‘A Lasting Legacy’: Ham. Co. Office of Emergency Management recognizes Natl Preparedness Month

The Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management is recognizing September as National Preparedness Month with their “a lasting legacy” campaign.Amy Maxwell is the Public Relations for HCOEM, she said an emergency kits is critical and it is always better to be proactive than reactive.

“Let’s talk about an emergency to go kit. What does that consist of? Water. It is the most important thing to remember it needs to be at least one gallon of water per person per day for three to five days, non perishable food items, dried food, peanut butter, crackers, anything that is non perishable enough for each person for three to five days, pet supplies, food and water for your pets, they are part of our family as well. Battery operated weather radios are the number one source of information for severe weather. ” said Maxwell. “In the event of a fire, you need to have to escape routes. In the event that you plan on using might be obstructed by fire, it’s always good to have a second route in the event that area has been obstructed by fire, so have two escape routes.”

microbial ecologist Henry Pratt at UTC said due to changes in natural wind streams, we should likely prepare for more natural disaster events.

“In the last 10 years, for example, in this part of the state, we hear that term 100 year floods multiple times, well, is it really 100 year flood, what is that based on, because if it were 100 year flood, you should only have one of those in 100 years, and not four or five of them in 10 years,” said Pratt. “So, what that points to is another potential cause for, you know, being a big concern and trying to maybe be prepared. That is changes in our weather events tied to climate change. So, the frequency of these really heavy rainfall events, if you look at those over time, that’s one of the major marks that the climate is changing. Climate is established by a number of different factors, but basically boils down global climate to either ocean currents, or air currents. If you have greater heating, which is in the hypothesis is that that climate change is driven by global warming, you get more atmospheric moisture, that leads to very dramatic changes in ultimately in wind patterns.”

More tips on preparing those emergency kits can be found at Hamiltonready.org