Winter storms can bring wind, ice, snow and even power outages. How do you get prepared, especially if you rely on electricity for medical needs or work from home? In the Beaverton and Portland Metro Area, Portland General Electric has some tips and a checklist. Check out their Prepare Your Home page for more information. You can also download the PGE checklist. 

Despite being off-season, LA's recent wildfires were extremely destructive, killing 29 people, destroying over 18,000 structures, and prompting the evacuation of more than 200,000 people. By these isolated metrics, the wildfires surpassed entire fire seasons in Oregon (including 2024 & 2020). But of course, damage to people tends to be higher when disaster strikes population centers. The similarly urban Maui fires of 2023 remain the deadliest in our nation's modern history, with over 100 fatalities.
One major challenge during LA's wildfires was evacuation capacity. As in the Maui and Paradise fires, limited escape routes caused gridlock, often forcing evacuees to abandon vehicles and flee on foot. Long-term solutions to this challenge are tricky. Perhaps a first step is to simply check this map to see if your community has limited evacuation capacity. Create an emergency evacuation plan that includes multiple routes, and practice those routes when going about your regular business in town. Check out our Evacuation and Assembly webpage and our Family Emergency Planning webpage for more details on next steps. 

When you have to leave in a hurry, a go bag can be a life saver! If  you missed the Go Bag presentation on Sunday, Jan 28th, 2024, you can find the documents and downloads in this blog post. Also, find our detailed information and videos on our our Go Bag page. For information on Alerts, check out our Stay Informed page. 
Check out these references from the presentation: 

• Slide printout for student notes
• Full slide deck with speaker notes 
• Register for Alerts
• Build Your Kits checklist from the "Get Prepared Now!" booklet (pg 8-9)
• Visual Checklist for you Disaster Supply Kit
• Get Prepared Now! booklet (2020 edition)​