National Hurricane Survival Initiative

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

Assured Risk Cover Making Big Waves in Immediate Protection for Hurricane-Prone Florida

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CLEARWATER, FL & PLEASANTON, CA — While much of Florida is still recovering from the catastrophic damage caused by Hurricane Irma, many Sunshine State residents and businesses have found there’s a way to bounce back from a storm faster than ever before. When a hurricane hits and there are immediate costs, homeowners and commercial insurance usually don’t offer a quick fix — that’s where StormPeace comes in.

Unpredicted expenses such as debris removal, business interruption, spoiled food replacement, and evacuation costs rapidly add up and aren’t covered by the average homeowners and commercial insurance policy. StormPeace is parametric insurance offered by Assured Risk Cover that automatically pays eligible policyholders based on the strength of the hurricane and distance of the hurricane track at its closest point from their property. Policyholders can use the funds for virtually any hurricane-related costs.

“Our company paid 100 percent of eligible claims for Hurricane Irma, most within 24 hours of attestation,” said Alok Jha, CEO and founder of Assured Risk Cover. “With experts predicting active storm seasons to be the new normal, it’s crucial that residents are aware of products that will better help them recover from what is an inevitable event in the state of Florida.”

StormPeace recently partnered with the FAIR Foundation and the National Hurricane Survival Initiative to produce the 30-minute TV special, Get Ready, Florida! Through this sponsorship, the company was able to educate Floridians on how preparing early for the unexpected is necessary particularly in a state with 1,300 miles of coastline.

“Because of StormPeace, I can enter hurricane season with greater peace of mind,” said Jay Neal, CEO of the Florida Association for Insurance Reform. “Renewing my policy is now a part of my pre-season preparation — it’s comforting to know that many unplanned storm costs will be immediately covered.”

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ABOUT ASSURED RISK COVER

Assured Risk Cover (ARC) is a venture-backed Silicon Valley corporation based in Pleasanton, California. ARC is founded by an experienced team of catastrophe risk professionals whose singular vision is to bring immediate financial relief to people globally following catastrophes. Alok Jha (CEO), Kanwal Rekhi (lead investor from Inventus Capital Partners) and Kevin Schrage (former President of Aon Smalln Commercial Lines) form the Board of Directors of ARC. StormPeace is backed by highly rated insurance and reinsurance companies—ranked A- and A+ by A.M. Best, respectively. For more information, visit www.stormpeace.com and www.assuredriskcover.com.

 

3 Steps Businesses Can Take to Survive Disasters

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When disasters like hurricanes strike, affected businesses sometimes never reopen. NHSI and FEMA have resources that can help businesses prepare to survive disasters.

The National Hurricane Survival Initiative encourages businesses to partake in emergency planning because 40 percent of small businesses that close due to hurricane disaster do not reopen. In order to prevent your communities’ businesses from becoming a statistic, the NHSI encourages creating a Business Survival Planduring the annual National Hurricane Preparedness week that happens in the second week of May.

The initiative guides businesses to address employee safety and property, as well as company information. A Business Survival Plan is a tool that can serve in most types of disasters, but the agency also encourages reviewing the plan before the annual hurricane season begins.

The Business Survival Plan includes the following three key steps.

Step 1: Protect Property

  • Invest in and install shutters or plywood in order to protect windows and doors from wind borne-debris.
  • Have the roof of your building evaluated to ensure it can withstand a storm.
  • Remove any branches or trees adjacent to your building that could potentially fall and damage it.
  • Sandbag any area that is subject to flooding.
  • Anchor and brace any large furniture (bookcases, shelves, filing cabinets) to wall studs.
  • Relocate any valuable or fragile possessions.
  • Secure all utilities including water heaters, gas tanks and heaters and if necessary, raise them to higher locations to avoid water damages.
  • Secure electronics such as computers and other office equipment with straps or Velcro.
  • Turn off all the utilities prior to a hurricane making landfall if possible.

Step 2: Protect Important Information

  • Designate important contacts to save that are crucial to business operations, such as employees, banks, lawyers, accountants, suppliers, etc.
  • Back-up paper documents that are not easily produced such as insurance documents, legal contracts, tax returns and accounting statements to avoid water damage.
  • Seal these documents in waterproof containers onsite.
  • Save all your designated contacts and documents in an alternate, accessible off-site location.

