Violent Storms and Flooding in Tenn., and Miss. Are Giving YOU A “Heads Up.” 3 Important Tips.

       

Thousands were evacuated and hundreds of others were rescued from their homes — some plucked from rooftops — as flood waters from swollen rivers and creeks inundated neighborhoods across the region. Hospitals, schools and state buildings also were flooded.

And authorities were preparing for more damage as the Cumberland River, which winds through downtown Nashville, reached its highest level since an early 1960s flood-control project and was expected to crest around 50 feet early Monday morning — 10 feet above flood level.

Firefighters busted through the windows of Audrey Talley's trailer early Sunday to rescue her family, including her three small grandchildren, ages 9 months to 4 years old. Talley's son woke her up to tell her water was coming into the trailer in south Nashville. Within 10 minutes it was knee deep.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen called it an "unprecedented rain event," but that failed to capture the magnitude. More than 13 inches of rain fell in Nashville over two days, nearly doubling the previous record of 6.68 inches that fell in the wake of Hurricane Fredrick in 1979. "That is an astonishing amount of rain in a 24- or 36-hour period," Bredesen said Sunday.

Not only was flooding a problem but several areas also had to deal with tornadoes.  Three people in Mississippi were killed when tornadoes hit their homes and a fourth died after he drove into flood waters.

Much of the flooding damage was in outlying areas of Music City and across the middle and western parts of Tennessee. Rescues turned dramatic with homeowners plucked off their roofs, pregnant women airlifted off a waterlogged interstate and evacuations in dozens of areas, including the removal of 1,500 guests at Opryland to a nearby high school.

Flooding and damage was so widespread in Tennessee that Bredesen asked the state's Army National Guard to help and dozens of vehicles and personnel were put to work rescuing stranded residents. Nashville Mayor Karl Dean reported more than 600 water rescues in the city alone.

One building in east Nashville was caught on video floating down Interstate 24 and passing stranded vehicles. The video was quickly uploaded to YouTube.

More than 20 shelters were open around the state, some filled to capacity. Jeff Fargis, with the American Red Cross at the Lipscomb shelter, said officials began turning people away Sunday afternoon, directing them to another shelter. But soon people began returning with news that flooding was so bad around that shelter no one could get there. Most schools in middle Tennessee have closed for Monday. Most state employees are expected to return to work if possible, but the Andrew Jackson Building, one of the state's largest, is closed.

Attention will then turn to damage assessment and clean up.

Bredesen expected a lot of private property damage reports and said there appeared to be widespread damage to roads, bridges and other public infrastructure, including at the state's own emergency operations center where up to a foot of water caused electrical problems and forced officials to relocate to an auxiliary command center.

Bredesen said it will be at least several days until the damage can be thoroughly assessed. He canceled a trip to Washington, D.C., this week to attend the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Governor's Summit to oversee recovery efforts.

Longtime state officials say middle and western Tennessee haven't experienced such devastating flooding since 1975 when flood waters inundated the Opryland amusement park east of downtown Nashville. "I've never seen it this high," said emergency official Donnie Smith, who's lived in Nashville 45 years. "I'm sure that it's rained this hard at one time, but never for this much of an extended period."

What do the woes of these folks suggest to you? Can the message, “Be Prepared” be said any clearer? So, what can you do?

1.    This photo shows a man evacuating but able to save his stuff. If his papers, books, scrapbooks, photo albums etc had been in cardboard boxes, they would have been ruined and gone. Put your important stuff in plastic bins.

2.    Keep your storage boxes of important items off the floor.

3.    Keep a copy of important papers in another location (city) or consider online storage services. If everything is lost in a flood, fire or wind, you will have back up. This is could be super valuable to a small business.

For more tips, free downloads and a copy of How Top Save Your Stuff From A Disaster, got to www.saveyourstuff.com

Earthquake in Haiti – A Disaster Preparedness Lesson 7 Tips to Help You

Once more, we are reminded about the awful effect and cost of human life, livelihoods and resources that are a result of an earthquake. This time in Haiti on January 12th.

Add to those tears the heartbreak of crumbling public and holy buildings full of memories, faith and art. Unfortunately, though, the country will not likely be on a fast track for repair. It’s too rural, not magnificent enough, not published in all the art books, not world famous enough -- and there is a lot of damage to deal with during trying economic times.

Of course, the center of damage is now rubble. But, there are many, many homes in the area that were only badly rattled. That’s the case, also, in a hurricane, tornado or even a bad storm; a focused area gets the brunt of the impact and the vast outlying areas just get shook up. So, actually, there are huge numbers of people that were not physically at risk, but they may have lost and had damaged many cherished family treasures.

Disaster preparedness for your personal items includes knowing how to protect your genealogy, heirlooms, photographs, letters, old books, art work and important documents. Set priorities and protect, first, your most important items. Here are 7 tips to help you be better prepared:

1. Use an anchor wax to secure items that can fly off shelves and rattle around in display cases. (Home Depot) This is a VERY good tip!

2. Keep photos in archival photo albums that are easy to grab and go. Keep them in a book case or storage box that is easy to get to.

3. Keep storage boxes away from water pipes (water heaters too) that could break and flood on your treasured items (causing water and mold damage).

4. Make sure hanging hooks AND wires are strong, oversized and well anchored into the wood. I can’t tell you how many paintings and frames I’ve repaired that fall off the wall onto a corner of a table or through a vase. Or what about that heavy item hanging over your head in bed!!??

5. Photograph treasured keepsakes and copy docs; keep a copy in another location (another city or state!)

6. You may need supplemental insurance for earthquakes. Make sure your homeowner’s policy covers your contents. Heirlooms should not require a Fine Arts rider but should fall under your regular home owner’s policy. You will still need photos and values for a claim (go to www.faclappraisals.com).

7. Get a copy of “How To Save Your Stuff From A Disaster” (www.saveyourstuff.com).

What Does Homeland Defense Have To Do With Saving Your Stuff?!

Well, Homeland Defense is interested in being prepared for disasters... or the government's response to disasters... and being prepared for emergency situations. I was in New Orleans last year at a Hurricane Preparedness Conf. for government office managers and several 1st responders told be that after Katrina, they couldn't even get emergency services personnel back to work immediately because they were home taking care of their families. OK, that's logical. But then they were surprised to find out that the return to work was delayed because they were gathering, organizing and "saving their stuff." Some personnel didn't return to work for two weeks!!

So, obviously, being prepared with your letters, photos, family bible and other items that can't be replaced is important to how a person responds or is useful AFTER the disaster... for the sake of how useful that person can be... not just for the sake of preserving memories.

Check out Homeland Security Outlook, our latest Affiliate for www.saveyourstuff.com! We'll implement my proposal to them next week. http://www.hsoutlook.com/index.php

I was asked to speak at an international conference as an author and expert

About 10 days ago, I spoke at an international conference in Merida, Mexico on preparing "small businesses" for natural disasters. The American organization, SBDA and the Mexican organization, AMCDPE work closely together but the conference was attended by representatives from 8 or 9 other countries. The conference was attended by office and program directors of various institutions including governments, universities, non profits and corporations. I outlined for them how my message of "save your stuff" is very important for the work/office place and is an essential part of an emergency preparedness plan, which is overseen by the Homeland Security Dept. If anyone is interested in my content, write me at preservation.coach@gmail.com and I will send you a copy of my written presentation. In the end, I offered to provide free content for newsletters, blogs, and articles and even utilize my publications to help fund raise. For this event, we set up www.salvesuscosas.com for free downloads in the Spanish language.