Stocking Emergency Disaster Supplies

Video Transcript

"The other kinds of things that we encourage people to have that are the standard. As I said; a gallon of water per day per person, some kinds of non-perishable foods. It can be canned goods, but if you're going to put canned goods in there, then make sure you also put a can opener in there, one that's not electrical powered, one that's hand crank or battery powered, maybe. Make sure if you're on prescription medicines that you have extra prescription drugs in your kit. Put a first aid kit in there. It's good to have a battery powered radio preferably one that receives the NOAA weather radio signal. It's good to have a flashlight because it seems like hurricanes here always hit at night so it's going to be dark when you leave your home. It's good to have some clothes, extra clothes. Whether or not you take 3 sets of clothes for 3 days being away, that's up to you. Whatever it takes to keep you comfortable. If you've got children, make sure you pack some games, some coloring books, things like that will help your children stay occupied while they're displaced. If they have to go to a shelter, then to be able to keep themselves occupied. And then any other comfort features that might make you feel good. It's always important to have those things, knowing that you may be away from home for several days and the things that you are going to be able to do in a shelter are very limited. So, find things that you can occupy yourselves with. Generators are great to have. Emergency generators are always good. But, if you're going to buy a generator then you really need to educate yourself on how to operate that generator. Know the safety precautions for the generator and know that if you buy generator, you've got to keep it fueled. And if you're going to evacuate, that may be difficult. Generators are great to have. I would strongly encourage people if you are considering it, it is either one of the whole house generators that has an automatic transfer switch so that if you lose commercial power then it would come on and not energize lines outside your home, make sure it's wired properly. If you're going to have a portable generator, then make sure you have one that's wired directly into the circuits that you're going to need to power. It's always a good idea to have refrigerators and freezers and things like that on the generator, if you have fears of losing food, or you know just having cold beverages during the event if you stay at home."