Are You Prepared for an Emergency?

March 28, 2011

When hurricane Katrina hit, the newspapers reported a location that has the greatest risk of flood from levees failing – Sacramento California where I live.  My husband and I bought a house on a flood plain.  I know it sounds stupid but after the federal government made improvements to the levees, they deemed them safe enough to withstand the 100 year flood.  Based on that assessment, housing development, retail shops, and schools were built and 70,000 people moved to the area.  After the hurricane in Louisiana, the Federal Army Corp of Engineers reassessed the levees to less than 100 year flood protection.  In other words said, “Just kidding.  There really is a flood danger. The initial assessment was false.”  The area should never have been developed.

The reason I tell you this is that it is storming and the river is high and is supposed to get even higher.  When the water level is at 41’ in the Sacramento River, there is serious flood danger.  This week it is supposed to hit 34’ and we were advised by our friend Tom Smith who is the owner of RiverSmith Engineering, to evacuate if the river hits 39’.  We take this very seriously because my husband lived through a flood when he was a child in Yuba City – his home flooded and his family business flooded giving his parents a double whammy of clean up and rebuilding both (with no insurance).

My husband and I spent the day today getting our valuables together so we are ready to go in case the levee breaks because all we will be able to take are our family pets and whatever boxes will fit in our cars.  It was very interesting when he rattled off the list of things to make sure we take – there were things on his list I didn’t realize were important to him and there were things left off the list I would be heartbroken if they were lost or damaged.  Most of the things left off the list, other than family photographs, were things I inherited from my mother and grandmother—jewelry, a 25th anniversary silver tea set from 1913 and an antique quill pen ink set inlaid with mother of pearl.

My favorites, however, are these amazing glass perfume bottles that are covered in a delicate sterling silver scroll – I can’t believe that my sweet Aunt and my Mother let me have them when my grandmother passed away.  I look at them every day on my dresser and they remind me of my heritage – the women in my family who came before me and whose values shaped what I am today.  I want those perfume bottles on this list!  They are truly irreplaceable and priceless to me.

I didn’t realize that my husband didn’t know.  I’d never told him about what they mean to me.  Just because they are on the dresser doesn’t mean he knows how much they mean to me.  I need to let him know.

What would you grab if there was a fire or flood?  What is important to you and the people you share your life with?  Until today, I’d focused on other important things on the checklist such as these items below:

  • Keep important papers and documents in files that you can easily grab in case of an emergency.  Have an emergency file with phone numbers such as your insurance agent and policy numbers, etc.
  • Review your property casualty insurance coverage levels – renter’s insurance, homeowners insurance and auto insurance.
  • Make sure your vehicles have fuel to get you out of town so you don’t have to stop at a gas station.  If there is no power, they might not have fuel available.
  • Have cash on hand in case of emergency because without power, ATM machines won’t work and businesses may go to cash only.
  • Have a game plan for the family in case we are separated and phone lines are down.  Have a meeting place decided ahead of time.

All of these we have in place thankfully.  Hopefully, the storm will pass and the river will go back to normal and so will everyone’s lives.  I am so glad to have some warning and glad to have the opportunity to see what I had missed and failed to communicate.  In light of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, it seems selfish to me to be concerned about physical possessions with the enormity of what they are facing.  At the same time, it is useful to take a few minutes to assess what I do value and why and put a plan in place in case there is time to grab a few things that are cherished.