If you absolutely had to get out of your house fast, could you do it, and where would you go? Being able to evacuate quickly could be a matter of life and death, and knowing what you need to grab and where you will go should be considered before an evacuation becomes a reality. I will be honest and say that I don’t know how fast I could evacuate myself, but it is something that I think about often, and you should as well.
Evacuation Planning is Important
There are many types of natural disasters that occur all over the globe, and there are many threats in the United States. What type of natural disaster you should plan and prepare for depends on where you live in the U.S. If you are in the plain states then tornadoes will be your major concern, but flooding could also affect you if a large amount of rain falls in a short time period.
Wild fires, flooding, and hurricanes are the most notorious disasters that may require evacuations, but there could be other instance, although rare, that would cause evacuations. Knowing what you have in your area that could force and evacuation is a good plan.
Is a chemical plant in the area?
Are you close to Railroad tracks, or the interstate where many types of chemicals are transported on a daily basis?
Is a nuclear power plant close?
Once you know what is around you, and what potential disasters can occur, you will understand why evacuation planning is important.
Know What to Expect in Your Area
I have several concerns with weather related disasters. Hurricanes will not directly impact me, but there are threats from them that I consider like wind damage, flooding, and tornado threats. There is also another concern for me as I live within a few miles of railroad tracks. I don’t know what is being carried in those train cars, so I know if the train ever derails I could have to evacuate, and I do not want to take a long time with my leaving.
Knowing what surrounds your area that could potentially force an evacuation puts you ahead of the game, and gives you the ability to be one of the first people out of the area. Getting out first keeps you from the possible chaos of everyone evacuating at the same time, as well as getting caught up in the disaster.
Make A Plan and Have A Backup Plan
Once you determine that evacuating could happen, making a plan to execute the evacuation is what you want to do next. This could be as simple as jumping in the car and leaving, and as complicated as securing your home and removing valuables including pets. Having a to go bag, also known as a bug-out-bag or BOB, can make the escape easier. Keeping important documents as well as copies of credit cards and Identification cards in this bag is essential. The contents of a BOB will be covered in another post as there is too much information to include here.
If you have pets then you will also want to have a bag to grab with their necessities in it. This could be medications, some food, and comfort items. Your pet could get stressed in these situations, so keeping things familiar will help.
You need to know where you will go when you evacuate. Having family or friends that you can stay with during an evacuation can limit the stress of evacuating. This also gives you an opportunity to plan for different routes you could take to the location. This will also give you an opportunity to know what veterinarians are in the area if you have pets.
If you do not have family or friends that you can evacuate to, and have pets, look for pet friendly hotels in the area you plan to evacuate to, and have that information handy so that when it ever comes time to evacuate you can contact them en route. Check and keep this information current so you know what to expect when it comes time to need them.
Conclusion
The time may never come where you must evacuate, but if it ever does, doing a little work now will save you time, hassle, and stress, as well as get you out fast. Know what you might have to evacuate from, make a plan, inform all members of the family the plan, and practice the plan occasionally to know that if and when you must get out quickly you can.
