and strong winds of Hurricane Sandy, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed as you scour the internet for information on how to prepare your home for the storm. Follow these tips from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers For Disease Control. Stay safe, everyone.
1. Follow instructions from state and local authorities
If you’re told to evacuate and it’s still safe to do so, get out of dodge. Watch the news, listen to the radio, or look for alerts online or on Twitter that tell you how to proceed.
A cool app you might want to download: The Red Cross has a free Hurricane app for iPhone and Android, which has action steps preloaded so you can access them even if mobile networks are down. You can set up one-touch “I’m safe” messaging that pushes a note out to your social networks to let people know that you’re OK. The app also has essential weather alerts and handy flashlight and strobe light functions, which work through the camera flash on your phone. Get the app here: http://www.redcross.org/mobile-apps/hurricane-app
2. Make an emergency kit and a communications plan
A basic emergency kit includes supplies like:
• Water: one gallon of water per person per day for at least three days, for drinking and sanitation (more on water safety below)
• Food: at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food and a manual can opener (more on food safety below). Don’t know what to buy? Print our list of the 125 Best Packaged Foods and pick up things that aren’t in the store’s refrigerated or freezer cases.
• Battery-powered radio and extra batteries
• Flashlights and extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Cell phones and chargers
• Other essentials like cash, identification, and important documents like passports
Your communications plan is this: Identify a friend or family member out of state who you can call to tell that you’re safe. Make sure everyone in your household has the contact’s phone number and a cell phone, coins, or a prepaid phone card. Text messages might get through in the event of network disruptions that could affect phone calls.
3. Protect your home, protect yourself
Before the hurricane, bring in outdoor furniture and garbage cans, cover windows with storm shutters or plywood. During the storm, secure all of your doors, stay inside, avoid elevators, and stay away from windows and glass doors. Interior rooms are the safest.
4. Exercise water smarts
In addition to having enough water per person in your household for three days, you may want to ready a supply of water for sanitary purposes such as bathing and flushing toilets in case you lose power. Fill the bathtub and other larger containers (like pots) with water.
If your water supply becomes contaminated with floodwater or if you have floodwater in your home, take extra caution. Don’t use water you think might be contaminated (or you have been told is contaminated) to wash dishes, brush your teeth, wash and prepare food, or make ice. Water can often be made safe to drink by boiling, adding disinfectants, or filtering. Learn how to make your water safe with these tips from the CDC.
Note that caffeine and alcohol are diuretics and dehydrate the body, which increases the need for drinking water. Avoid these drinks if you can.
5. Keep food fresh
During the storm, turn your refrigerator thermostat to its coldest setting and keep its doors closed. If you lose power, try not to open your fridge or freezer so you preserve the temperature inside. If the power has been off for 4 hours or more, throw away perishable foods (including meat, poultry, fish, eggs and leftovers) in your fridge. If your freezer is full and you don’t open it, it will keep food safe for 48 hours. If it’s only half full, that window shrinks to 24 hours (frozen food keeps other items cold; the fewer items in the freezer, the fewer “ice packs” you have). Click here for more tips on food safety from the CDC.
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