Hurricane Preparedness Week Begins on Sunday
As we move into this year’s hurricane season, our EPA WSD colleague, Stefanie Simpson, has prepared the following list of useful suggestions as a reminder that safe is always better than sorry!
As we finally transition from the winter months, summer is fast approaching, and for much of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, this means hurricane season. Hurricane Preparedness Week is May 25 – 31, making it a great time to review and prepare for the months ahead. Each year storms seem to get larger, stronger and occur more often. Drinking water and wastewater utilities can be vulnerable to infrastructure damage, flooding, and power outages. EPA’s Water Security Division has free tools and resources to help prepare for inclement weather. Here are some steps utilities can take to prepare for hurricane season:
- Identify your vulnerable assets using the Vulnerability Self-Assessment Tool (VSAT)
- Update your Emergency Response Plan (ERP).
- Reach out to your local power provider to see where you are on their restoration priority list.
- Contact local vendors to have generators/fuel storage on hand.
- Join your state Water and Wastewater Agency Response Network (WARN) if you haven’t already done so.
- Have a list handy of water emergency contacts (WARN, local, state, federal).
- Keep up-to-date when severe weather is forecasted for your area.
Check out EPA’s “Day Without Water” video – a great resource to help you raise community support for water and wastewater emergency preparedness. For more tips and resources on preparing for water emergencies, visit EPA’s Water Security website at http://www.epa.gov/watersecurity or email WSD-Outreach@epa.gov.