Step 3: Keep a Preparedness Checklist

The below items should be gathered in one location at your place of business should a storm hit while you are on premises. This will help protect the safety of your employees should disaster strike during regular working hours and without ample notice.

  • Battery operated radio or television
  • Non-perishable three day food supply for you and your employees
  • Three day supply of water for you and your employees (One gallon of water per person, per day)
  • Coolers and containers for water and washing
  • Blankets, pillows, cots and chairs
  • First Aid Kit and first aid manual
  • Flashlights, batteries, light-sticks
  • Tool kit (basic tools, gloves, etc.)
  • Camera and film for documenting damages
  • Whistle/signal flare to signal for help
  • Tarps, plastic bags, duct tape
  • Cleaning supplies, including mops, towels and garbage cans
  • Smoke alarms and fire extinguishers
  • Electric generator
  • Gas for vehicles, generators and other equipment
  • Cash, ATM cards, credit cards proper identification
  • Emergency contact information such as the nearest hospital and police, along with:
    • 9-1-1
    • Small Business Administration: 1-800-359-2227
    • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Tele-registration hot-line: 1-800-462-9029
    • Insurance company and agent’s contact information

NHSI also advises on choosing and communicating to employees a back-up operations location if damage occurs.

Access the original business disaster survival checklist on the NHSI website.

Review and download FEMA’s business survival plan guidance, with recommendations that reflect the Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity Standard (NFPA 1600) developed by the National Fire Protection Association and endorsed by the American National Standards Institute and the Department of Homeland Security:
Business Booklet 12pg 2014 by Ed Praetorian on Scribd

Review and download FEMA’s Private Sector Preparedness Program’s Business Protections Toolkit:
FEMA PS-Prep Toolkit by Ed Praetorian on Scribd

Source: https://efficientgov.com/blog/2018/05/11/3-steps-businesses-can-take-survive-disasters/

Puerto Rico Not Prepared for Another Disaster as Hurricane Season Nears, FEMA Chief Says

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As the start of Puerto Rico’s hurricane season nears, a U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) official warns the territory is not prepared for another disaster and that it will take up to an estimated $50 billion to help rebuild.

FEMA Administrator Brock Long said Friday that his agency aims to make homes, roads, roads, the electrical grid and other infrastructure as strong as possible, but noted that hurricane season begins June 1.

“We’re running out of time,” he said during a visit to Puerto Rico, adding that much of the island’s infrastructure collapsed. “We have a long way to go.”

Long said his agency also is coordinating a June 14 planning and training exercise with Puerto Rico’s government in which life-saving supplies will be delivered to the island’s 78 municipalities to ensure better response times for any upcoming storms. Cities and towns will be allowed to store those supplies for future disasters.

FEMA and local government officials already have stockpiled more than 15.6 million liters of water and more than 2.8 million meals in five warehouses across the island in the event of another disaster. Gov. Ricardo Rossello said late Friday that FEMA also approved more than $53 million in community disaster loans for 12 of the island’s 78 municipalities.

Long stressed that Puerto Rico’s public and private sectors have to build a strong emergency response network and establish unified plans.

“FEMA cannot be directly responsible for all of the response and recovery,” he said.

He also said the private sector should ensure that communication systems become more resistant. Maria left nearly all of Puerto Rico without phone service after the Category 4 storm hit on Sept. 20.

Long defended his agency from ongoing criticism that it did not respond quickly enough to the hurricane or dedicate the same amount of resources compared with other natural disasters in the U.S. mainland.

“(That’s) completely false,” he said, adding that in the first six months since Maria hit, FEMA invested $10 billion in Puerto Rico, in contrast to the $6 billion invested in the six months after Hurricane Katrina.

He said his agency is working to reduce bureaucracy but needs to ensure that federal funds will be spent appropriately.

“Recovery never moves as fast as people want it to be,” he said. “And in this case, moving faster can be detrimental from the standpoint of putting this money to work in a manner that truly makes Puerto Rico stronger and more resilient.”

Mike Byrne, FEMA’s federal coordinating officer in Puerto Rico, said he is working with the U.S. territory’s government to determine how federal funds will be used to identify priorities and rebuild damaged infrastructure.

