I live in upstate New York. Until June of 2006, my only thoughts of emergencies as an adult were thunderstorms where my power went out or snow/ice storms where again it was a power issue. I did, after September 11, 2001, have some pangs about chemical and biological emergencies. These were very shortlived.
Unfortunately, the floods of June 2006 led me to think differently. The major rainfall came during my fourth child’s graduation party. We watched the water race – and I do mean race – down the hill we live at the bottom of. We watched a drainage culvert that is six or eight feet deep and runs into one of several local creeks get so full and become so clogged with other items that it actually ran over the road at the bottom of the hill. I watched as water in my basement – for those who do not know, I live in an old farmhouse that has a dirt floor basement that is built with stone walls – went from a couple of inches to two feet. This is a known issue as the hot water heater and furnace are both up high and are basically the only things in the basement. I listened as my oldest son tried to get out of Broome County and head home to Syracuse for work the next morning. What was I listening for, you ask? A phone call telling me he made it to the interstate.
Now, I had enough food to last if I couldn’t get out of the house for a few days. The roads were questionable in many areas. The river just kept rising. My kids drove around some, much to my dismay, as I wanted them to hang at home. We have pictures of water in Endicott and in Binghamton where it definitely does not belong.
The reason for this rant – Broome County rolled out its version of Ready.gov last week – BeBCReady.com. This is a major breakthrough when, back in March of 2007 the Press and Sun-Bulletin did a request for emergency preparedness plans and received varied responses, most counties do not want to discuss their plans.
Broome County is not only trying to discuss its preparedness but also offer its residents ways to be prepared themselves. There is a certain amount of personal responsibility in being prepared to deal with disaster – whether that disaster is a flood, hurricane, earthquake or snow storm.
Below are a couple of my favorite emergency preparedness sites – including one run and written by a close friend:
Nicki's Nook 
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