Officials: Be prepared for disasters

By Jamie Jones

Thunderstorms, flooding, high winds, tornados.

Chemical spills, train derailments, the avian flu.

Factor in all the other possible disasters and it’s enough to make your head spin. After a recent run of unpredictable severe weather in the area, emergency planning experts are urging residents to use their heads before disasters hit.

“People think, ‘Oh, this won’t happen to me,’” said Dave Colmans, executive director of the Atlanta-based Georgia Insurance Information Service. “If you look around here, it’s apparent the potential for these problems exist. There are all sort of things just sitting there dormant, so it’s not that you have to just think about whether or not terrorists are going to strike Atlanta, you’ve got to worry about what’s going to happen immediately around you. The only way to be protected is to plan ahead.”

Last weekend, strong storms rolled through Murray and Whitfield counties bringing heavy rains and causing damage. The first four months of 2008 resulted in a record amount of insured damage for the 22 states, including Georgia, that were hit by nine “catastrophes,” according to the ISO’s Property Claim Services. U.S. property/casualty insurers are expected to pay homeowners and businesses an estimated $3.35 billion for first-quarter property losses. Of the 22 states involved in 2008, Georgia had the highest amount of losses with $610 million. In 2007, seven events caused $1.26 billion in first quarter losses compared to $1.87 billion in 1999 caused by five events.

After a volatile spring that saw a tornado rip through downtown Atlanta causing millions of dollars in damage, Colmans said the official start of the hurricane season on June 1 should be another reason to plan for disasters.

“Hurricane season may not mean much to people in Georgia, but it is an issue,” Colmans said. “A tropical storm aftermath, especially of a Gulf hurricane, can go as far as well into Tennessee and beyond with winds of 50 to 60 mph, tornados that can spin out of those tropical storms and many times can just sit and pour rain not just for hours, but sometimes for days.”

Jeff Putnam, director of the Whitfield County Office of Emergency Management, recommends buying a weather radio, which will turn on and issue an alert when severe weather is on the way. The radios also issue other warnings, such as the state Amber Alert that goes into effect when a child is reported kidnapped or missing. Weather radios can be purchased at most home improvement stores and other retailers for about $20 to $40, he said.

If severe weather hits and your home doesn’t have a basement, Putnam suggests seeking shelter in a room in the center of the house with no windows, such as a bathroom or closet. It’s also smart to put together an emergency preparedness kit containing water, food, extra prescription medicine, a list of phone contacts and money.

Why money?

“If the power goes out, you’re not going to be able to get money at ATMs for gas, food and stuff,” Putnam said.

The prolonged statewide drought has weakened trees, so soaking rains — which the area needs — and high winds can combine to “knock them right over,” Putnam said.

“And there’s really no way to prepare for that other than cutting them down ahead of time,” he said.

The heavy flooding caused by tropical storms could bring a need for flood insurance, Colmans said. At the government’s Web site, www.floodsmart.gov, homeowners can enter their address to determine if there is a low, medium or high likelihood of flooding in the area.

“Just because you don’t live in a flood plain and aren’t required to have flood insurance doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t look into whether or not you need flood insurance,” Colmans said.

He said many families have done the right thing by drafting disaster plans, but many make the mistake of not rehearsing them.

“This is where you can run into some real serious problems,” Colmans said.

For example, say a bolt of lighting from a thunderstorm strikes your home and it catches on fire. The kids are asleep upstairs and the only way out they know of is the stairwell.

“If they only think about getting downstairs by one stairwell, what are they going to do if there’s fire in the stairwell and they can’t get out?” Colmans said. “How many children do we see die each year because they had no way out?”

Not only is it vital to practice getting out of the home, families should also know where to meet once outside and how to contact family members who may be out of town.

Residents seeking more information about emergency preparedness can contact the Whitfield County Office of Emergency Management at (706) 259-3730, the Dalton Chapter of the American Red Cross at (706) 278-5144 or the Georgia Insurance Information Service at www.giis.org.