The Spalding County Office of Homeland Security / Emergency Management Agency (EMA) urges Spalding County residents to take the time to prepare for the upcoming Hurricane and Tropical Storm season by observing Hurricane Preparedness Week May 5-11, 2019 from the National Weather Service.

Spalding County EMA Director Glenn Polk explains that it is vital to understand your home’s vulnerability to storms, flooding and winds. With this understanding, your family’s emergency plan will be able to address the needs that your family has to be prepared. Each preparedness topic for the week can be further reviewed on the National Weather Service website at www.weather.gov/wrn/hurricane-preparedness.

In addition, Spalding County and Ready Georgia offers these preparedness tips to assist with planning for every family:

• Create, practice and communicate your family’s emergency plan that may consist of evacuation plans, family communication plans and alternate shelter plans.
• Create an emergency kit with non-perishable food, water, etc. Recommended list can be located on Ready.Gov.
• Create a plan for your pets.
• Check and update insurance policies to make sure any damages will be covered.
• Know where your insurance documents are located and take them with you should you need to evacuate or take alternate shelter.
• Prepare your home by keeping trees around your home trimmed to avoid damages by broken branches.
• If we experience a storm, be sure to secure loose outdoor items such as patio furniture to avoid these items blowing around and causing damages. Also, all doors and windows should be secure.
• Closely monitor a local radio station, TV station or NOAA Weather Radio or download the Ready Georgia app for the latest information on storm forecast.

To help Georgians prepare, Ready Georgia, a statewide emergency preparedness campaign created by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency/Homeland Security, offers the tools needed to make an emergency supply kit, develop a communications plan and stay informed about potential threats. Visitors to Ready Georgia’s website can create an online profile to receive a tailored plan for the entire family that includes the specific amount of supplies to put in their household Ready kits. In addition, the newly upgraded free Ready Georgia mobile app provides weather alerts, traffic updates and preparedness information for people on the go.

For more information, contact Spalding County Office of Homeland Security / Emergency Management at (770)228-2129 or visit Ready Georgia at www.ready.ga.gov.