National Hurricane Survival Initiative

Saving Lives & Minimizing Damage -- Is your community prepared?

Six Tips for Preparing to Protect Your Family and Home This Hurricane Season

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When it comes to protecting what matters most, FedNat Insurance Company wants to use its 30+ years of safeguarding experience to remind homeowners how they can best be prepared for the unpredictability of hurricane season in Florida.

1. Review your insurance policy

Discuss your policy with your insurance agent to make sure you understand what is covered and how much your deductible is. Flood insurance is a separate policy and typically has a 30-day waiting period, so don’t wait for a storm to develop before you seek to obtain coverage.

2. Create a disaster supply kit

The kit should include items such as flashlights, batteries, cash, first aid supplies, sunscreen, bug repellent, trash bags, medicine, chargers, water and non-perishable food.

3. Develop emergency plans

Map evacuation routes and set up family communication plans. Remember that phone service might not be available, so think of other ways of communicating such as email, social media or texting. Include pets in your plans. Store insurance information and other important documents (such as passports) in an easily accessible location and on the cloud.

4. Conduct a home inventory

Create a paper or digital inventory of your home’s contents. Include photos or videos of your home and belongings along with receipts, descriptions and estimated values.

5. Prepare your home

Keep tree limbs trimmed away from your roof, so large branches don’t fall and damage your home. Be prepared to fortify your doors, windows, roof and other vulnerable points with protective devices and have extra parts for hurricane shutters and other storm-proofing tools on hand. Remove any debris or items from your yard that could become projectiles in a storm.

6. Stay connected

Consider downloading weather-monitoring apps and subscribing to your local community’s wireless emergency alerts. Listen to local officials for updates and instructions.

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The impacts and costs of flooding

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By: Craig Fugate

In an era of increasingly intense and frequent severe weather, tens of millions of Americans are all too familiar with the impacts and costs of flooding.

Unfortunately, Congress has failed to update flood policy to meet the challenges of this new norm, instead choosing to continually extend its own deadline for reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which provides federally backed coverage for homeowners and small businesses in 22,000 communities nationwide.

The program, which is more than $20 billion in debt, is in dire need of reform. In its current form, the NFIP has failed in two of its goals — decreasing the costs from flood damage and improving the federal government’s management of flood risk — and without major improvements will continue to burn through taxpayer dollars while incentivizing policyholders to live in at-risk areas through subsidized premiums.

And yet, Congress has kicked this can down the road for the seventh time in less than a year.

This continued delay comes despite the fact that some in Congress are proposing fresh ideas for fixing the program. Pending bills would require sellers to disclose flood risk to homebuyers, require repeatedly flooded communities to develop localized plans to reduce risk, enhance mapping of risk areas, boost investments in resilience — for example, through a revolving loan fund — and engage private insurers, all viable strategies to keep people safer while decreasing the costs of disasters.

The failure of Congress to act on these proposals should be particularly concerning to the tens of millions of Americans who live in areas with a 26 percent chance of flooding during the life of a 30-year mortgage.

And there’s a more immediate threat: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts a 75 percent chance that this year’s hurricane season, which began June 1, will be equal to or worse than average (the season has already produced two hurricanes, a benchmark that isn’t reached until Aug. 28 in an average year).

Last year’s destruction from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria caused more than $270 billion in losses. Even now, 10 months after the last of those storms, many Americans continue to grapple with their losses and unsettled insurance claims, and many communities struggle with how and where to rebuild.

Americans deserve better from the NFIP. Established in 1968 to compensate for a lack of available private insurance and to promote sound floodplain management, the program is where most people turn for flood insurance. And in the five decades since the NFIP’s creation, it has grown to cover roughly 5 million policyholders nationwide. Unfortunately, in that time it also has largely failed to mitigate flood risk while becoming fiscally unsustainable.

Each month, people unwittingly buy homes in areas likely to flood, learning only at closing that they’re required to carry flood insurance on their new property — coverage that isn’t included in a standard homeowner’s policy.

Some, due to a perceived lack of flood risk, feel they should not be required to purchase the insurance, and many who have flood insurance policies — even those who pay federally subsidized premiums — believe the costs are too high. And others who are not required to buy insurance because they live adjacent to — versus in — designated flood-prone areas are often unable to pay for repairs and rebuilding when major storms flood their properties.

Fiscal conservatives who support self-sustaining government policy and programs largely want the NFIP reformed and point to the billions in losses that the program has racked up, including the recent forgiveness of a $16 billion debt to the federal Treasury.

