September 2021 National Preparedness Month theme and resources

National Preparedness Month encourages and promotes family and community disaster planning throughout the month of September, and provides many tools to help Americans continue preparedness habits year round.

The 2021 NPM theme is: “Prepare To Protect” since preparing for disasters is protecting everyone you love.

Use the following weekly topics suggested by FEMA’s Ready campaign to help your family, friends, co-workers and fans get more prepared for emergencies and disasters:

Week 1: Sept 1-4  — Make A Plan (Discuss how you would communicate with family and friends before, during and after disasters or emergencies, designate meetup places in case you are separated, review insurance papers, etc.)

Week 2: Sept 5-11 — Build A Kit (make various kits for family members for your home, office or school locker, and vehicles, plus a grab & go kit (B.O.B.) in case you have to evacuate quickly to a safer location. Do this with all family members – from kids to seniors and pets)

Week 3: Sept 12-18 — Prepare for Disasters (Find out the best way to limit the impacts an emergency or disaster may have like having the right insurance coverage, and take some steps to strengthen or improve home, garage and landscape to mitigate or lessen damage from floods, high winds, earthquakes, wildfires and more)

Week 4: Sept 19-25 — Teach Youth About Preparedness (Talk to kids about the types of disasters that happen where you live and travel. Teach them lessons on preparedness so they can be prepared, not scared by practicing fire, earthquake and tornado drills often and making kits together then updating kits twice a year on daylight savings weekend. Find kid-friendly educational resources and activities here and here, and make family preparedness fun, positive and encouraging throughout the year.)

With knowledge comes power so, if more people would learn what to do before, during and after certain types of scenarios, it could alleviate a lot of problems, anxiety, fear and loss, as well as lessen the burden on local emergency services during and after emergencies and disasters.

Learn more about NPM at Ready.gov and download our free 67-page ebook to help your loved ones and communities do the above steps and get more prepared and resilient.

Also consider getting some customizable 266-page “IT’S A DISASTER!” preparedness and first aid books (or PDF ebooks) for your staff, volunteers, students, customers or communities … or, if you have a large reach, request a custom ebook for your volunteers, members and fans and help a charity of your choosing!

Learn more and download a free portion of our preparedness and first aid book in PDF at fedhealth.net . Stay safe ~ j & B

New “Destructive” Severe Thunderstorm Warning category to trigger Wireless Emergency Alerts on mobile phones

Severe thunderstorms can be life-threatening, but not all severe storms are the same. Hazardous conditions range from tornadoes, large hail storms, and widespread straight-line winds called derechoes, to cloud-to-ground lightning and flash flooding. 

Starting 2-Aug-2021, the National Weather Service will better convey the severity and potential impacts from thunderstorm winds and hail by adding a “damage threat” tag to Severe Thunderstorm Warnings, similar to their Tornado and Flash Flood Warnings.

“Destructive” and “Considerable” Damage Threat Categories

NWS developed 3 categories of damage threat for Severe Thunderstorm Warnings. The categories, in order of highest to lowest damage threat, are destructive, considerable, and base. These tags and additional messaging are designed to promote immediate action, based on the threats.

• The criteria for a destructive damage threat is at least 2.75 inch diameter (baseball-sized) hail and/or 80 mph thunderstorm winds. Warnings with this tag will automatically activate a Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) on smartphones within the warned area.
   
• The criteria for a considerable damage threat is at least 1.75 inch diameter (golf ball-sized) hail and/or 70 mph thunderstorm winds. This will not activate a WEA.
   
• The criteria for a baseline or “base” severe thunderstorm warning remains unchanged, 1.00 inch (quarter-sized) hail and/or 58 mph thunderstorm winds. This will not activate a WEA. When no damage threat tag is present, damage is expected to be at the base level.

On average, only 10% of all severe thunderstorms reach the destructive category each year, nationwide. Most of these storms are damaging wind events such as derechoes and some of the larger, more intense thunderstorms, called “Supercell” storms that can typically produce very large hail in their path.

The new destructive thunderstorm category conveys to the public urgent action is needed, a life-threatening event is occurring and may cause substantial damage to property. Storms categorized as destructive will trigger a WEA to your cell phone.

Find some severe weather safety tips on weather.gov and download our free 60-page preparedness ebook plus some other safety tips at fedhealth.net

Source: Weather.gov