As a parent, you want to hope that you and your family will never have to deal with anything too scary or dangerous. But the facts of life are that most families have some type of disaster hit them at one point or another. The trick to getting through this time unscathed is to be prepared before the emergency strikes. Especially in situations like flood or fire, having a plan in place and being ready can make a huge difference in the ultimate outcome. To help you with this, here are three ways you can prepare your family to deal with a flood.
Create An Emergency Kit
When the rain starts falling or the rivers start rising isn’t the time to start getting things prepared. To really be ready for a flood, you have to have been prepared before the first drop of water even appears. To do this, it’s now time to start putting together an emergency kit to help if a flood should happen. According to ACFloodControl.org, your emergency flood kit should include things like first aid and medicine, food and water, a radio, and an extra set of clothes. Try to keep all these things in water-tight bags so that they won’t get wet from flood waters and will remain useful even in a flood.
Make It Easy To Find You
If the flooding happens at a fast and surprising rate, you may not have been able to make it out of your area before flood waters started rising. When this happens, it’s best for you and your family to sit tight until someone’s able to come rescue you. Traveling on your own in flood waters is never a good idea and could put you in more danger than you would be waiting for rescuers to come help. But to ensure you’re able to get the help you need, Flash.org recommends that you prepare your home by making your house number easy to see. Additionally, try to keep things up off the floor and pathways clear so it’s easy to navigate in and out of your home.
Designate A Point Of Contact
If you become somehow separated from your family once a flood hits, it may be a challenge to get in contact with them. In some past instances, it wasn’t possible to get in contact with someone in your city through your phone but it was possible to contact someone outside of your area. In a situation like this, FEMA shares that it’s vital that your family has a designated point of contact somewhere else in the country. Make sure each member of your family knows who this person is and what their phone number is. They may be the link that helps you know about the safety of your family members and helps you reunite when you can’t find each other on your own.
If you’re worried about floods affecting your family, consider using the tips mentioned above to help prepare for this event.
Originally posted on April 30, 2018 @ 7:50 am
