Severe Weather Season Begins Soon

Soon it will be that time of year again. Historically March and April is severe weather season here in the northwest Alabama region and typically during these months we see the increase in severe thunderstorms, and tornados. Severe weather though can occur anytime during the year as we witnessed in January down in Birmingham.

As this spring’s weather season approaches there are a few reminders I would like to pass on to the public about planning and preparedness. All disasters are local. You will hear that from FEMA on down through out the emergency management profession. What does that mean – what is local? Well essentially disasters affect individuals, families, neighbors, businesses, and communities. For an individual local equates to how far you can reach and affect your situation for a community it is pretty much the same. A disaster is an event that impacts livelihoods to the extent that outside assistance is needed to respond and recover.

It takes individual and community efforts to respond and recover from disasters. Part of those efforts should be for individuals, families and businesses to have a plan and to prepare an emergency kit. There are many resources available for people and businesses to prepare and plan for hazards whether those hazards are natural or man-made. On the internet there are sites such as www.ready.gov, there is www.fema.gov, and of course there is also our Florence/Lauderdale EMA website at www.florencelauderdaleema.org which has all of these links and many more.

If you have a plan and work on preparing an emergency kit you will greatly assist in the response and recovery efforts if we were to face a disaster here in Florence or Lauderdale County. As you will see from the different literature on preparation and disasters you should prepare yourself, your family and/or your business to sustain yourself for three days. Depending on the magnitude of any disaster it could take at least that long to marshal resources and efforts in an affected area and begin the process of restoring vital services to the community.

Emergency management is essentially communication and coordination based on plans and preparation. Increase your chances of minimizing a disaster’s impact on you, your family, and your livelihood by taking the time now to consider what hazards we face and talking with your family and business associates about what plans you have to overcome the unforeseen impacts of nature and man.