Storm Preparedness Starts At Home, Says Province

The province is reminding New Brunswickers to be prepared in case of an emergency or extreme weather.

Storm Preparedness Week runs until November 9th, and aims to educate residents about risks, and the importance of having an emergency plan.

“Say if you live near the river in the spring, what do I do if this road gets cut off? How do I evacuate?” said Geoffrey Downey with the Department of Public Safety.

Downey says its also important to have a 72-hour emergency kit on hand, and urges family’s to create their own this week.

“You’re going to need things like food, water, clothes, a first aid kit, everything that you’re going to need to sustain yourself and your family for 72 hours. You know, say you have pets, you’re going to need pet food as well. So each kit is tailored to the family that it serves,” he said.

A guide to creating your own emergency kit can be found online.

Downey says it’s not just spring flooding residents should be prepared for: storms and extreme weather happen all year long.

“We had a hurricane a couple of weeks ago, we had the crazy winds a couple days ago. This time last year, we had a snow storm. You have spring flooding. We had two cases of communities suffering from significant winter flooding. There’s no letting up,” he said.

He says despite the extreme weather of late, New Brunswickers have done a good job of staying safe, and being prepared.

“You look at the flood this year and the hurricane, there were no significant injuries and I think that says a lot about how seriously people take these things, but it only takes a moment of inattention or indifference for things to have a tragic outcome. So we encourage people to do what they’ve been doing and hopefully we can always weather these sorts of storms.”