Types of Disasters / Emergencies

Know what disasters and hazards could affect your area, how to get emergency alerts, and where you would go if you and your family need to evacuate. During times of extreme stress, it can be difficult to think clearly. Make sure your family has a plan and practices it often. Above all, stay calm, and focus on what you can do to get through the situation.

Assemble your family and stay together.

Listen to or watch radio, tv broadcasts, or weather apps and stay tuned for updates.

Use your phone only for emergency calls. Send texts to contact family.

Do not go sightseeing in disaster areas, and do not attempt to enter restricted areas.

Hurricanes

Hurricanes are dangerous and can cause major damage from storm surge, wind damage, rip currents and flooding. They can happen along any U.S. coast or in any territory in the Atlantic or Pacific oceans. Storm surge historically is the leading cause of hurricane-related deaths in the United States.

Tornadoes

Tornadoes are violently rotating columns of air that extend from a thunderstorm to the ground. Tornadoes can destroy buildings, flip cars, and create deadly flying debris.

Floods

Flooding is a temporary overflow of water onto land that is normally dry. Floods are the most common disaster in the United States. Failing to evacuate flooded areas or entering flood waters can lead to injury or death.

Extreme Heat

Extreme heat is a period of high heat and humidity with temperatures above 90 degrees for at least two to three days. In extreme heat your body works extra hard to maintain a normal temperature, which can lead to death. Extreme heat is responsible for the highest number of annual deaths among all weather-related hazards.

Winter Storms

Winter storms create a higher risk of car accidents, hypothermia, frostbite, carbon monoxide poisoning, and heart attacks from overexertion. Winter storms including blizzards can bring extreme cold, freezing rain, snow, ice and high winds.

Earthquakes

An earthquake is a sudden, rapid shaking of the ground caused by the shifting of rocks deep underneath the earth’s surface. Earthquakes can cause fires, tsunamis, landslides or avalanches. While they can happen anywhere without warning, areas at higher risk for earthquakes include Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington and the entire Mississippi River Valley.

Home Fires

A fire can become life-threatening in just two minutes. A residence can be engulfed in flames in five minutes.

Wildfires

Wildfires are unplanned fires that burn in natural areas like forests, grasslands or prairies. These dangerous fires spread quickly and can devastate not only wildlife and natural areas, but also communities.