Byrne said some of the money will go toward strengthening the island’s power grid since the storm destroyed two-thirds of its distribution system.  More than 50,000 power customers remain in the dark, but he said 96 percent of all customers now have electricity.

“We’ve done the Band-Aid,” he said. “We’ve patched the system back together.”

Long said the recovery process has been slow in part because supplies ranging from construction equipment to power poles have been scarce in light of the natural disasters that hit the U.S. mainland, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands last year.

Officials said FEMA will have a presence in Puerto Rico for several years to help it rebuild.

Source: https://weather.com/news/news/2018-04-09-puerto-rico-hurricane-season-nears-maria

5 potentially dangerous hurricane preparation myths debunked

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Misconceptions circulating around tropical cyclones during hurricane season are nothing new.

The rumor mill swirled so viciously around 2017’s Hurricane Irma that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had to set the record straight about the plethora of false reports.

The powerful storm evoked the idea that there is such a thing as a Category 6 hurricane.

In fact, the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale classification does not exceed Category 5, no matter how strong a storm’s winds become.

Some of the many other widely accepted hurricane myths can prove to be dangerous.

“Believing common disaster myths can be anything from harmless to potentially causing significant challenges in terms of injuries or damages,” said Amber Silver, assistant professor at the University at Albany’s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity.

“Ultimately, misinformation management is key, so it’s an appreciation of how it is we can communicate good information to aid in decision making,” Silver said.

Below are five common beliefs surrounding hurricane preparations that have proven to be false.

Myth 1: Taping windows will prevent hurricane-force winds from shattering them.

Fifty-four percent of Americans believe that placing tape over their homes’ windows will protect the glass from breaking, according to the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes.

“The bottom line is that, when it comes to glass, tape is not the answer,” said Tommy Patterson, director of product development and technical services for Glass Doctor, a glass maintenance and installation company.

“That whole pane is going to come out of the window frame,” he added.

Even window film sold as impact-resistant film may be an unwise option for protecting windows, because the window itself isn’t designed to withstand a hurricane, Patterson said. Experts consider storm shutters or plywood that covers the entire window to be safer choices.

Myth 2: Storing your valuables in a dishwasher will guard them from floodwater damage.

The idea behind this popular myth is that because a dishwasher is great at keeping water from escaping, it could also help prevent floodwaters from rushing inside.

Despite being touted as a handy tip by a number of social media users and media outlets, the fact checkers at Snopes.com believe this so-called hurricane hack could potentially ruin your belongings.

If your home can get flooded, then so can your dishwasher, according to experts.

Myth 3: A few days’ worth of important medication is all that’s needed ahead of a storm.

Minimizing the chance of running low on essential prescription medications will require some planning ahead in case pharmacies remain closed for weeks after a hurricane.

“We are seeing that more states, especially states in the Gulf Coast region, that are waiving the limits of pharmacy refills,” said Dr. Nicolette Louissaint, executive director of non-profit disaster response organization Healthcare Ready.

“Patients can have refills before they would be due in order to make sure that they have consistent medicine to make it through a storm,” Louissaint said.

Myth 4: Opening windows during a hurricane will stabilize pressure.

“The belief is that you need to open up windows and garage doors to equalize pressure, but it’s not correct,” Silver said.

Buildings aren’t airtight, and there are many little openings throughout a home that would make opening windows unnecessary, according to Silver.

Opening windows and garage doors while a hurricane batters your home can cause much worse wind damage than otherwise would have occurred, Silver added.

“Structurally, leaving those large openings allows for wind to come in, which means that the wind has to move forcibly and can cause a lot of damage,” she said.

Myth 5: An evacuation order was issued, but the weather looks fine. There’s no rush to leave town.

If a mandatory evacuation order is issued ahead of potential hurricane impacts, experts advise that you leave your home sooner rather than later.

Officials often strongly advise against waiting until the last minute to evacuate, which potentially puts yourself in danger as well as the emergency responders who may have to rescue you during and after the storm.

During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, it was estimated that hundreds of stranded residents who chose not to evacuate called for help during the height of the storm.

Source: https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/5-potentially-dangerous-hurricane-preparation-myths-debunked/70003001