Preparing for floods

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Get ready for floods

Make and practise your emergency plan with your family, and make sure you and your family each have a grab bag and emergency supplies.

Make sure your family stays up to date with the latest weather information from MetService. Ask your parent or caregiver to pay attention to weather watches and warnings.

If you live on a farm, ask your family if they know which paddocks are safe to move livestock away from floodwaters, landslides, and power lines. Ask an adult at home to find out from your local council what the flood risk is in your area. Your local council may be able to give your family more information on ways to reduce potential flood damage to your home.

Do you have a plan?

When you make your plan, you need to think about:

• Where will you meet if you can’t contact each other and are separated when an emergency occurs?
  How will you get there?
• Who will pick you up from school?
  Do they know? Does the school have their details?
• Who will your family check in with
  (someone out of town in case local phone lines are down)?
• How will you find the latest news/alerts?
  Which radio stations will you listen to? Which websites and social media pages will you check?
• Do you have food and drink for three days or more (for everyone including babies and pets)?
  Torches, a radio, and batteries for both? First aid/medical supplies? They don’t all need to be in one big box, but you may have to find them in the dark.
• What will you need to do if there is no power?
  How will you cook, stay warm, see at night? (do not use candles as they are a fire hazard)
• What will you need to do if there is no water? Do you have enough drinking water stored (three litres per person per day for three days or more)?
  Do you have water for your pets? What will you cook and clean with? What will you use for a toilet?
• Does everyone have grab bags or know where the emergency supplies are kept in case you need to evacuate?
  At home, at work, in the car?
• Where will you go in case you have to evacuate? How will you get there?
  If you live near the coast, make sure it is outside of all tsunami evacuation zones. Where will you stay if you can’t get back to your home?

Your emergency supplies

Your emergency supplies at home should contain:

• Water for three days or more – at least nine litres of water for each person. Keep some of your stored water in smaller bottles in case you need to evacuate.
• Long-lasting food that doesn’t need cooking (unless you have a camping stove or gas BBQ) and food for babies and pets. If you are keeping canned food, add a can opener to your supplies. Have snack food to add to a grab bag if you need to evacuate.
• Toilet paper and large plastic buckets for an emergency toilet.
• Dust mask and work gloves.
• Torches and a radio – and extra batteries for both.
• First-aid kit, including any medications you may need.
• Know where good walking shoes and warm, waterproof clothing are in case you need to evacuate in a hurry. Tell your parents to keep some emergency supplies in the car and/or at work.

Complete the Preparing for floods quiz >

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