Others who are similarly concerned about wasteful spending note that the program functions as a perverse incentive, encouraging people to live in high-flood-risk areas and to rebuild, sometimes again and again, after their homes are damaged or destroyed — rebuilding that is financed through subsidies and payouts.

Floods don’t choose political sides or respect jurisdictional boundaries, nor are they confined to the coasts. In the past decade, landlocked states accounted for eight of the 10 states that experienced the most flood-related disaster declarations. And allowing the federal government to fund repairs and rebuilding for policyholders that repeatedly flood — in some cases to the tune of exponentially more money than what their property is worth — will drive the NFIP deeper into debt.

With the historic flood costs our nation suffered last year, and the potential for billions of dollars more in damage this year, Congress must act now to authorize a modernized NFIP with effective policies regarding disclosure and repetitive-loss properties. That is one surefire way to help communities prepare for flooding and break the costly cycle of rebuilding the same structures time and time again.

Craig Fugate was administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 2009 to 2016.

Source: https://amp.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/aug/5/the-impacts-and-costs-of-flooding/?__twitter_impression=true

Column: For hurricane season, keep a hand-crank or battery-powered radio at the ready

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Article Written By: Craig Fugate

All Floridians should have a battery-operated or hand-crank broadcast radio in their hurricane emergency supply kit. That’s a key lesson I’ve learned from a career spent in public safety, including nearly eight years as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

It is easy for Americans to trust that their smart phone, the internet or pay-TV will be there when they need critical information when disaster strikes. Time and again, though, we see cellular networks go down or become congested. Our cable or satellite TV system is knocked offline. The power goes out and we are left in the dark, literally and figuratively.

That happened to me in Gainesville during Hurricane Irma — the power went out, taking out my cable and with it went the internet. My cellular data stopped working. Good thing I had a battery-powered radio. It was the only news source I had.

Last year was a wake-up call. Americans watched as Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas’ Gulf Coast and caused unprecedented flooding. Hurricane Irma tore a path that left millions of residents in the dark from Florida up the Atlantic Coast. And, in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands, Hurricane Maria caused devastation from which residents are still recovering and its effects may be felt for decades to come.

As we approach the heart of hurricane season, Americans should heed the lessons from last year and prepare themselves. And they need to know where to find live, local and detailed information during times of crisis. Knowing what is going on, where to find help and how to avoid trouble can make the difference between staying safe or getting caught in a dangerous situation.

That is why – from a career spent in public safety, including nearly eight years as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency – I believe all Americans should have a battery-operated or hand-crank broadcast radio in their emergency supplies. Local broadcasters remain our communities’ most important “first informers,” working closely with public safety officials at every level to keep Americans updated on the situation. During last year’s hurricanes, local radio and TV stations went wall-to-wall with coverage, providing critical information about evacuation plans, places of aid for those in need and how to avoid disease for those stuck in their homes.

Yet, despite broadcast radio’s role as a source of lifeline information, many Americans fail to include a broadcast radio in their emergency plans. Thankfully, an innovative feature can turn many smartphones into an FM radio receiver during times of emergency, without having to stream over the internet or waste excessive battery life.

Mobile devices have for years been manufactured with FM radio chips which, when paired with headphones acting as an antenna, allows users to tune to local radio broadcasts even when a cellular network goes down. Though a popular feature in the rest of the world, many wireless carriers in the United States kept these FM chips deactivated until relatively recently.

The 2017 hurricanes showed radio-enabled smartphones can play a significant role in keeping people safe. Radio listenership on smartphones exploded in Texas and South Florida as hurricanes Harvey and Irma barreled down on the areas, allowing residents to use their mobile devices to get the latest updates about the storm from their local radio stations. In the Tampa Bay area, the NextRadio app — which enables over-the-air radio listening — had more than eight times more listeners on the Sunday before the storm hit than the previous week. Before a storm hits, test to see if your smartphone has this capability.

If you have an iPhone, you’re out of luck.

While the rest of the wireless industry has recognized the public safety benefits of radio-enabled smartphones — and despite calls from newspapers, lawmakers and even the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission — Apple continues to resist this innovative public service.

Americans need more access to lifeline information when disaster strikes — information local radio stations provide day-in and day-out. I strongly urge Apple to do the right thing and equip iPhones with FM radio capability. In the meantime, have that radio ready.

