Disaster Preparedness

Unfortunately, at some point South Carolina will experience another natural disaster. While we cannot prevent hurricanes, tornados, or floods from happening, we can work as individuals and communities to ensure that we are prepared when they occur. There are some simple, yet crucial, steps you can take to lessen the impact of a disaster on your family, your home, and your property. Most importantly, I strongly urge you to follow any evacuation orders issued. Our state and local emergency managers are deadly serious when they issue these orders. Please do not place yourself in jeopardy by ignoring these orders and “hunkering-down.” If you live in a coastal region, I encourage you to visit the South Carolina Department of Transportation’s website and familiarize yourself with local evacuation routes. You may want to print these directions and file them so they are available if you lose power. I also encourage you to prepare for a disaster by creating a family disaster plan. An excellent resource for developing a family plan is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s webpage. The plan outlines what supplies you may need to stock up on, how your family will communicate in the event of a disaster, and many other important steps you should take. Additionally, we should all begin assessing our homes’ vulnerabilities and take steps now to lessen the damage that would result from a storm. The Institute for Business and Home Safety provides excellent brochures and literature outlining what you can do to prepare your home. In the event of severe weather impacting South Carolina, I would encourage you to monitor your local television and radio stations as well as the websites for the National Weather Service. Visit and familiarize yourself with the website for your local Weather Forecast Office. Charleston: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/chs/ Columbia: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/cae/ Greenville/Spartanburg: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/gsp/ Additionally, I would encourage you to visit the National Hurricane Center’s website (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/) for the latest information on approaching storms. Finally, if you have children, you should sit down with them and visit the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s webpage (http://www.fema.gov/kids/hurr.htm) for information to help them better understand natural disasters. Thank you for taking the time to visit the Disaster Preparedness section of my website. With a little advance planning, I know we can all help protect ourselves and our loved ones in the event of a natural disaster. Click American Red Cross Preparation guide (pdf document) for tips on preparing for this years' hurricane season.

###