Staying Safe During a Storm Amid a Pandemic (Part 2: Evacuating Your Home)

6/8/2020 (Permalink)

You'll have to take pandemic safety into account this year if you need to evacuate your home during a hurricane or other natural disaster.

In any given year, an impending hurricane may force you to evacuate your home. But this year, having to evacuate will pack a double wallop, as you also need to consider how leaving your home puts you at risk of exposure to illness during a pandemic. Your preparation for this situation will be a variation on the way you would normally prepare to weather a storm.

Part 1 of this article covered how to prepare to stay at home safely during a storm and pandemic. If you have to evacuate your home, bear these additional considerations in mind.

The American Red Cross says to have two emergency supply kits, one for sheltering at home and another for evacuating. For both, you should set aside a one-month supply of prescription and over-the-counter medications you depend on. Store your meds separately so that you can easily grab them and go.

3-Day Evacuation Kit

This supply kit should be a lightweight, smaller version of your stay-at-home kit that you can take with you if you must leave your home quickly. Include everything you need to be on your own for three days, such as:

• nonperishable food and snacks
• water
• personal hygiene items
• cleaning and disinfectant supplies that you can use on the go (tissues, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes)
• face masks for everyone in your household

Where to Shelter

Before the storm, contact hotels, motels or campgrounds to see whether they've opened. Find out whether your local emergency management agency has altered its sheltering plans to reflect any stay-at-home orders.

The Red Cross advises that you first ask family and friends outside your area if you can stay with them in the event of an emergency. This presumes that you and your family or friends are taking appropriate precautions and are not at high risk of illness. (If you or the people you are staying with have been recently exposed to a virus or are showing symptoms, you should quarantine in a separate room upon arrival.)

Because of the need for social distancing, large congregant shelters like school gymnasiums are no longer the first option—although in the event of a large-scale evacuation they may become necessary. The Red Cross is prioritizing individual hotel rooms or dormitory-style rooms instead.

If a larger congregant shelter is the only option, expect these additional precautions, including:

• health screening for anyone entering a shelter
• an isolation care area for anyone who is sick
• masks, tissues and plastic bags required
• staggered meal times and extra spacing between cots, chairs, tables, etc.
• additional hand-washing stations
• wellness checks to identify potential illness, including self-monitoring and checking temperatures of both shelter residents and staff
• increased cleaning and disinfecting practices

When you have suffered damage from a storm at your home or business, call SERVPRO of Glastonbury/Wethersfield today at 860.633.8791

Help Is Here

The team at SERVPRO of Glastonbury/Wethersfield has specialized training and experience in water damage restoration services, biohazard cleanup, fire and smoke damage restoration services and natural disaster prevention and cleanup. Call SERVPRO of Glastonbury/Wethersfield (860.633.8791) any time.

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1408 Neipsic Road, Glastonbury, CT 06033
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When you have suffered damage from a storm at your home or business, call SERVPRO of Glastonbury/Wethersfield today at 860.633.8791