Craig Fugate served as FEMA administrator from May 2009 to January 2017. Previously, he served as Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s Emergency Management director from 2001 to 2009.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/Column-For-hurricane-season-keep-a-hand-crank-or-battery-powered-radio-at-the-ready_169489997

Financing to help Florida’s SNFs meet power requirements

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Revered for its year-round warm temperatures and relaxing lifestyle, Florida is home to the largest population of aging and elderly Americans who retire to the Sunshine State. However, Florida is also known for its disruptive weather, especially during the summer months that often bring with them devastating hurricanes and record-breaking heat waves.
2017’s hurricane season was particularly destructive in Florida. Hurricane Irma cost the state billions and took more than 70 lives. Among the victims were 12 residents of a Hollywood, Florida nursing home, who died after the facility lost power in the days following Irma’s wrath.

In response to this tragic event, a new mandate from Gov. Rick Scott requires all senior living facilities to install power generators, and to have enough fuel supply to run the generators for 72 hours. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities have until July 1 to comply. Although thousands are already in compliance, many are without the financial resources required to make these expensive system upgrades.

There is a widely available, but lesser known, program that can help. Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing (C-PACE) is a program that provides business owners with funding for improvement projects such as the installation of impact-resistant windows and doors, roofing, HVAC and solar panels.

Through a voluntary assessment on their property tax bill, property owners pay for the improvement projects over time. C-PACE loans are tied to the property itself and not the property owner, offering a rare chance for property owners to overcome common barriers of the upfront costs.

Ygrene is one of the nation’s leading providers of C-PACE. Our program is currently available in more than 150 cities and counties in Florida; however, most property owners do not know that C-PACE is an option for them. In fact, a recent survey commissioned by the National Hurricane Survival Initiative revealed that less than 8% of Floridians are aware of the program.

It’s important that nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Florida know that they are eligible for the C-PACE program, as they all share the same goal of ensuring residents are kept safe and cared for during disasters. C-PACE providers like Ygrene can help nursing homes meet the governor’s new mandate for backup power supply, but beyond that, C-PACE is a practical option for affording other projects that will improve facility conditions for the seniors in their care.

With the official start to Florida’s hurricane season having begun on June 1, and the deadline for complying with the new state mandate just around the corner, facility upgrades for nursing homes should be a top priority.

As we all know, when the stifling heat and punishing storms hit Florida this summer, our seniors are among the most vulnerable. They’ve taken care of us, now it’s time to take care of them.

Kate Wesner is the Senior Director of Government Affairs at Ygrene, national leader in residential and commercial energy efficiency and resiliency project financing.

The Salvation Army Deploys Additional Disaster Staff and Volunteers Largest-scale activation since Hurricane Katrina

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Aug. 31) – The Salvation Army has activated all its trained disaster relief teams in the United States and Canada and is beginning to mobilize teams in Mexico. Every team being deployed to Texas is providing food, hydration, cleanup kits, hygiene supplies, and emotional and spiritual care to first responders and survivors.

To assist with relief efforts, The Salvation Army has deployed 74 mobile feeding units throughout Texas and set up two field kitchens in the Houston area. Each mobile feeding unit can serve up to 1,500 meals per day, and each field kitchen can serve up to 15,000 meals per day. Also, mobile shower units have been delivered to the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston.

“The size and scope of the impacted area are so vast that the rescue and relief efforts are different from other disasters in recent years,” said Lt. Col. Ronnie Raymer, Divisional Commander for The Salvation Army in Texas. “We haven’t activated our entire national network of trained disaster staff and volunteers to this scale since Hurricane Katrina.”

Snapshot of Service Along the Gulf Coast (as of Aug. 31)

Served 156,893 meals, snacks and food boxes
Provided 9,130 hours of employee and volunteer service
Distributed 1,322 comfort kits
Provided emotional and spiritual care to 7,996 first responders and survivors
“Response efforts to this catastrophic weather event will be costly and last for years,” said Lt. Col. Ron Busroe, The Salvation Army’s National Community Relations and Development Secretary. “With generous public support, The Salvation Army will be here to help the millions affected by Hurricane Harvey for as long as they’re in need.”

To contribute to The Salvation Army’s Hurricane Harvey disaster relief efforts, visit HelpSalvationArmy.org, call 1-800-SAL-ARMY, or text “STORM” to 51555.

About The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army, established in London in 1865, has been supporting those in need without discrimination for more than 135 years in the U.S. More than 25 million Americans receive assistance from The Salvation Army each year through a range of social services: food for the hungry, relief for disaster victims, assistance for the disabled, outreach to the elderly and ill, clothing and shelter to the homeless, and opportunities for underprivileged children. For every dollar donated to The Salvation Army, 82 cents is used to support those services in 5,000 communities nationwide. The Salvation Army tracks the level of need across the country with the Human Needs Index (HumanNeedsIndex.org). For more information, go to SalvationArmyUSA.org or follow on Twitter @SalvationArmyUS.