Prepare your disaster evacuation plans now

September is National Preparedness Month, Albany, Corvallis, Benton and Linn collaborating to raise awareness

Recent disasters like wildfires, floods, extreme heat, winter weather, and a pandemic along with other threats like earthquakes demonstrate the need to prepare for emergencies and disasters. 

That is why this September for National Preparedness Month, Linn County is partnering with Benton County and the cities of Corvallis and Albany to raise awareness about how to create an emergency evacuation plan, build a kit, get alerts and warnings and know what to do during an evacuation. 

• Remember the Five Ps of Evacuation: People, Prescriptions, Papers, Personal Needs and Priceless Items.
• Make sure you know your evacuation routes before a disaster strikes and that includes knowing the local evacuation plan.
• Identify several escape routes for your location in case roads are blocked or bridges are compromised.
• Take the needs of anyone in your family who has a disability into consideration, plus have a plan to feed or shelter pets or livestock while you are away from home.
• Keep emergency supplies and a change of clothes in your car.
• If you will need to share transportation, make arrangements now. If you will need to use public transportation, including paratransit, contact your local government emergency management agency to ask how an evacuation will work, how you will get current information during an evacuation, the location of staging areas, and other information.
• If you need to relocate for an extended period of time, identify a place away from home where you could go if you had to leave. Consider family or friends who live outside of the local area.

“It’s important that families make their emergency evacuation plans now so that they are prepared when a disaster occurs,” said Linn County Administrative Officer Darrin Lane. “Free materials are available to make developing your family’s evacuation plan easy to do.”

Learn more at www.ready.gov/evacuation.

Follow @cityofalbany @cityofcorvallis @linncountyor @BentonCoGov on Facebook for more information about emergency preparedness throughout September.