Severe Weather Awareness Week — Make Sure You Are Prepared

Photo courtesy of National Weather Service

By Kassidy Ketron
Intern

It’s Severe Weather Awareness Week, which means it’s time to make sure you are prepared in case bad weather hits your city.

1. Know Your Risk

• What hazardous weather can affect the area where you live and work and how could it impact you and your family?
• Bookmark weather.gov to get the latest forecast information
• Follow the National Weather Service on Facebook and Twitter
• Read the State of the Climate reports to discover historical trends

2. Emergency Preparedness Kit

Before disaster strikes it’s a good idea to have supplies prepared that you might not otherwise think to get during the fact.

At minimum, you should have:

• Water—one gallon per person, per day (3-day supply for evacuation, 2-week supply for home)
• Food—non-perishable, easy-to-prepare items (3-day supply for evacuation, 2-week supply for home)
• Flashlight
• Battery-powered or hand-crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if possible)
• Extra batteries
• First aid kit – Anatomy of a First Aid Kit
• Medications (7-day supply) and medical items
• Multi-purpose tool
• Sanitation and personal hygiene items
• Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies)
• Cell phone with chargers
• Family and emergency contact information
• Extra cash
• Emergency blanket
• Map(s) of the area 

3. Family Disaster Plan

It is important for your family to be as prepared as possible when faced in case of emergency, which is why we think you need to make plans and practice what you would do in such an event.

• Meet with your family or household members.
• Discuss how to prepare and respond to emergencies that are most likely to happen where you live, learn, work and play.
• Identify responsibilities for each member of your household and plan to work together as a team.
• If a family member is in the military, plan how you would respond if they were deployed.
• Plan what to do in case you are separated during an emergency
• Plan what to do if you have to evacuate 

4. First aid and CPR/AED certified

You never know what might happen during severe weather. Planning for the worst, isn’t always a bad thing. Make sure at least one person in your household is first aid and CPR/AED certified.

• Visit redcross.org/takeaclass
• Attend class
• Get certified
• Congratulations!

Severe Weather Awareness Week is a great time to learn more about where you live and the weather that can affect you. It’s also a great time to get prepared. For more information visit our website.

Volunteer has lifetime full of service

By Kassidy Ketron

Public Relations Intern

Dwain Cox has been helping and providing assistance for people in his community for more than 40 years.

Transitioning from a 38-year career with the Texas Department of Public Safety to a volunteer with the South Plains Regional chapter of the American Red Cross allowed Cox to continue doing what he loves — helping people.

Dwain Cox, an American Red Cross volunteer, poses for a photo with Gerry Grant, board chairman of the South Plains Regional chapter, at the Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony in July.

“For the last year,” he said, “I’ve been doing the volunteer logistics coordinator for the Lubbock area and as that I’m responsible for taking care of the vehicles, we have four motor vehicles and two trailers, and also supplies. If we have to set up a shelter, well I’m responsible for setting it up and keeping it supplied while it’s open. Then I take it down, sanitize the cots, anything that we might have used in it and then restock anything that we used during the operation.”

Cox first came in contact with American Red Cross when he was chairman of the State Disaster District Committee in Tarrant County.

“The Red Cross had a representative on the committee and I was very impressed with their capabilities,” he said. “So, that was one reason I looked at them after [I retired and] I did decide to start doing some volunteer work.”

During his six, almost seven, years as a volunteer, Cox said the help he has provided has been more than rewarding.

Without volunteers, he said the American Red Cross would not be able to deliver the services they provide now, which is why he believes it is important for people to get involved.

“Being able to provide some assistance when a person needs it most,” Cox said, “I think is one of the most important things we do. You go out to a fire scene and you see the family standing there in shock — watching their house and all their belongings burn to the ground — and you’re able to give them a place to stay that night and for a few nights after that. You’re able to give them some funding to help them buy food and clothing, and you feel like you’re really helping someone out.”

Aside from the late night phone calls a volunteer will take to respond to a disaster, he said there is a particular disaster that sticks out in his mind.

In April of 2012, a series of tornadoes hit the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, destroying homes and displacing families. Cox was just one of many, many volunteers to respond to the disaster.

American Red Cross DFW

“Seeing all the damage that was done… We were in there the morning after, it had happened that night, so we were there very quickly,” Cox said. “People were still in shock and we were driving through the area, and talking to people to find out the people that were handicapped, who were maybe still in their houses and seeing what they needed and getting what help we could. That was probably one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had.”

Although Cox has responded to his fair share of disasters, he said the hand shakes and hugs from those who the American Red Cross is able to help is even more rewarding.

“I’ve run across people at other disaster scenes sometimes,” he said. They’ll tell me that I had responded to their disaster maybe a year or two before that, and that they really appreciated what the Red Cross had been able to do for them.”

Cox encourages people of all ages, including retirees like himself, to join the American Red Cross and continue offering help to people when they need it most.

“If we didn’t have the volunteers,” he said, “we couldn’t deliver the services that we do.”

To begin volunteering today, check out Red Cross in Lubbock and surrounding areas, or find out what classes are available.