By Melonie McLaurin
ROCKINGHAM — Donna Wright, director of emergency services for Richmond County, said September is the month when North Carolinians need to start paying attention to dangers caused by the weather — especially now that it is hurricane season.
Health Director Tommy Jarrell said the Richmond County health and human services staff has made efforts to encourage everyone to follow Wright’s suggestion that each family have a plan for dealing with any and all emergencies that might occur.
“We absolutely would advise citizens to do those things,” Jarrell said. “We certainly want to encourage everyone, especially in the month of September because of hurricanes. Survival for those first 72 hours depends on being prepared. If something were to happen on a large scale, help could not be there immediately when it impacts a large area.”
Wright said when any kind of disaster strikes, it is each person’s responsibility to make certain they have what they need to stay alive until help arrives — which can often be a very long wait.
“Everyone needs to have a family or household plan,” Jarrell said. “They should be asking, ‘Do I keep enough medicine for several days? What if I get separated from my family? Where will be meet? Do we have a plan on what to do with our animals? Is there anywhere to take them to? Is there a telephone number we can all call to verify who is safe?’ The most critical time has always been those first 72 hours.”
Jarrell said having enough food and water for each person in the group does not apply only to storms like the destructive Katrina that ravaged New Orleans 10 years ago this month, but also to incidents like house fires and flash flooding.
“We want to make sure everybody understands what is supposed to happen and have a disaster kit,” Wright said. “Be prepared to take care of yourself because it will take time for shelters to open, especially with a storm like Katrina. They still have areas submerged and they’ve had to adapt and move. You might never get used to your new normal, and that new normal may take far longer than anticipated depending on the severity of the event.”
Wright reminded people of other potentially dangerous conditions, such as living near railroad tracks.
“That is a hazard,” she said. “A traffic accident near your home containing chemicals on trucks can be a hazard since you’re having to shelter in place until they get he event taken care of.”
Wright suggests people visit www.readync.org to find out all of the information they will need to have on their persons, such as vital records, in order to prove who they are in the event of a catastrophe.
“I don’t think many people actually have these plans and kits in place,” she said. “And I think even less people keep emergency supplies in their cars. www.readync.org has an app, and there is a very cool part with a tab you can touch that describes a disaster kit and how to build it.”
Another thing Wright wants to public to understand is the importance of the county’s emergency notification system.
“Go to the EMS webpage and you will see Code Red,” she said. “You can go in and register your cellphone numbers, associating them with a physical address. So if something happens in the residential area where you live while you are away and you should not go home, you will be messaged that that is the case.”
Wright will request that the Richmond County Board of Commissioners pass a resolution designating September as Emergency Preparedness Month during the board’s monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m. today in the commissioners’ chambers on the second floor of the county administration building.
Reach reporter Melonie McLaurin at 910-817-2673 and follow her on Twitter @melonieflomer.