Wendy Hufford knows firsthand the pain that severe weather can inflict on Rye homeowners.
She lives on Midland Avenue, which turned into a river in August when heavy rains hit her flood-prone neighborhood.
Being better prepared for extreme weather events motivated Hufford to join about 50 others recently at Rye City Hall for a New York State-sponsored workshop entitled “Prepare, Respond, Recover: What To Do When Disaster Strikes.”
Local officials say the city has invested considerable resources in training, equipment, and planning for disasters over the last few years — but unfortunately few residents have made plans of their own.
Only three people raised their hands when program leader Captain Kyle Kilner of the New York Army National Guard asked if anyone had created a family emergency plan, a simple document that outlines what to do, where to go, and how to communicate when calamities strike.
Kilner, who has led more than 170 such workshops statewide during the last two years, was not surprised. “Everyone thinks they are prepared until they’re not,” he said.
Workshop leaders urged attendees to embrace four steps to prepare for disaster:
-First and foremost, prepare an emergency plan.
-Create a kit that could sustain your family for seven to 10 days. That kit might contain food, medicine, and other emergency tools and supplies.
-Sign up for emergency notifications such as NY-ALERT, which is available at alert.ny.gov. Rye City Manager Greg Usry suggested that residents also sign up for the Rye City app, an important news source at times of emergency. Information is available at www.ryeny.gov.
-Get involved by attending additional trainings and consider joining volunteer programs to help others in the community when disaster strikes.
A useful guide for those steps is available at www.prepare.ny.gov or by calling the local office of State Assemblyman Steve Otis at (914) 939-7028.
State and local government authorities have made big strides in preparing for disasters since Tropical Storm Sandy wreaked heavy damage in the fall of 2012, but it is essential that citizens ready themselves, said Michael Kopy who became Rye’s Public Safety Commissioner in October 2021, about six weeks after Hurricane Ida hit New York.
“The best preparedness begins at home, because you can’t expect government to take care of everything” — especially when a disaster is first unfolding, Kopy said.
As New York State Air National Guard Master Sargeant Jennifer Caoilli put it at the workshop: “Get in the mindset of being your own first responder, especially for the first 24 hours.”
That message resonated with Hufford, who has seen paddleboarders on her street after floods for the last dozen years.
“It’s good to know how to prepare, because you never know when Rye is going to get hit next,” she said.